Season: October - January
For full season details, click here
ESPNOutdoors.com rating (1-10): 8
2007 harvest: 18,000
Sq. Miles: 1,545
Deer/ sq. mile harvested in 2007: 11.6
2008 Outlook: During the Rhode Island 2007-08 hunting season, 1,664 hunters harvested a total of 2,363 deer on the mainland, with archery, muzzleloader and shotgun permits. Most hunters took a single deer (77 percent a 4 percent increase from last season).
And most of those deer harvested were bucks (1,452 bucks compared to 1,134 does), which means there could be a lot more deer running around this season.
Under normal circumstances, females two years or older produce twins annually, while yearling does typically produce single fawns. Removing only males from the population results in herd growth. The long muzzleloader season, timed so closely to the rut, has contributed to most of the disparity.
This year, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management has made improvements by instituting antlerless incentives to keep herd numbers in balance with available habitat.
So this season should be high in quantity, but low in quality.
Kyle Carter