Big-harvest areas aren’t bow leaders

The top counties in terms of deer taken with archery equipment are rarely among the top counties in overall harvest.

The Roanoke River counties that lead the annual harvest — Northampton, Halifax and Bertie — have a relatively short archery season and don’t figure in when top archery harvests are totalled. Instead, it’s Piedmont and northwestern North Carolina counties that have plenty of deer and a longer bow season.

Broken down further, many of the same counties show up among the leaders in the crossbow harvest.

Top counties in archery harvest

2013-14 season

1. Wake 696

2. Chatham 429

3. Orange 404

4. Rockingham 398

5. Guilford 368

6. Stokes 347

7. Union 333

8. Alamance 323

9. Granville 314

10. Wilkes 291

Top counties in crossbow harvest

2013-14 season

1. Stokes 274

2. Wake 224

3. Gates 201

4. Rockingham 198

5. Union 185

6. Orange 183

7. Wilkes 173

8. Yancey 172

9. Chatham 171

10. Forsyth 164