Iowa’s deer harvest declined for the seventh straight year as hunters adjust to the smaller herd, and to fewer antlerless tags.

Hunters reported 115,606 deer to the harvest reporting system for the 2012 season, a decline of nearly 5 percent.The harvest is down 23 percent from its high in 2006.

Deer hunters purchased 378,447 licenses, nearly 14,500 fewer than in 2011, due to the elimination of the three-day November antlerless season, a shortening of the January antlerless season, and reduced antlerless license quotas in some counties.