Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 8

Jacob Dingel

Pennsylvania deer hunters took an
estimated 367,159 deer in the 2017-18
seasons, up from an estimated 333,254
in the 2016-17 seasons and an estimated
315,813 in the 2015-16 seasons.
That places Pennsylvania's whitetail
harvest for the past three years at over a
million deer.
The state's largest three-year harvest
occurred from 2000 to 2002 - a span
when there were more licensed hunters,
more antlerless deer licenses issued and
an estimated 1,508,143 deer taken.
The increased 2017-18 deer harvest was
the fourth consecutive in Pennsylvania.
A third consecutive increase in buck
harvest also drew considerable attention.
Up 11 percent over the 2016-17 total of
149,460 bucks, the 2017-18 harvest of
163,750 ranked 10th best since the agency
began recording deer harvest with calculated statistics in 1986 and the second best
under antler restrictions, which started
in 2002.
Although those numbers showcase the
increase in older bucks across the Commonwealth because of antler restrictions,
they also reflect change in hunter opportunity, according to Christopher Rosenberry,
supervisor of the Game Commission's
Deer and Elk Section.
"Back in the 1987-88 deer seasons,
hunters took 157,547 bucks, but only
16 percent of deer hunters took a buck,"
Rosenberry said. "This past season, 21
percent of deer hunters took a buck with
more-stringent restrictions. It's a direction
in which most hunters want us to continue
to move. They like the bucks in Penn's
Woods today compared to what many of
them saw 30 years ago."

8

Antler restrictions protect 50 to 75
percent of yearling bucks, according to
Bret Wallingford, a Game Commission
deer biologist. They lower the harvest
rate of bucks, and lead to more bucks in
older age classes.
In the 2017-18 seasons, 57 percent
of the harvested bucks were at least 2½
years old.
"Now, more than half of successful
buck hunters harvest a mature buck,"
Wallingford said. "It's an outcome probably few envisioned 16 years ago when
antler restrictions were started."
Of course, hunters wonder, can we do
better with buck age structure?
Wallingford believes a plateau might
have been reached. But he's quick to note
that Pennsylvania's changing hunting culture - including older hunters, increased
archery participation and switch to crossbows - might influence how long bucks
live in the future. Time will tell.
The 2017-18 buck harvest increased
or was the same in all but five Wildlife
Management Units - WMUs 1A, 2A, 2B,
2H and 5A - over the 2017-18 seasons.
WMU 2B sustained the largest 201718 decline, with 1,300 fewer bucks harvested compared to the 2016-17 seasons.
Meanwhile, the 203,409 antlerless deer
taken in 2017-18 is up 11 percent over the
2016-17 antlerless harvest of 183,794.
But the increase in harvest was partially by design. The 2017 antlerless
license allocation increased about 7 percent over the 2016 allocation.
Three WMUs - 2C, 4A and 5A - had
declines in antlerless deer harvests in the
2017-18 seasons.
The Board of Game Commissioners



Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018

Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 2
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 3
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 7
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 10
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 12
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 15
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 17
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 18
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 21
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 22
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 24
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 25
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 28
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 31
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 34
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 35
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 39
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 40
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 45
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 46
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Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 49
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 50
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 53
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 54
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 57
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 58
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 59
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 61
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - 64
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2018 - Cover4
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