PA deer harvest lowest in 23 years

The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported last week that Keystone State hunters harvested an estimated 308,920 whitetail during the 2009-10 seasons, marking the lowest overall deer-kill in 23 years. 

Last year’s deer totals were an 8 percent decline from the 335,850 in 2008-09. With its history of high harvest numbers, one has to go back to the 1986-87 season to find a lower deer take, when an estimated 300,014 deer were recorded. Pennsylvania hunters took 108,330 antlered deer in the 2009-10 seasons, down 11 percent from the previous license year’s harvest of 122,410, but similar to the 2007-08 harvest of 109,200. 

The 2009-10 buck kill represents a 47 percent decline from the record-high buck kill of 203,247 posted in 2001-02, the last season before the state’s antler restrictions went into effect. Also, hunters harvested 200,590 antlerless deer in 2009-10, a 6 percent decline from the 213,440 antlerless deer taken in 2008-09. The 2007-08 antlerless deer harvest was 213,870. 

The 2009-10 hunting season marked the first time crossbows were legal in statewide archery deer seasons for all hunters. In those 19 WMUs outside of the three urban areas, the archery harvest increased 13 percent. 

The proportion of the archery harvest taken by crossbows in the 19 WMUs increased from 15 percent to 30 percent. Crossbows have been legal in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D since 2004. 

“Although we do not use season-specific harvest data for management purposes, we recognize the public is interested in these harvest estimates,” said DuBrock. “For that reason only, we provide estimated deer harvest breakdowns for firearms, archery and muzzleloader seasons, but we only use total deer harvest estimates when making recommendations for each WMU.”