Hill Top Stop registered 340 deer, according to Sean Evans, down about 100 from last year. "I think a lot of it is because of the weather," Evans said.
The lack of snow made it easy for deer to sit tight and blend in with the background. Hunters had a hard time seeing them. "It makes it kind of difficult if you can't get them up," Evans said.
C & G Meats registered 59 deer this year, but processed over 200, up 40 percent from last year. David Schrupp, manager, attributed the numbers to the warm weather and the limited processing space. Three area meat plants declined to skin deer this year, taking only trimmings. The weather made timely processing critical.
Since opening weekend, they've been working at C & G Meats until after midnight. "It has been a wild two weeks," said Schrupp.
Schrupp expected to be done skinning and trimming by early this week. The next project will be to make sausage.
Schrupp called the deer harvest a good year and said he's seen 14-point bucks and 200-pound deer. "On average, I'd say the deer were probably bigger this year," he said.