MONTPELIER - The state Fish and Wildlife Department says Vermont deer hunters successfully harvested nearly 14,000 deer in 2012, a 14 percent increase over the previous year.

The totals reflect archery, youth, rifle and muzzleloader harvests.

Officials say last winter's relatively mild weather and shallow snow depths likely contributed to this fall's elevated deer harvest.

The low availability of traditional food sources such as apple orchards and beech and oak stands this past summer and fall also resulted in deer changing their movement patterns.

The department says one of the biggest increases was in archery, which rose 25 percent, to 3,384 deer.