Hunters' Increase in Buck Kills Leads to Greater Deer Harvest

By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Four things stand out in the Pennsylvania Game Commission's estimates of the 2010-2011 deer harvest.

• The final annihilation of the deer herd didn't come to pass.
• Hunters are shooting more older bucks than ever.
• Split seasons may or may not be a good idea, but they don't lead to as many dead deer as concurrent ones.
• And crossbows are popular, but perhaps reaching their peak.

According to information released this past week, hunters killed 316,240 deer in 2010-11. That's 2 percent more than they took the previous season, when the harvest was pegged at 308,920.

A jump in the buck kill accounted for the difference. In 2009-10, hunters killed 108,330. Game Commissioner Tom Boop said at the agency's January board meeting that he expected that number to be less than 100,000 after the most recent seasons, based on what he'd heard from hunters.

Instead, the buck kill totaled 122,930, an increase of 13 percent.

Hunters thrived in certain areas. The kill rose by 20 percent in wildlife management units 2F, 3D, 4C, 4D and 5C, and by 31 percent in units 2C and 2G.

Statistics prove hunters are taking more older bucks than at any time in recent memory, too. A breakdown of the harvest revealed that 52 percent of the bucks taken were 2 1/2 years old or older. That's the highest percentage recorded in the past 30 years.

Where the deer kill did go down was with antlerless deer. In 2009-10, hunters took 220,590 does. Last year, they took 193,310 does, or 4 percent fewer.

Commission executive director Carl Roe said that was attributable to fewer doe licenses issued and shorter seasons.

Commissioners expanded the number of wildlife management units where doe season started on the first Saturday of the season last fall, an expansion of an "experiment" to see whether hunters could take as many does in six days as 12. The answer again was no. The overall doe harvest declined for the third time in the past four years, as commissioners have incrementally increased the number of units with split seasons.

As for the archery take, the overall harvest was up 13 percent. Crossbows played a big role in that, but their meteoric rise as a factor slowed.

Hunters armed with horizontal bows accounted for 15 percent of the archery harvest in 2008-09. That doubled, to 30 percent, in 2009-10, when crossbows were legalized statewide for the first time.

This past season that percentage went up again, but just by 4 points, to 34 percent.