AUGUSTA – Biologists are predicting that this fall’s deer hunt will yield the second-highest harvest since 1980.

Biologists said a high harvest is expected because more any-deer permits have been allocated than ever before, and Maine’s deer herd is believed to be larger than the herd last fall.

Gerry Lavigne, a biologist with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, estimated a harvest of 35,800. Only 2000, when hunters bagged 36,885 deer, has been more productive since 1980.

“I would be disappointed if it wasn’t 35,000,” said Lavigne.

Hunting season runs through November.

This is the first year the state is giving out a majority of the any-deer permits in the southern third of the state. Any-deer permits allow hunters to take a doe, while the regular deer hunting license allows them to bag only a buck.

The strategy is part of a new 15-year plan that a public group helped draft that calls for increasing the deer herd in northern Maine and thinning it out in the southern part of the state.

The 76,989 any-deer permits given out this year were the most in the 16 years the permit system has been used. Last year 54,406 were issued.

Following last year’s hunt, biologists estimated the state deer herd to be 241,500, which was 50,000 fewer than the estimated population in 2000.

Lavigne said the herd’s size after last winter is unknown since biologists cannot calculate the population until after data from the hunt is compiled.

“The wintering herd this year was well above 241,000,” Lavigne said. “And mild winters usually yield a really strong fawn crop. There is good survival. People are saying they’re seeing a lot of young deer around.”