"It gives urban areas a tool for managing problem deer," Stanford said. "There has been some opposition, but these people in the cities who are opposed to the additional season don't seem to realize that a lot of these areas are open during the regular archery season anyway. We are hoping that with the bonus antlerless tags and the additional hunting opportunity only open after the regular season, hunters will take advantage of it."

The indicator biologists use to assess the deer herd population and harvest data is the number of deer living or harvested per square mile of habitat. This excludes areas that do not support deer, such as the cores of cities and water bodies. Here are the top two counties in each district in harvest per square mile of habitat.

Bertie County led District 1 in deer harvests per square mile of habitat with 7.1 per square mile, followed by Gates County with a harvest of 6.7 deer per square mile.

Pender County led District 2 with a harvest of 4.9 deer per square mile of habitat, followed by Pitt County with a harvest of 4.5 deer per square mile. In Pender County, Angola Bay and Holly Shelter game lands, along with some smaller game lands, offer excellent public hunting areas for deer. Pitt County has agricultural land and forestland, but no game lands.

Northampton County led District 3 with a harvest of 11.2 deer per square mile followed by Halifax with a harvest of 10.1 deer per square mile. These counties have hardwood bottoms and farmland, but no significant public game lands.

Bladen County led District 4 with a harvest of 4.2 deer per square mile, followed by Columbus County with a harvest of 3.7 deer per square mile. Bladen County has excellent hunting at Suggs Millpond and Bladen Lakes State Forest game lands. Columbus County has several tracts of the Columbus County game land. But these public hunting areas are mostly dense hardwood swamps and difficult to hunt because of poor access.

Caswell County led District 5 with a harvest of 9.3 deer per square mile followed by Alamance County with a harvest of 8.5 deer per square mile. Caswell Game Land is one of the best public-land places to bag a deer in the state, but Alamance County has no game lands.

Anson County and Rowan County led District 6 with harvests of 7.8 deer per square mile. Anson County has the Pee Dee River Game Land and permit hunts at the Pee Dee River National Wildlife Refuge, and Rowan County has some hunting at the commission's Alcoa Game Land. Alleghany County led District 7 with a harvest of 17.9 deer per square mile, followed by Yadkin with a harvest of 8.1 deer per square mile. These counties have no game lands.

Lincoln County led District 8 with a harvest of six deer per square mile, followed by Mitchell with a harvest of 4.6 deer per square mile. Lincoln County has no game lands, but Mitchell County has part of the Pisgah National Forest Game Land.

Polk County led District 9 with a harvest of 3.9 deer per square mile followed by Madison with a harvest of 1.3 deer per square mile. Polk County has more flatland hunting than other mountain counties, leading to the county's higher harvest. The Green River Game Land is a good place to hunt in Polk County. Some of Pisgah National Forest Game Land is located in Madison County.