Pennsylvania Game News - December 2009 - 28

Table 1. Estimated harvest by species, 2003-2008. Year 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 WoodRabbits Grouse Squirrel Pheasanta cock 588,310 106,587 1,063,996 234,196 42,434 428,414 58,596 646,033 175,676 37,792 409,350 89,145 784,741 141,775 39,782 418,139 82,020 674,991 168,094 26,924 463,935 108,693 708,898 110,331 41,556 Quail a 2,059 2,891 1,228 4,507 1,097 Dove 500,980 409,769 384,625 416,844 409,837 WoodHare chuck Crow 1,908 1,171,888 207,707 1,522 892,391 188,460 1,310 910,654 222,382 685 840,523 182,320 783 993,207 183,203 Estimates exclude harvest on shooting preserves. 2008-09 Small Game and Furbearer By Robert Harvests Assistant Bureau Boyd and Melanie Weaver Director Wildlife Biologist Aide PGC Bureau of Wildlife Management T O MONITOR small game and furbearer harvests and hunting/trapping effort, we conduct annual surveys of hunting and furtaker license buyers. (Due to budget constraints, no surveys were conducted for 2004-05.) In March 2009, following the close of the 2008-09 seasons, a sample of Pennsylvania hunters and trappers was surveyed to determine their success and hunting effort. Each purchaser of a general hunting license had a 1-in-50 chance of receiving a Game Take Survey, and each purchaser of a furtaker license had a 1-in-5 chance of receiving a Furtaker Survey. A total of 18,093 Game Take questionnaires and 4,349 Furtaker questionnaires were mailed. For the Game Take and Furtaker surveys, 8,478 and 2,622 returned questionnaires were processed, respectively. Overall, compared to 2007-08, harvests of 7 of 10 small game species increased (Table 1). The number of hunters decreased for five small game species and increased for five (Table 2). Harvest per 100 hunter-days increased for 7 of 10 small game species (Table 3). Furtakers and furbearer harvests have remained relatively stable or increased since 2003. The furbearer harvests increased for five of nine species (Table 4), and the number of hunters/trappers of furbearers increased for 8 of 9 species (Table 5), from 2007-08 to 2008-09. A question was asked to assess the percent of hunters checked by a PGC officer during 2008-09, and 9 percent had, the same as the year before. 2008-09 was the third year of the Mentored Youth Program, and we asked hunters if they had mentored any youth, and if so, how many for woodchucks, squirrels, antlered deer, spring gobblers and coyotes. We also asked how many days each species was hunted, and how many of each species were harvested. Results indicated 59,397 hunters mentored 71,232 youth. Of those, 11,675 youths harvested 24,067 woodchucks during 41,822 days hunting; 32,369 harvested Table 2. Estimated number of hunters, 2003-2008. Year Rabbits Grouse 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 WoodSquirrel Pheasanta cock 199,922 166,476 174,151 154,653 171,786 130,676 105,508 96,590 90,548 86,052 15,321 13,615 11,978 12,574 11,709 Quail a 3,518 3,222 3,322 3,112 2,396 Dove 46,580 41,328 40,145 40,166 39,780 Hare 5,091 5,033 5,211 3,030 2,890 Woodchuck 92,986 71,682 80,522 75,554 80,116 Crow 27,591 23,380 26,880 23,228 25,706 181,426 149,647 145,712 135,956 137,842 134,115 112,210 105,282 96,429 102,139 Estimates exclude number of hunters on shooting preserves. GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - December 2009

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