By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department has just released a draft 10-year game management plan for deer, bear, turkey and moose with objectives ranging by region.
The objective is to reduce the deer population in the White Mountains, Central and Southern portions of the state while maintaining the current levels in the North Country.
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For bears, the plan is to stabilize the population in the north, decrease numbers in the White Mountains and the southeast.
For moose – which have seen a population decline of about 50 percent over the last 20 years due to parasites, habitat change, vehicular accidents and increasingly now the advent of carbon storage credit land management limiting young forests for habitat – the department’s objectives are to decrease the populations in the Connecticut Lakes region and the north, increase in the White Mountain region and stabilize in the Southwest.
For turkey, which has grown in population from 27 birds in 1975 in a successful reintroduction to now 50,000 birds, the objective is to maintain that number statewide over the next decade.
Public input meetings will be conducted around the state in April to offer an opportunity for people to weigh in on the draft plan which can be found here: www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/season-setting/game-management-plan.
Comments can also be written and specific to the various plans in the report.
The plan is for the Fish and Game Commission to finalize the draft in June and for the management plan to take effect in January 2026 and run through 2035.
All meetings begin at 6 p.m. Dates and locations are:
April 9, 2025: NH Fish and Game Headquarters, 11 Hazen Drive, Concord.
April 10, 2025: Keene High School, 43 Arch Street, Room 620, Keene.
April 16, 2025: Tin Mountain Conservation Center, 1245 Bald Hill Road, Albany.
April 17, 2025: NH Fish and Game Region 1 Office, 629B Main Street, Lancaster.
Those unable to attend one of these meetings, or who would like to submit written comments, may email their input to comments@wildlife.nh.gov, (include “Game Plan Comment” in the subject line), or by mail to: Wildlife Division, N.H. Fish and Game Department, 11 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03301. All input must be received by April 25, 2025.
The more than 30-page draft plan has details about zones, habitats and carrying capacities for the land with some predictions on land management and climate changes which can influence population numbers and goals.
Tools to manage the populations include hunting seasons.
“The method and manner of harvest are not under consideration in this planning process and will continue to be determined through the normal rulemaking process,” the department said.
The draft plan looks at the history of the game species population, harvest information and looks at social, economic, public and ecological factors considered when determining the best management goals by region.
The black bear population is currently estimated at about 5,800 which the report indicates is a 7 percent increase since 2014. The objective is to get that number down to 4,800 which would be a 17 percent decline.
It notes the number of bear hunters is on the rise with 1,300 licenses issued last year and about 900 harvested.
Deer, which number more than 110,000 and are the biggest draw for hunters in the fall, can be a nuisance to some and a safety hazard which are factors included by region in the management plan.
Moose, with some estimates at 3,300, have had a hard time particularly due to climate change factors and habitat loss. These behemoths need early successional forests which have been recently cut due to a decline in logging and due to warming and shortened winters.
Young moose in particular have been subjected to parasites which have killed them off in large numbers and the winter tick, which are also carried by deer, are a key factor in mortality.
“It is likely that moose will continue to be challenged,” the draft reads and notes that much of the population are found in the Connecticut Lakes Region at the very tip of the state where there are estimated to be 1.6 per square mile.
The department has seen estimates of moose range from about 500 animals in 1977 to 1,600 by 1982 with 83 percent found in the three most northern counties, where logging and ice storm damage helped their numbers along.
But by 1996 vehicle collisions were among leading factors to their decline and a modern-day hunt was initiated with 675 permits issued in 2006. Last year, only 33 permits to hunt moose were issued in a lottery system.
“Carbon storage credits, which pay landowners to not harvest their trees, are becoming more prevalent and their increases may result in a reduction of forest harvesting,” the report reads.