Pennsylvania hunting restrictions are working

By TOM KANE

HARRISBURG, PA — Last year, the Pennsylvania Game Commission put restrictions on the killing of bucks.

With the new restrictions, hunters can’t kill a buck with fewer than three points on at least one antler, thus allowing the buck to grow a larger antler rack. Deer season began in Pennsylvania this past Monday, November 29.

This will be second year of the restriction and it’s working, according to Gary Alt, head of the deer management program for the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC).

He said that in just one year of the antler restrictions, slaughterhouse surveys are showing larger antler racks.

“By increasing the number and age of bucks in the deer population, a more natural breeding ecology will be established,” Alt said in a recent publication on the PGC’s website.

This will give more balance to the antler buck-to-doe ratio. Breeding will be done by a more mature deer and not by fawns, he said. Fawns should be fattening themselves up and not spending their energy breeding.

In addition to a better balancing of the herd, another motive is aesthetic.

“The antler restriction is designed to move more bucks into the next age class, thus producing more trophy-size racks,” said Mike Schmit, PGC deputy director.

This is also the third year that hunters can hunt antlerless deer, or doe, along with antlered deer. Instead of only two days of doe season, after the two-week buck season as was traditionally the policy, the commission created the concurrent season.

Hunters can also apply for up to two bonus tags for potential harvest of three does and one buck.

“We’re trying to restrict the overall deer population by allowing more does to be harvested, yet at same time encouraging more bucks with bigger racks,” Schmit said.

It’s useful to encourage more people to hunt by making the rewards and the racks bigger, he said.