Abstract: The year 2017 marked the 24th anniversary of deer reductions in Indiana State Parks.
The first reduction hunt was held in 1993 as an effort to mitigate damage to vegetation and
unique habitat by an overpopulation of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Brown
County State Park. Multiple parks have hosted deer reduction hunts annually since 1995 and
have included up to 21 parks and one natural area per year. The decision to start reductions at individual parks has been based on scientific vegetation monitoring. Decisions to continue
reductions at individual parks are made annually using harvest data and consideration of
occurrences of rare, threatened, and endangered flora that could be affected by excessive
browsing by deer. In 2017, 4,348 hunter efforts were used to assist 16 parks, one recreation area,
and one natural area. The result was a harvest of 1,158 deer. Daily standby drawings were held at
one park. Such drawings are conducted from time to time to reduce the impact of originally
drawn hunters not showing up or not returning on the second day of each hunt. The 2017 harvest
yielded a mean harvest per effort of 0.28, which is higher than the program target of 0.22-0.2

https://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/files/sp-DeerRMRR.pdf