If you hunt around Remsen, chances are you’ve already heard whispers about changes to New York’s deer season this year. The DEC didn’t just tweak a few dates — they rebuilt part of the tagging system from the ground up, and it’s worth talking through what that actually means for members heading into the woods this fall.
The Big Change: Earn-a-2nd-Buck
Starting this season, every hunter who buys a license gets a first Antlered Deer Tag automatically, good for any season they’re licensed for except the September antlerless-only hunt. But the second buck tag — the one a lot of multi-season hunters used to count on — now has to be earned. Hunters have to harvest and report an antlerless deer using a valid antlerless tag before DEC will issue that second buck tag. NYSDEC
That’s a real shift in strategy. A bowhunter who wants a second buck available later in the season now has good reason to fill a doe tag early and report it before the rut or gun season even opens. For our members who hunt both bow and gun seasons, that probably means rethinking the order you go after tags this year instead of saving the doe for whenever it’s convenient. NYSDEC
Why DEC Is Doing This
This isn’t change for change’s sake. DEC’s commissioner has pointed to deer populations growing across much of the state to levels that are actually hurting the deer themselves, their habitat, and the public. Overpopulation isn’t just a hunter’s problem — it shows up as browse lines stripped bare in the understory, more deer-vehicle collisions on rural roads, and forest regeneration that can’t keep up. For a club sitting on 268 acres of hardwood forest, healthy deer density isn’t abstract — it’s the difference between a woodlot that regenerates and one that doesn’t. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
DEC based these changes on input gathered through focus groups and surveys with New York deer hunters and professional deer managers across the Northeast, and the agency says it reviewed over a thousand public comments before finalizing anything. Whatever you think of the outcome, it wasn’t decided in a vacuum. HuntWise
What’s Changing on the Ground
A handful of Wildlife Management Units are being added to the nine-day September antlerless season, and more WMUs are losing their Deer Management Permit quota caps altogether — meaning if you harvest and report an antlerless deer in one of those units, your DMP gets automatically replaced so you can keep going. Twenty-three WMUs will now allow unlimited DMPs, and hunters statewide can transfer DMPs between each other without the old two-permit cap.
If you’re not sure which WMU covers our neck of the woods, this is the year to check before you buy tags — the rules genuinely differ block by block now.
A Word on Conservation, Not Just Regulation
It’s easy to read a DEC press release and think “more bureaucracy.” But the reasoning behind Earn-a-2nd-Buck lines up with something every long-time member already knows: a woods that’s overbrowsed stops supporting the wildlife, the fishing ponds, and the hunting grounds we all show up for. Taking an early doe isn’t just about tag math — it’s a small, practical piece of keeping this property healthy for the next fifty years, the same way our workday credits and trail maintenance are.
DEC has also made harvest reporting faster this year — 48 hours for paper tags instead of the old seven-day window, and immediate reporting if you’re using the HuntFishNY app. Worth building into your routine now, before opening day, rather than figuring it out in the field.
Bottom Line for Club Members
Check your WMU. Decide early whether you’re going after a doe first. Report promptly. And if you’ve got questions about how any of this applies to our property specifically, bring it up at the next meeting — Todd and the trap range crew, along with anyone doing DMP applications this year, are a good sounding board before the season gets underway.
Sources: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, National Deer Association, North American Deer Hunter