Pennsylvania Game Commission Releases Deer Harvest Estimates

By Justin Stakes

Harvests increased statewide in 2015-16, report shows.

Harrisburg, PA -(AmmoLand.com)- 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 …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand