Pennsylvania Game News - January 2010 - 3

an additional 733 deer were captured and fitted with radio-collars and ear tags in these four WMUs. By the end of April 2009, more than 300 radio-collared deer were being monitored on the four study areas. This research is being conducted in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State. During 2008-09, 33 PGC deer aging teams collected sex, age and kill (SAK) data from a sample of harvested deer. SAK data were used to estimate 2008-09 deer harvests. Based on hunter harvest reports and SAK data, hunters harvested 335,850 deer. Overall, this was a four percent increase from the year before. Hunters took 122,410 antlered deer, up 12 percent from the previous year’s 109,200. Also, hunters harvested 213,440 antlerless deer, similar to the 213,870 taken in 2007-08. Harvest estimates for 2008-09 are based on 127,351 usable harvest report cards and online reports (44,995 antlered; 82,356 antlerless) returned by hunters to the Commission, and 26,509 deer (9,357 antlered; 17,152 antlerless) examined by PGC personnel in the field and at processors. Yearling bucks comprised 52 percent of the antlered harvest, which is less than the 56 percent in 2007-08. Button bucks and doe fawns were 22 percent and 18 percent, respectively, of the antlerless harvest, and down two percent from 2007-08 season rates. Statewide hunter reporting rates remained below 40 percent. The Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) was developed to provide both public and private landowners a tool to better control deer numbers on their properties through hunting. For 2008-09, the Commission approved 841 applications, up from the 801 in 2007. Enrolled acres increased to 1,502,896, from 1,470,306 in 2007. Number of coupons requested and approved dropped from 32,379 in 2007 to 30,476. Hunters redeemed 23,520 DMAP coupons. With all DMAP permit holders required to submit a report card, 78 percent reported a harvest of 5,744 antlerless deer. Several deer-related hunter surveys were completed during the year. We sent daily hunting diaries to hunters in WMUs 2D, 2G, 3C and 4B prior to the 2008 firearms season. These hunting diaries are being used to monitor hunter activities, success and satisfaction in these 4 WMUs. We also surveyed hunters from WMUs 5C and 5D to assess their use of bait, where permitted, in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. More than 110 elk were radio tracked throughout the year to evaluate survival, distribution and movements. PGC researchers captured and radio-instrumented additional elk between January and March 2009 to improve the distribution of marked animals across elk subpopulations and to replace faulty transmitters. An annual survey was conducted in the fall of 2008, when personnel from the PGC, DCNR, and many volunteers completed 68 survey routes. There were 1,205 elk sightings recorded, and of those, 77 were marked animals. The population estimate resulting from the survey was 771. In our continuing efforts to assess elk recruitment, 20 newborn calves were captured. Annual calf survival was 82 percent. Mortalities were due to poaching, legal harvest, pneumonia, elk-vehicle collisions and four unknown. In the winter of 2009, a calf died due to rumen acidosis caused by the artificial feeding of corn. Elk seasons were held in September and November 2008. Ten hunters participated in the September elk season, and two harvested antlerless elk. Forty-five hunters participated in the 6-day season in November, and 40 harvested elk. To monitor the bear population, several sources of data were used: a statewide capture and tagging program; mandatory check stations during the hunting season; aging of teeth collected from roadkilled, captured and harvested bears; assessment of reproduction of hibernating bears fitted with radio-collars; and a statewide wildlife food survey. A record 145,795 bear hunting licenses were sold in 2008, and 3,458 bears were JANUARY 2010 3

Pennsylvania Game News - January 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - January 2010