By Mike Bleech

The 2003-04 deer hunting seasons yielded the fourth-highest harvest on record, and that does not even include deer taken under the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). Pennsylvania hunters harvested 464,840 deer, which included 322,620 antlerless deer and 142,220 antlered bucks.

How did this figure into the Pennsylvania Game Commission deer management plan?

"I think we're pretty much on track," said Dr. Gary Alt, head of the PGC's Deer Management Section.

Basic goals of current deer management are to decrease buck harvests and to increase doe harvests. That has been accomplished. The buck harvest has dropped from around 200,000 before antler restrictions to about 140,000 last year, while the antlerless deer harvest has risen from 282,767 to 322,620 last year. However, the antlerless harvest has not increased enough to significantly reduce the population statewide. Of the 22 wildlife management units, the deer population has dropped in just two (units 2E and 2F).

"Statewide, the herd is almost rock steady. Last season's harvest taught us that we have to be a little more aggressive," Alt said.

The Game Commission also started getting more aggressive last year with the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP).

DMAP takes management to the individual property level by assigning permits for harvesting deer beyond the antlerless license allocations. It is open to public lands and to private lands that are enrolled in one of the Game Commission's hunter access programs. Once accepted into DMAP, landowners are given coupons for antlerless deer harvest permits. Coupons are assigned at a rate of one coupon for each five acres of land in agricultural operations, or one coupon for each 50 acres of other lands.

Applicants may request more coupons, but they must submit management plans that state the objectives the landowners hope to accomplish and what other measures they are taking to control deer, such as fencing.

"DMAP areas are critical," Alt explained. "These are areas where landowners have a problem."

Photo by BillKinney.com

Landowners or public lands managers are responsible for distributing the coupons to hunters. These coupons may not be sold. Hunters then submit forms to the Game Commission in exchange for antlerless deer permits. The cost to hunters, either residents or non-residents, is $6 for each permit. Hunters may possess only one permit for a specific DMAP area in any given license year.

DMAP antlerless deer permits differ from antlerless licenses in that they are good only on specified property, and the Game Commission can assign them. Regular antlerless licenses may only be assigned by county treasurers.

DMAP has the potential to increase the amount of private land that is open to public hunting. It is part of Alt's plan to demonstrate that hunters can control the deer population, even though there has been considerable effort in some areas to attempt to remove hunters from this process.

DMAP had limited success during the initial year. Only about 1,086 of Pennsylvania's total 45,000 square miles were enrolled in the program last year. In some areas, landowners and land managers could not get all of the coupons distributed. The Game Commission issued a total of 31,784 coupons, but only 23,548 were redeemed by hunters, resulting in a harvest of 6,168 antlerless deer.

The harvest rate for DMAP coupons was six deer per square mile, compared to seven deer per square mile with regular antlerless deer licenses. The combination of 13 deer harvested per square mile demonstrated to landowners that the program could work to their benefit.

Alt noted that more lands should qualify for DMAP this year.

Will there be more new steps in the near future if current programs do not reduce the deer population?

One possibility Alt mentioned is allowing hunters to use rifles during the October antlerless deer season.

"We know that a healthy deer herd can double its numbers in two years, so if you do overharvest them, they can recover."

The Game Commission will begin a reforestation study this January in the Northcentral Region. This area has a problem that was clearly identified by a study performed by Penn State. Researchers discovered (by equipping deer hunters with GPS units) that very few wander more than one-third of a mile away from the nearest road. A recent survey indicated that hunters are not having a serious impact on deer numbers in the interior of the large forested areas.

Antlerless deer license allocations will increase from 973,000 last year to 1,039,000 this year. While this is the largest antlerless license allocation in history, it is less than 1 percent more than the previous high.

"In general, we're trying to reduce the statewide deer population by about 5 percent," Alt stated. "We need to stay the course. We should never lose sight of where we want to be. It is our goal to provide the best deer hunting we can for the future. I think the best days of deer hunting are yet to come."

While acknowledging that not all hunters are happy with current management goals, Alt feels that hunters are becoming increasingly accepting of these goals, and that this trend will continue as hunters see the quality of deer improve.

