The Pennsylvania Game Commission today reported results from the 2015-16 deer seasons, which closed in January.
Hunters harvested an estimated 315,813 deer – an increase of about 4 percent compared to the 2014-15 harvest of 303,973.
Of
those, 137,580 were antlered deer – an increase of about 15 percent
compared to the previous license year, when an estimated 119,260 bucks
were taken. Hunters also harvested an estimated 178,233
antlerless deer in 2015-16, which represents an about 4 percent
decrease compared to the 184,713 antlerless deer taken in 2014-15.
The percentage of older bucks in the harvest might well be the most eye-popping number in the report.
A
whopping 59 percent of whitetail bucks taken by Pennsylvania hunters
during the 2015-16 deer seasons were 2½ years old or older, making for
the highest percentage of adult bucks in the harvest
in decades.
Game
Commission Wildlife Management Director Wayne Laroche pointed out the
trend of more adult bucks in the harvest started when antler
restrictions were put into place. More yearling bucks are
making it through the first hunting season through which they carry a
rack. Season after season, a greater proportion of the annual buck
harvest has been made of adult bucks.
In 2014-15, 57 percent of the bucks taken by hunters were 2½ or older.
“But
to see that number now at nearly 60 percent is remarkable,” Laroche
said. “It goes to show what antler restrictions have accomplished –
they’ve created a Pennsylvania where every deer hunter
in the woods has a real chance of taking the buck of a lifetime.”
While
the 137,580 bucks taken in 2015-16 is a sharp increase over 2014-15, it
compares to a 2013-14 estimate of 134,280 bucks. In 2014-15, a number
of factors including poor weather on key hunting
days and limited deer movements due to exceptionally abundant mast
contributed to a reduced deer harvest overall.
The
decrease in the 2015-16 antlerless harvest was a predictable outcome,
given that 33,000 fewer antlerless licenses were allocated statewide in
2015-16, compared to the previous year.
Reducing
the allocation within a Wildlife Management Unit allows deer numbers to
grow there. Records show it takes an allocation of about four
antlerless licenses to harvest one antlerless deer,
and the success rate for antlerless-deer hunters again was consistent
at about 25 percent in 2015-16.
Game Commission Executive Director R. Matthew Hough congratulated deer
hunters on their successes afield during the 2015-16 seasons.
“While the Game Commission again reduced the number of antlerless
licenses that were allocated in 2015-16, and the antlerless harvest
dropped accordingly, as expected, the overall increase in the harvest –
and, in particular, the buck harvest – show this was
another outstanding deer season in Pennsylvania,” Hough said. “The
pictures I’ve seen of trophy bucks this season came from all over the
Commonwealth – including the big woods of the northcentral – and they
were jaw-dropping and impressive. And the best news
is there are plenty of new memories waiting to be made when deer
hunters get back out there in the coming license year.”
Harvest
estimates are based on more than 24,000 deer checked by Game Commission
personnel and more than 100,000 harvest reports submitted by successful
hunters. Because some harvests go unreported,
estimates provide a more accurate picture of hunter success. However,
in 2015-16 the rate at which successful hunters reported their harvests
increased slightly.
The
antlerless harvest included about 63 percent adult females, about 20
percent button bucks and about 17 percent doe fawns. The rates are
similar to long-term averages.
Agency
staff currently is working to develop 2016-17 antlerless deer license
allocation recommendations, which will be considered at the April 5
meeting of the Board of Game Commissioners. Wayne
Laroche, Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management director, said
that in addition to harvest data, staff will be looking at deer health
measures, forest regeneration and deer-human conflicts for each WMU.
Total deer harvest estimates by WMU for 2015-16 (with 2014-15 figures in parentheses) are as follows:
WMU 1A: 6,000 (5,100) antlered, 9,100 (10,800) antlerless;
WMU 1B: 6,900 (5,800) antlered, 7,700 (8,800) antlerless;
WMU 2A: 6,500 (5,100) antlered, 10,500 (9,600) antlerless;
WMU 2B: 5,200 (4,300) antlered, 15,000 (13,000) antlerless;
WMU 2C: 9,100 (7,000) antlered, 8,490 (9,029) antlerless;
WMU 2D: 12,300 (11,400) antlered, 15,700 (16,400) antlerless;
WMU 2E: 4,700 (4,400) antlered, 5,300 (5,600) antlerless;
WMU 2F: 7,000 (6,000) antlered, 5,400 (5,900) antlerless;
WMU 2G: 6,100 (4,800) antlered, 4,100 (4,700) antlerless;
WMU 2H: 1,400 (1,700) antlered, 1,400 (1,100) antlerless;
WMU 3A: 4,300 (3,300) antlered, 4,000 (4,300) antlerless;
WMU 3B: 6,800 (6,000) antlered, 7,400 (8,100) antlerless;
WMU 3C: 7,600 (6,500) antlered, 10,500 (10,300) antlerless;
WMU 3D: 3,500 (4,200) antlered, 3,700 (5,200) antlerless;
WMU 4A: 5,100 (3,300) antlered, 8,670 (6,805) antlerless;
WMU 4B: 5,700 (4,600) antlered, 7,000 (5,600) antlerless;
WMU 4C: 5,400 (4,800) antlered, 5,000 (5,000) antlerless;
WMU 4D: 7,200 (6,500) antlered, 7,443 (6,848) antlerless;
WMU 4E: 6,200 (5,800) antlered, 6,900 (5,900) antlerless;
WMU 5A: 2,900 (2,400) antlered, 4,600 (3,300) antlerless;
WMU 5B: 8,000 (6,900) antlered, 11,500 (12,400) antlerless;
WMU 5C: 7,400 (8,000) antlered, 13,600 (22,200) antlerless;
WMU 5D: 2,200 (1,300) antlered, 5,200 (3,800) antlerless; and
Unknown WMU: 80 (60) antlered, 30 (31) antlerless.
