Three years ago, Vermont’s Department of Fish and Wildlife moved the annual youth hunting weekend of deer season from the November weekend before the start of rifle season to the next to last weekend of October. (This year’s is taking place this Saturday and Sunday, in both Vermont and New Hampshire.)

The decision was intended to make the season more comfortable for young hunters, age 15 and under, and to give them the first opportunity to hunt deer with firearms each year, Nick Fortin, the Deer and Moose Project manager with the Fish and Wildlife Department, said in a phone interview.

But since the change, the number of deer that youth hunters have taken has fallen significantly. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, youth hunters recorded three of the four lowest harvest totals since the two-day season began in 2002, Fortin said.

Whether to move the youth season again is “something we’re currently debating internally,” Fortin said.

“We’re hoping to do a more formal survey, maybe this winter, and get a sense of whether hunters are happy with the change,” he said.

Hunters are aware of the lower rate of harvest. The numbers are stark. In 2019, the last year the season was held in November, youth hunters took a record number of deer, 1,617. The harvest fell to 1,122 the following year, 1,074 in 2021 and 1,050 last year.

Exactly why the harvest has fallen so much is unclear.

The November youth weekend had a clear advantage over October: It’s closer to the rut, when bucks begin to move more in search of does. The current youth weekend falls into the “October lull,” when deer habits are changing with the seasons. October “is not a better time to be deer hunting,” Fortin said.

Still, Eric Messier, vice president of the Randolph Fish and Game Club, said he thinks the October youth weekend makes sense. It’s harder for younger hunters to stay out in the woods when it’s colder, he said. Messier’s son and two daughters all hunted on youth weekends.

The decline in the harvest is due to “lack of hunters,” he said. “I don’t think the state has the hunters we used to have, and I don’t believe we have the deer population we used to.”

It’s not clear, though, whether the number of youth hunters as a proportion of the total youth population has declined, Fortin said. Vermont has seen its student count decline from over 100,000 in the 1990s to around 80,000 today, and the number of youth hunters has declined with it.

The earlier youth weekend often conflicts with fall sports seasons, Fortin said, which leaves youth hunters with less time in the woods.

The point of youth weekend is to get young hunters into the woods, Fortin said. If hunters are happy with the current arrangement, it likely will stay in place.

“Our goal is to give them the best experience going forward,” he said.

In New Hampshire, the youth weekend harvest is much smaller than in Vermont. The 387 deer taken last year represented a 30% increase over the 2021 harvest of 297, according to state records.

New Hampshire’s Fish and Game Department has designated the same late October weekend that Vermont now uses for youth hunting for many years, and there doesn’t seem to be much talk about moving it.

“The time is so short between seasons. They’re trying to fit it in,” Jim Morse, president of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation, said in a phone interview.

As in Vermont, youth weekend takes place alongside archery season and before muzzleloader season.

Messages left with New Hampshire Fish and Game officials were not returned.

Weather also plays a role in how many young hunters head into the woods. This weekend doesn’t look promising, with steady rain forecast for both days.

Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.