Deer harvest in Pennsylvania for 2011-12 up 6 percent from 2010-11
The Pennsylvania Game Commission today said preliminary harvest reports show a 6 percent increase in the number of deer killed in the state during the 2011-12 hunting seasons.
Hunters killed 336,200 deer, or 9,960 more than during the 2010-11 seasons, according to the preliminary data. Antlered deer harvests increased in 13 of the state’s 22 wildlife management units including unit 1B, which consists of all of Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Venango and Warren counties.
There were 6,000 reported antlered deer kills in unit 1B, 500 more than a year ago. There also were 9,500 antlerless deer kills reported in 1B, or 300 more than a year ago.
Unit 1A, which includes southwestern Crawford County, western Venango County and all of Mercer County among its six counties, saw a decrease of 700 antlered deer to 5,200 from a year ago, and a decrease of 2,100 antlerless deer from 2010-11. Unit 2F, loosely described as the Allegheny National Forest region, had reports of 5,400 antlered deer — down 1,000 from 2010-11 — and 6,700 antlerless deer, or 1,000 more than a year ago.
The most deer were killed in unit 2D, a seven-county region centered in Clarion, Armstrong and Butler counties. There were 11,100 antlered deer and 19,300 antlerless deer reported killed there. Both figures are down from the 2010-11 harvest report.
The Game Commission said hunters in the state killed a total of 127,540 antlered deer in the 2011-12 seasons, an increase of 4 percent from the 122,930 that were killed in 2010-11. Hunters killed 208,660 antlerless deer, the commission said, an increase of 8 percent from the 193,310 antlerless deer killed a year earlier.
The commission said yearling bucks made up half of the antlered harvest, and 21/2-year-old or older bucks the other half.
“Current antler restrictions have achieved their objective to protect most yearling bucks from harvest and allow them to reach at least 2.5 years of age,” said Calvin W. DuBrock, Bureau of Wildlife Management director. “In recent years, the composition of the antlered harvest has hovered around a 50-50 split between yearling and two-and-a-half-year-old and older bucks.”
A quarter of hunters who were issued antlerless licenses were successful, which the commission said is on par with other recent seasons. About 21 percent of the antlerless harvest came in the form of button bucks; the average has been 21 percent 24 percent for the past 15 years.
Adult does made up 60 percent of the antlerless harvest and doe fawns 19 percent, which the commission said is within the annual range of 18 to 20 percent for the past 15 years.
Estimates are based on 114,000 hunter reports submitted by mail, phone or online. Reporting rates are determined by cross-referencing reports with data collected from 26,000 deer examined by commission personnel in the field and at processors.
By comparison, the New York deer harvest was down 1 percent and the Ohio deer harvest was down significantly from 2010-11.
Check out photos of some of the trophies killed in and around northwestern Pennsylvania during 2011-12 here and by searching Deer of the Day in the Posts by Category area on the right-hand side of this page.
0 评论: