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<p>A 10 percent increase in the overall deer harvest last season isn&#8217;t a surprise to several representatives with local conservation organizations. Some feel the spike reflects a deer herd with high numbers, but the sentiment was mixed when it comes to the population on public and private land.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Game Commission released its deer harvest report for the 2017-18 season on Tuesday. It revealed not only a 10 percent hike in the overall overharvest, but a 10 percent increase in the buck harvest as well.</p><p>Overall, hunters harvested an estimated 367,159 deer in the 2017-18 seasons, which easily topped the overall deer harvest of 333,254 in the 2016-17 seasons. Across the 23 Wildlife Management Units (WMU) used by the Game Commission to manage whitetails, the deer harvest decreased in only three units.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been low for the last four or five years, so an increase had to come sometime,&#8221; said Chip Sorber of the North Mountain Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association. &#8220;In the suburbs and farm areas there are a lot of deer. I think the harvest reflects those areas more than the big woods.&#8221;</p><p>The 2017-18 buck harvest totaled 163,750, representing a 10 percent increase over the 2016-17 buck harvest of 149,460. It is the second largest harvest of bucks since antler restrictions were put in place in 2002. The largest harvest &#8211; 165,416 &#8211; occurred in the first year of antler restrictions.</p><p>The 2017-18 buck harvest also compares well with big buck harvests in Pennsylvania since the Game Commission began using calculated harvests in 1986. From that perspective, the 2017-18 buck harvest ranks as the 10th best.</p><p>Dennis Grimes, president of the Luzerne County Federation of Sportsmen&#8217;s Clubs, credited former PGC biologist Gary Alt for the improved buck harvest. Alt implemented antler restrictions years ago, Grimes said, which is a big contributor to the buck harvest.</p><p>Grimes was also happy to see the overall harvest on the rise because he feels the deer population is up.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen so many deer as this year,&#8221; said Grimes, who hunts on private land in the Wyalusing area. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad the harvest was as good as it was. Generally, our delegates said they all had a satisfying season.&#8221;</p><p>The antlerless deer portion of the 2017-18 harvest also increased. Totaling 203,409, the antlerless harvest was up 11 percent over the 2016-17 antlerless harvest of 183,794. The 2017 antlerless license allocation increased about 7 percent over 2016&#8217;s allocation.</p><p>About 64 percent of the antlerless deer harvest was adult females; button-bucks comprised 19 percent and doe fawns made up 17 percent.</p><p>Steve Germick, habitat chairman for the NEPA Chapter of Whitetails Unlimited, said shooting too many bucks could be a bad thing as it might skew the buck-to-doe ratio.</p><p>For that reason, and the fact that he&#8217;s been seeing more deer where he hunts in WMU 3B, Germick would like to see the antlerless harvest continue to increase.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of people will disagree, but I&#8217;d like to see the antlerless season in 3B run concurrent with bucks for the two weeks of rifle season,&#8221; Germick said. &#8220;We need to keep the doe population in check so you have a healthy deer herd and habitat.&#8221;</p><p>Sorber disagreed with any move to increase the doe harvest, especially on State Game Lands 13 and 57 where he hunts. In fact, Sorber suggested there shouldn&#8217;t even be an antlerless season in those areas.</p><p>&#8220;If I see two deer in the big woods, that&#8217;s a lot,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I agree that the 10 percent increase in the harvest is accurate, but it&#8217;s not on public property. On public lands the deer numbers are down and have been for the last 10 years.&#8221;</p><p>In what is becoming an annual occurrence, bowhunters accounted for about a third of Pennsylvania&#8217;s 2017-18 overall deer harvest, taking 118,110 deer (62,830 bucks and 55,280 antlerless deer) with either bows or crossbows. The archery harvest also increased 10 percent over 2016-17&#8217;s total harvest of 109,250.</p><p>Good fortune also came to muzzleloader hunters, who took 23,490 deer (1,310 bucks) in the 2017-18 seasons. This harvest also represented an about 10 percent increase in overall muzzleloader harvest.</p><p>The percentage of older bucks in the 2017-18 deer harvest remained high. About 57 percent of the bucks taken by hunters were at least 2&#189; years old. The remainder were 1&#189; years old.</p><p>Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans found the latest harvest news from Pennsylvania&#8217;s deer woods to be indicative of the big bucks and good deer hunting that can be found in the state&#8217;s forests and from farming valley to farming valley.</p><p>&#8220;Everywhere I go, hunters are telling me about and showing me photos of the trophy bucks they took last season,&#8221; Burhans said. &#8220;It&#8217;s something that started months ago and hasn&#8217;t stopped. I consider it a pleasure to share their excitement and see their pride.&#8221;</p><p>Agency staff currently is working to develop its 2018 antlerless deer license recommendations, which will be considered at the April 24 meeting of the Board of Game Commissioners.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The antlered deer harvest for 2017-18 increased by 10 percent over the previous year, according to figures released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_deer3.jpg</photo0><caption0>The antlered deer harvest for 2017-18 increased by 10 percent over the previous year, according to figures released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Overall harvest and buck harvest each up 10 percent over 2016-17 season</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>2017-18 deer harvests for WMUs in the northeast region</p><p>Total deer harvests (with 2016-17 figures in parentheses):</p><p>3B - 8,900 (7,500) antlered; 7,000 (7,300) antlerless</p><p>3C - 8,700 (8,600) antlered; 11,900 (11,000) antlerless</p><p>3D - 4,700 (4,300) antlered; 4,200 (4,200) antlerless</p><p>4C - 6,800 (6,400) antlered; 6,500 (5,300) antlerless</p><p>4E - 8,200 (7,300) antlered; 8,700 (7,500) antlerless</p><p>Season-specific 2017-18 harvest estimates:</p><p>WMU 3B: archery, 3,030 (2,440) antlered, 1,560 (1,380) antlerless; muzzleloader, 70 (60) antlered, 1,040 (1,020) antlerless.</p><p>WMU 3C: archery, 2,530 (2,340) antlered, 2,200 (1,880) antlerless; muzzleloader, 70 (60) antlered, 1,400 (1,220) antlerless.</p><p>WMU 3D: archery, 1,550 (1,470) antlered, 1,230 (1,060) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (30) antlered, 570 (440) antlerless.</p><p>WMU 4C: archery, 2,770 (2,570) antlered, 1,800 (1,380) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (30) antlered, 700 (620) antlerless.</p><p>WMU 4D: archery, 3,020 (2,420) antlered, 1,920 (1,629) antlerless; muzzleloader, 80 (80) antlered, 1,080 (876) antlerless.</p><p>WMU 4E: archery, 3,040 (2,750) antlered, 1,870 (1,570) antlerless; muzzleloader, 60 (50) antlered, 1,030 (730) antlerless.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Deer harvest numbers increased over last season