State wildlife officials say South Dakota’s deer population isn’t growing as fast they’d like.

Andy Lindbloom, senior big game biologist with the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department, says that fewer fawns are being observed as surviving into adulthood and over-winter survival is low in many areas.

Department officials recently recommended reductions in deer hunting licenses and tags for the next two years to help the deer population grow.

The deer situation was particularly dire in 2016 with the largest outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease the state has seen in the last 10 years.

Lindbloom says around 2,300 deer were reported dead from the disease. The outbreak caused the department to pull more than 1,200 licenses and give hunters the opportunity to return their tags.