This morning, thousands of hunters in Schuylkill County will don their blaze orange and head into the woods for the start of Pennsylvania rifle deer season.
Pennsylvania Game Commission expects Saturday to be the busiest day of deer hunting in the calendar year.
Rifle deer season in Pennsylvania starts today and extends until Dec. 9. There is no hunting permitted on Dec. 3.
“Pennsylvania’s firearms deer season is truly a tradition unlike any other, Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans says in a press statement. “We’ve got lots of deer and lots of hunters pursuing them, some from camps far from home, others in woodlots and fields near where they live. But all share the same passion for wildlife, hunting and conservation. That’s something special.”
Here are some interesting fast facts about rifle deer season in Pennsylvania:
- Hunter Density: Pennsylvania leads the country with 14.4 hunters per square mile as of 2021.
- Hunter Participation: Approximately half a million people participate in Pennsylvania’s rifle deer season annually.
- Deer Harvest Ranking: In 2021, Pennsylvania was in the top five states for several categories, including:
- Antlered buck harvest
- Antlered buck harvest per square mile
- Antlerless deer harvest
- Antlerless deer harvest per square mile
- Antlerless deer per antlered buck harvest
- 2022-23 Deer Harvest: An estimated total of 422,960 white-tailed deer were harvested, including:
- 164,190 bucks
- 258,770 antlerless deer
- Buck Harvest Trend: The buck harvest in the 2022-23 season was 2% higher than the recent three-year average.
- Antlered Deer Age Shift: Now, over 60% of the antlered harvest is made up of bucks 2.5 years old or older, compared to 80% being 1.5-year-old yearlings in the past.
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When you’ve harvested your deer this year, share the big news with the Coal Region Canary audience. Fill out the form below (with up to 3 photos) and we’ll post your harvest.
Photo credit: Canva
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