Season-specific 2015-16 deer harvest estimates (with 2014-15 harvest estimates in parentheses) are as follows:
WMU 1A: archery, 2,610 (2,320) antlered, 2,480 (2,350) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 90 (80) antlered, 1,120 (1,050) antlerless.
WMU 1B: archery, 2,560 (2,270) antlered, 1,480 (1,340) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (30) antlered, 720 (560) antlerless.
WMU 2A: archery, 2,160 (1,940) antlered, 2,110 (2,020) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (60) antlered, 1,390 (1,280) antlerless.
WMU 2B: archery, 3,750 (3,060) antlered, 7,880 (6,610) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (40) antlered, 920 (890) antlerless.
WMU 2C: archery, 3,130 (2,740) antlered, 1,687 (1,776) antlerless; muzzleloader, 70 (60) antlered, 1,066 (1,040) antlerless.
WMU 2D: archery, 4,780 (4,510) antlered, 2,330 (2,650) antlerless; muzzleloader, 120 (90) antlered, 1,970 (2,150) antlerless.
WMU 2E: archery, 1,460 (1,460) antlered, 800 (780) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (40) antlered, 700 (720) antlerless.
WMU 2F: archery, 1,860 (1,730) antlered, 780 (960) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (70) antlered, 720 (840) antlerless.
WMU 2G: archery, 1,340 (1,050) antlered, 800 (850) antlerless; muzzleloader, 60 (50) antlered, 700 (850) antlerless.
WMU 2H: archery, 290 (380) antlered, 250 (140) antlerless; muzzleloader, 10 (20) antlered, 250 (160) antlerless.
WMU 3A: archery, 1,180 (870) antlered, 760 (540) antlerless; muzzleloader, 20 (30) antlered, 640 (460) antlerless.
WMU 3B: archery, 2,320 (1,950) antlered, 1,620 (1,500) antlerless; muzzleloader, 80 (50) antlered, 1,180 (1,200) antlerless.
WMU 3C: archery, 2,060 (1,660) antlered, 1,940 (1,780) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (40) antlered, 1,460 (1,420) antlerless.
WMU 3D: archery, 1,060 (1,350) antlered, 980 (960) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (50) antlered, 520 (440) antlerless.
WMU 4A: archery, 960 (740) antlered, 1,401 (1,057) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (60) antlered, 1,285 (1,096) antlerless.
WMU 4B: archery, 1,660 (1,650) antlered, 1,400 (1,190) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (50) antlered, 800 (710) antlerless.
WMU 4C: archery, 2,150 (1,840) antlered, 1,380 (1,240) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (60) antlered, 620 (660) antlerless.
WMU 4D: archery, 1,840 (1,920) antlered, 1,714 (1,356) antlerless; muzzleloader, 60 (80) antlered, 968 (913) antlerless.
WMU 4E: archery, 2,150 (2,070) antlered, 1,340 (1,070) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (30) antlered, 760 (630) antlerless.
WMU 5A: archery, 880 (960) antlered, 1,010 (720) antlerless; muzzleloader, 20 (40) antlered, 590 (380) antlerless.
WMU 5B: archery, 4,430 (3,730) antlered, 3,790 (3,920) antlerless; muzzleloader, 70 (70) antlered, 1,010 (1,180) antlerless.
WMU 5C: archery, 4,880 (4,790) antlered, 6,310 (10,210) antlerless; muzzleloader, 120 (110) antlered, 1,090 (1,490) antlerless.
WMU 5D: archery, 1,770 (990) antlered, 3,440 (2,730) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (10) antlered, 160 (70) antlerless.
Unknown WMU: archery, 0 (40) antlered, 10 (0) antlerless; muzzleloader, 0 (0) antlered, 0 (0) antlerless.
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