Virginia wildlife officials have released their 2026 deer population report, offering an in-depth look at the 2025-26 hunting season — and the findings carry significance for the entire region, including the Delmarva Peninsula.
From a population management standpoint, deer numbers in Virginia are trending higher than desired. Officials use a deer population index — measuring the number of antlered bucks harvested per square mile of deer habitat in each county — to gauge where populations stand relative to management goals. Based on that index, deer numbers need to come down in 56 out of 97 Virginia counties. Management objectives are currently being met in just 37 of those 97 counties.
On public lands, particularly within the roughly 1.7 million acres of National Forest land in Virginia, deer populations tell a different story than on private land. Data from National Forest areas — especially those west of the Blue Ridge — form the backbone of public land population assessments, as Wildlife Management Areas and other public lands east of the Blue Ridge are generally too small to yield reliable population data.
Looking at the big picture, statewide deer population estimates going back to 2004 show a steady upward climb. Before the 2014 hunting season, the population was estimated at around 1.1 million deer. By 2023 and 2024, that figure had grown to an estimated 1.3 million. Officials use the Downing population reconstruction method — which incorporates harvest data, biological information, and observation surveys — to arrive at these estimates.
At the same time deer numbers are climbing, the number of hunters is heading in the opposite direction. Virginia sold more than 343,000 deer licenses at its peak in 1986. For the 2025-26 season, that number had dropped to just 177,541. License sales have fallen 19 percent over the last decade and 34 percent over the past 25 years. Hunters are aging out of the sport faster than younger generations are picking it up, and youth license numbers are also declining. Licensed deer hunters now make up only about 2 percent of Virginia’s total population. The number of hunters exempt from licensing requirements — once estimated near 39,000 in 2015 — is now thought to be somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000.
Disease Updates
Hemorrhagic Disease (HD) — which includes Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease and bluetongue virus — was relatively quiet in Virginia last year. Officials confirmed one small outbreak in northern Virginia and received scattered reports of suspected deaths elsewhere that were never confirmed. However, neighboring states weren’t as fortunate. Southeastern Ohio and just across the state line in West Virginia experienced significant HD activity, fueled by severe drought conditions that created ideal breeding grounds for the biting midges that spread the disease. In areas where HD occurs less frequently, the virus tends to be more lethal to infected deer. The good news is that deer populations typically recover within a few years following an outbreak.
On the Chronic Wasting Disease front, officials broke their own record for the most positive detections in a single season, confirming 126 cases despite testing fewer deer than the year before. Sixty of those positives came from Frederick County alone. Officials say none of last year’s detections will trigger the creation of new Disease Management Areas or expand existing ones.
Of particular note for Delmarva residents: CWD has now been confirmed on the Delmarva Peninsula for the first time. Delaware recorded its first and second CWD-positive white-tailed deer in Sussex County, the state’s southernmost county. With Delaware’s detection, South Carolina is now the only remaining southeastern state that has yet to identify a CWD-positive animal.
Wildlife officials say more information on how hunters can help manage Virginia’s deer population will be available next month.
Justin Folks serves as the Deer Project Leader for the Department of Wildlife Resources.
