Finally, some good news. Well, if you live or hunt in Pennsylvania, that is.
According to recent forecasts and opinions from the National Deer Association, if you plan on chasing whitetails in Pennsylvania this year, you are in for a treat.
Following a relatively mild winter, mortality rates are down and recruitment rates are up in the Keystone State. According to Kip Adams, chief conservation officer with the National Deer Association, these factors along with generous helpings of antlerless licenses make for a perfect storm of deer hunting opportunities.
“It was a very easy winter. Even up here in the northern part of the state where I am, I didn’t get to go ice fishing. We had ice for a very short period of time, only a week or two,” Adams said.
“Across the state we had a very mild winter and that will absolutely play into healthier deer this spring and increase fawn recruitment rates. Deer had a super easy winter and I think we will see the effects of that this fall. Any place you have a good growing season after an easy winter, you tend to see even larger antlers per age class on those bucks and even healthier does. Hunters are in for a good treat this fall.”
In PA, hunters are limited to just one buck per year and this policy alone leads to incredible results when it comes to nurturing a population of mature bucks. The compounding effects of this policy has resulted in Pennsylvania becoming one of the premier locations in the country to shoot a mature whitetail buck.
When it comes to shooting does, the Game Commission, through its abundant Deer Management Assistance Program permits, is allocating for nearly 1.1 million antlerless deer licenses this year alone. This is the highest allocation of doe licenses ever recorded and is yet another testament to the opportunities available to PA hunters.
“Pennsylvania has tremendous hunting opportunities. We have abundant deer. We have very high deer densities. And from a hunter standpoint, we have lots of opportunities to pursue them. Our bag limits are very liberal from the antlerless side,” said Adams.
Chronic wasting disease, it seems, remains the only threat to the flourishing flock of whitetails in the state and is something wildlife officials are not taking lightly. With so much invested in their whitetail programming, new Disease Monitoring Areas have been established based on previous year testing results.
Putting a cap on the amount of infected deer is about the only thing officials can do to contain the deadly disease. Pennsylvania’s archery season is set to kick off next month.
