Pennsylvania hunters killed an estimated 435,180 deer during the 2020-21 hunting seasons

[left-of-center2012]

Pennsylvania hunters killed an estimated 435,180 deer during the 2020-21 hunting seasons, the state game commission announced Friday.That topped the previous license year’s harvest of 389,431 by about 12%, the agency reported.

The statewide buck harvest of 174,780 last season set a new record for bucks killed in the antler restrictions era. The buck harvest also increased 7% over the previous license year’s buck harvest of 163,240. The antlerless deer harvest for the 2020-21 seasons was 260,400. It exceeded the 2019-20 antlerless deer harvest of 226,191 by 15%. The 2018-19 harvest was 226,940.

Bowhunters accounted for over a third of Pennsylvania’s 2020-21 overall deer harvest, taking 160,480 deer, which includes 80,130 bucks and 80,350 antlerless deer. The 2019-20 archery harvest was 145,908, which included 74,190 bucks and 71,718 antlerless deer. The estimated muzzleloader harvest of 28,270 was down slightly from the previous year’s harvest of 29,604. The 2020-21 muzzleloader harvest included 1,140 antlered bucks compared to 1,260 bucks in 2019-20.

https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-game-commission-says-2020-21-deer-harvest-surpassed-last-years/

[RussellCattle]

1. I'm not a hunter but do think that hunting statistics are interesting. This article tells....

....us that of all the deer shot in PA last year, 40% were bucks. Of those shot with a bow, the figure was 50% bucks. But of those shot with a muzzle loader, the figure drops to only 4% bucks. Hunting with a bow or a muzzle loaded rifle both require more stealth, more skill to approach game more closely, but how does this explain the difference?
OK, now that I have written this so far, I now consider the possibility that the game hunting laws themselves restrict whether a doe can be shot with a particular type of weapon during a particular part of the season. But I still have to wonder how this disparity comes to be.
Pennsylvania Group, can you help this Ohio native out?

[dutch777]

4. Some of this may have to do with the length of the seasons and how the licenses are allocated

I grew up in PA where the first few days of deer season (regular rifle) many school districts just closed because half or more of the kids wouldn't show up anyway. It's a popular "sport" in PA, to say the least. Among my family and friends it was a right of passage and very few boys didn't hunt. At that time (long time ago, deer were mixed with dinosaurs) I think bow hunting season came first, then black powder, then rifle. I think the first two seasons were a couple weeks long, then rifle season started with buck season for two weeks. Anybody who bought a hunting license could participate. But when it came to hunting doe, you had to apply for a special license addendum called a doe permit, and it was by county only and much more limited in number while the base license was good for the whole state and anyone could get one. Doe season in most counties was only a day or two long although they could lengthen it if the weather was terrible or some other factor limited the harvest. The Game Commission had number targets for buck, doe and total kill in order to maintain the health of the state herds. Don't know if all that is still true but suspect its close.

I don't know about the accuracy but I remember reading a long time ago an estimate that when the state of PA still had wolf packs, other predators and allowed farmers to kill any deer that got into their crops or orchards, around 1900, the total deer population of the state of PA was estimated at only about 250,000. Now, in addition to the number killed by hunters, State Farm Insurance actuaries assume 115,000 deer will be hit by cars annually-- usually a fatal interaction for the deer and real messy for the car. Current estimate of the state deer population is 1.5 million and its still climbing most years. My dad's job had him driving all over the state when I was a kid and he averaged about a deer a year hit or near miss in his 60,000 yearly road miles. There were also turkey, pheasant and others that I remember having to pick out in smelly nasty pieces from the grills of his many Ford sedans.

[wcast]

2. My educated guess.

Muzzle Loader season is a late season, when many bucks may have dropped their antlers. Hunters don’t wait for a buck but May shoot a deer based on size or proximity. This was a hard winter for deer where I live as deep snow and snow cover lasted most of the winter. That said deer population is out of control even as they lose habitat. They spend more time in backyards searching for food and many have much less fear of human presence.

[wcast]

3. Meant to reply to post number 1.

N/T