Pennsylvania Game News - September 2020 - 7

BEST DAYS

Last year's inaugural Saturday opener
for firearms season was expected to
become the best buck-harvest day - and it
was, bringing in 43 percent of the harvest.
The season's second Saturday followed with about 14 percent of the
buck harvest, and the first Monday
came in third with 13 percent.
Compared to 2018's opening
Monday of firearms season, which
brought in 30 percent of the season's
buck harvest, 2019's Saturday opener was
substantially larger. But rain impacted
the 2018 opening-day harvest. And that
the 2017 Monday opener accounted for
45 percent of the firearms buck harvest
suggests weather might have the greatest
impact on opening-day success.
Weather-induced opening-day buckharvest declines are almost impossible to
make up in a two-week season. Openingday pressure is unlikely to reassemble
over the remainder of the season because
hunters who take bucks often stop hunting. In addition, hunters can take off work
or school only so many days. The fact the
statewide start of antlerless deer hunting,
now the season's second Saturday, has
drawn the season's largest one-day deer
harvest in recent years shows many hunters make it a point to be out there, maybe
because it's more convenient to hunt on
a weekend.
The second Saturday was the best
harvest day of the 2019 firearms season,
as well, accounting for 30 percent of the
season's overall deer harvest. It was followed by the opener with 24 percent.
In the six-week archery season, the
fifth Saturday was the best buck-harvest
SEPTEMBER 2020	

day; bowhunters took 9 percent of the
season's bucks. It was followed by the
sixth Saturday, 8 percent. The opener
pulled down third place with 6 percent.
The season's best buck harvest week
was the fifth, with 26 percent of the season's take. The fourth and sixth weeks
each provided about 19 percent.
The season opener was the best overall
archery harvest day, with 9 percent of the
season's harvest. It was followed by the
fifth Saturday, 8 percent, and the sixth
Saturday, 7 percent.

BIGGER BUCKS

That the yearling (1 ½ years old) component of the buck harvest was 34 percent
also intrigued Wallingford, because it
suggests adult bucks 2 ½ years old or
older comprised nearly two-thirds of the
antlered harvest. In 2018, 1 ½-year-olds
made up 36 percent; in 2017, 57 percent;
and 2016, 56 percent.
"This means many of the yearling crop
of bucks made it through the hunting
seasons and should make for some exciting and satisfying deer hunting this fall,"
Wallingford said.
The buck harvest is a barometer of deer
population size, Wallingford said.
"Larger buck harvests come from
larger deer populations," he pointed out.
"The increasing trend in buck harvest in
recent years, suggests we've had some
growth in the deer population statewide.
But the mostly annual gains in 2 ½-yearolds in the harvest in recent years could be
a result of hunters letting more yearlings
go and looking for bigger antlered bucks.
"Trail cameras are very popular today,
and when they capture an image of a large
buck, the hunter knows that buck is in the
area," Wallingford noted. "He might pass
on smaller bucks waiting for him, maybe
7

Jacob Dingel

greater defense against the spread
of CWD.
Pennsylvania Game News - September 2020

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