Aug 15, 2020 4 min read

Game Commission should read hunter education manual

I am writing in support of the recent articles by George Block regarding his concerns with the Pennsylvania Game Commission for extending the Archery Deer Season another week into the deer’s mating season.

Last hunting season, approximately 45% of the antlered deer harvest was done during the archery season. The antlered deer archery mortality likely approached, and perhaps surpassed, 50% when consideration is given to those bucks that were ultimately killed but not recovered by the hunter. The deer biologists have determined that the average date of conception for the female deer in Pennsylvania is mid-November. Who could possibly believe that removing approximately half of the male deer harvest before the completion of the breeding season is a good idea? The extension of the archery deer season another week into the height of the mating season will almost certainly assure the annual archery buck harvest will exceed half of the total male harvest.

The primary goal of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Antler Restrictions Program is to improve the natural breeding ecology of the deer herd. The ARP was implemented to protect most of the 1½-year-old males and then allow these younger bucks to become adults to do a majority of the breeding the following year. Six years after the ARP was initiated, the PGC biologists were pleased that the male age structure had matured and the desired improved natural breeding order was established. At that time, the archery buck harvest had only risen to about 25% and a majority of the mating was done by the adult males. However, increased archery hunting pressure, better archery equipment, and a longer season into the peak of the rut predictably allows the less mature 1½-year-old males to do a majority of the breeding again. The benefit of protecting the younger bucks to become adult deer is negated if the older buck is killed before mating. Who could possibly believe that removing approximately half or more of the male deer harvest before the completion of the breeding season is a good idea?

A team of deer management professionals prepared a briefing paper for the PGC Board of Directors that recommended that Board consider three other options in lieu of adding an additional week to the archery season into the peak of the rut. The PGC provided statistics and concerns regarding the proposal. One statistic provided is that bucks are harvested at a greater than 2-to-1 ratio over the doe harvest during the last two weeks of the archery season. The additional week of archery hunting during mating season will continue to increase this imbalance as bucks become much more vulnerable during the height of the rut. An expressed concern was that as the already higher success rate of the archer continues to rise, hunter participation during the rifle season might also continue to decline and negatively impact the PGC’s ability to manage deer populations. It is ironic that the PGC Board states that it is trying to increase hunter interest by adding Saturday and Sunday to the start of the rifle season only to reduce the probability of success for the new hunter by authorizing the increase of the archery harvest during the rut prior to the rifle season. The PGC deer management team concluded that the long-term biological effects of the proposal could extend beyond archery season, given the number of uncertainties that they provided in their report. And yet, the PGC Board approved the archery season extension in direct opposition of the deer management professionals who were assigned by the Executive Director of the Board to evaluate the proposal.

Today’s Hunter and Trapper in Pennsylvania is the educational guide for new hunters to study in preparation to pass the hunter safety course that is required to obtain a hunting license in the commonwealth. Chapter 2 of the manual, “Be a Responsible and Ethical Hunter,” states that wildlife management laws are passed to allow game animals to flourish by setting hunting seasons that limit harvesting and avoid nesting and mating seasons. I don’t believe harvesting half of the antlered deer prior to and during the mating season complies with this standard.

The PGC’s primary responsibility is to promote the overall health and welfare of wild birds, mammals and their habitats for current and future generations. One board member recently stated that the PGC always considers wildlife’s needs in setting hunting regulations. Perhaps the hunter education manual should be required reading for the PGC Board of Commissioners.

Joseph C. Wilcox, Jr.

Claysville