Pennsylvania hunters harvested an estimated 315,813 deer during the 2015-16 seasons, about 4 percent more than the 2014-15 harvest of 303,973.
The 137,580 antlered deer taken shows 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, about 4 percent decrease compared to the 184,713 antlerless deer taken in 2014-15.
The percentage of older bucks in the harvest could 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 2 1/2 years old or older, making for the highest percentage of adult bucks in the harvest in decades.
The trend of more adult bucks in the harvest started when antler restrictions were put into place, according to Game Commission Wildlife Management Director Wayne Laroche. More yearling bucks are making it past 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 2 1/2 years or older.
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 because of exceptionally abundant mast available led to a reduced deer harvest overall.
The decrease in the 2015-16 antlerless harvest was predictable with 33,000 fewer antlerless licenses 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 was consistent at about 25 percent in 2015-16.
“While the Game Commission again reduced the number of antlerless licenses allocated in 2015-16, and the antlerless harvest dropped accordingly, the overall increase in the harvest – and, in particular, the buck harvest – show this was another outstanding deer season in Pennsylvania,” said Game Commission Executive Director R. Matthew Hough.
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. For additional information on Pennsylvania’s 2015-16 deer harvest visit www.pgc.state.pa.