Here's a region-by-region look at what Keystone State deer hunters can expect in 2004:

Westmoreland County led the state with a total harvest of 14,670 deer and 10,320 antlerless deer. It ranked third with 4,350 bucks, a 9 percent increase from the previous year. This was among the few times Westmoreland County has topped the state's deer harvest.

Washington County ranked sixth in the state with a total harvest of 13,050 deer and eighth for 8,380 antlerless deer. Somerset County was seventh in the state with 12,720 total deer and sixth with 8,950 antlerless deer. Indiana County ranked eighth in the state with 12,690 total deer and seventh with 8,250 antlerless deer.

Barry Zaffuto, Land Management supervisor in the Southwest Region, said that the PGC's management plan is working. The northeast corner of the region, which is in Wildlife Management Unit 2E, is one of the few areas of the state where the deer population has effectively been reduced.

The last winter was rough here, as it was in most of the state, Zaffuto said. However, this probably will have very little impact on the 2004 hunting season, at least on a wide scale.

This is the state's smallest region, but that does not account for the lower numbers. Deer densities in the southeast part of the region are relatively low, but this does not mean deer numbers are low throughout the region.

"In Bedford County, for example, deer numbers are way too high," said Don Garner, Information and Education supervisor for the region.

Bedford County led the regional harvest with 10,890 total deer, ninth in the state, including 7,590 antlerless deer and 3,300 antlered deer. That total harvest was an 11 percent decline from the prior year.

Huntingdon County ranked second in the region with a harvest of 9,420 total deer, which was 15th in the state.

Berks County has become one of the leading deer counties in the state, which might have seemed surprising a few years ago. It ranked third in the state with a total harvest of 13,730 deer with 9,650 antlerless deer. While the buck harvest dropped more than 2 percent, the antlerless deer harvest increased 21 percent.

York County ranked second in the region and 11th in the state with a total harvest of 10,620 deer. Schuylkill County was third in the region for 9,280 total deer. These three counties accounted for 45 percent of the total deer harvest in the Southeast Region.

In spite of liberal antlerless deer license availability, the special regulations area consisting of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties had a total harvest of only 18,200 deer.

Bradford County led the region, as usual, with a total harvest of 14,280 deer, 9,730 antlerless deer and 4,550 antlered deer, ranking second in the state in all three categories. The total harvest was a drop of 13 percent from the previous year when Bradford County led the state.

Susquehanna County was second in the region for a total harvest of 9,210 deer, 14th in the state. Luzerne County was third with 8,880 total deer.

According to Tim Conway, Information and Education supervisor for the Northeast Region, the regional deer population is stable and perhaps increasing in some areas. Monroe, Lackawanna and Luzerne counties have areas where deer are increasing because they cannot be hunted. Bradford County is usually good because it has a good mix of forest and farmland habitat.

Conway rated deer hunting prospects for this fall "excellent to good in most spots."

Clearfield County led the region with a total harvest of 13,580 deer, fourth-best in the state, an antlerless harvest of 9,610 deer and a buck harvest of 3,970 deer. Tioga County ranked second in the region, 12th in the state, with a total harvest of 10,200 deer. Potter County was third in the region and 13th in the state with 10,040 total deer. Centre County was fourth and 14th in the state with 9,530 total deer.

Information and Education supervisor Dan Marks noted that Clearfield County had a high deer population, but Clinton County had a decreased population. Mast was poor last fall and the winter was rough, but no serious winter mortality was observed.

Wildlife Management Unit 2F, which includes most of the eastern side of this region, is one of only two WMUs in which the deer population has decreased. The reason behind this was probably the most successful DMAP area in the state: Allegheny National Forest.

Crawford County led the region for the 2003-04 hunting seasons with a total harvest of 13,550 deer, fourth best in the state (9,440 antlerless deer and 4,110 antlered deer). Butler County ranked second in the region, (10th in the state), with a total harvest of 10,680 deer. Warren County was a close third in the region at 9,410 total deer.