Pennsylvania hunters harvested about 11-percent more deer in the 2024-25 hunting seasons than they did the year before, according to Pennsylvania Game Commission estimates released late last month. Across the state, roughly 28 percent of hunters took an antlered deer. That’s the highest success rate since at least the late 1980s. And, as has become the norm since the implementation of antler point restrictions, most of those bucks were older ones. Two of every three were at least 2.5-years old. That’s a huge change from decades ago, when most of the harvest was made of up 1.5-year-old deer.
The statewide 2024-25 harvest is estimated at 476,880 deer, 175,280 of them antlered deer and 301,600 antlerless. By comparison, the statewide 2023-24 harvest was estimated at 430,010 deer.
Most of that year-over-year increase is attributable to the antlerless deer harvest. The 2024-25 buck take was up 2 percent compared to the year before, and 9 percent over the most recent three-year average. The 2024-25 antlerless harvest increased 17 percent over last year and 21 percent above the three-year average.
Far from cause for concern, that was partly by design, said Game Commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook. The Game Commission’s objective was to reduce deer numbers in Wildlife Management Units impacted by Chronic Wasting Disease, where deer impacts on forest health are occurring and where populations are increasing, contrary to objectives.
Beyond that, he said, many variables can impact harvest totals from one year to the next. That’s why wildlife managers, out of necessity, take the long view and evaluate numbers in each management unit.
“Harvest estimates can fluctuate from year to year from a number of factors, so we caution reading too much into annual variation in harvest,” Stainbrook said. “The trends in data are what give a truer picture of what’s going on. We manage deer over longer periods of time, for example looking at six-year population trends.”
Hunters play a critical role in managing Pennsylvania’s deer populations, said Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith. By buying their hunting licenses, obtaining available antlerless deer tags and filling them, hunters help guide local deer populations toward target levels.
“Pennsylvania’s hunting heritage is strong, and deer season reliably brings immeasurable enjoyment to hundreds of thousands of hunters who spend fall and winter days afield with family and friends, celebrating tradition,” Smith said. “But those hunters also are key to managing an important resource so many of us care about. We rely on their commitment to conservation and they deserve our thanks.”
Meanwhile, hunters turned about 26 percent of antlerless tags into a harvested deer. That’s consistent with past seasons. So, too, is the fact that about 69 percent of those deer were adult females.
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