Feb 14, 2026 5 min read
By Dave Bates
Contributing writer
Recently, I’ve been hearing some back and forth about the deer harvest in Pennsylvania. Farmers calling for an increase in the number of deer taken per season because of crop damage are one end of the spectrum. Insurance companies, as well as timber companies, usually tend to echo the same sentiments. Consistently calling for lower numbers of deer per square mile is thought to reduce motor vehicle accidents with deer, crop loss and generally aid with tree re-growth in areas of regenerating timber cuts.
The counter point that I hear a great deal of in sportsmen’s circles is that we’re not seeing as many deer as we used to during the hunting season. Archers, especially since the adoption of crossbows, are getting the best opportunities to harvest quality whitetails early, leaving the rest of the rifle contingency to scrap for the remaining trophies. I’ll occasionally hear the old cry for “no doe hunting.” Some hunters tend to pass on deer of “inferior quality” choosing to hold out for Mr. Big. The intent, it would seem, is to push for a deer herd that is both larger in population as well as in individual size per animal. To that end, it might get us to thinking that fewer deer are being killed each season, leaving an overall greater population remaining.
Thus far, I have discussed feelings rather than substance. The real question might be, “What do the numbers say?” I’m a baseball guy through and through and I live and die on the diamond by the numbers. But numbers can basically say anything we want them to. Talk to two different sides of the gun control issue and you will hear two very different sides of the same argument stemming from a radically different analysis of the same data. Sometimes the numbers are very much what the proponent would like them to be. Most of my statistical pool of numbers comes from Pennsylvania Game Commission data, with its numbers reflecting its research. This year’s numbers won’t be released for a few weeks so what better time to speculate? I have included some statistics that I found interesting but cannot extrapolate every nuance that might lay within. I am most curious to see how the upcoming release of numbers plays out.
Three PGC management objectives/goals for 24-25 season:
– Decrease the number of deer in (WMUs) Wildlife Management Units where (CWD) Chronic Wasting Disease is present.
-Lower the population where it is too great for objectives.
– Limit the number where deer are contributing to deforestation.
2024-2025 season statistics:
Total deer harvest: 476,880
Total antlered deer (bucks): 175,280
Total antlerless deer (does): 301,600
11% increase from 23-24 total harvest of 430,010
17% increase from 23-24 antlerless harvest of 258,410
21% increase on three year average antlerless harvest
Largest harvest by WMU:
WMU 2D – 42,200 total deer harvested
WMU 2D – 13,400 bucks
WMU 2D – 28,800 does
28% hunter success harvesting an antlered deer.
26% hunter success harvesting an antlerless deer.
The average age of bucks taken in Penn’s Woods has increased from roughly 1.5 years old to 2.5 years old.
283,760 total deer harvested during rifle season:
86,530 bucks 197,230 does
178,140 total deer harvested during archery season:
87,540 bucks 90,600 does
14,980 total deer harvested during muzzleloader season:
1,210 bucks 13,770 does
Pennsylvania is estimated to have 30-32 deer per square mile with a total population of around 1.5 million deer in the Keystone state.
Failure to report harvested game can skew the numbers. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has taken to estimating the harvest statistics as a result and it is far too involved a process to dive into in this column. The PGC website has an enormous amount of information regarding the deer harvest that is well worth dissecting. Game Commission biologists caution against taking any one year’s statistics out of context and weighing small snippets too heavily.
So what can we make of all this data? Well, in truth, I’m not quite sure, myself. Do we have too many deer? Are we in the golden years of deer hunting? Is QDM still working for us?
With the newest numbers on the horizon, I’m looking forward to seeing what the trends indicate. I’ll tackle those numbers in a few weeks. My hunch is that numbers will be close to last season’s totals with a slight uptick. Will all this lead to greatly expanded season lengths? Doubtful any time soon. There’s been talk of opening the deer season the week before Thanksgiving, although that has been preliminarily voted down 6-3 by the board. The final vote will be conducted on April 11. Will they add more Sundays to the hunting calendar? I think you can bet on it. Could all this lead to a requirement to harvest a doe in order to “earn” your tag? Not likely any time soon but it is already a reality in some states. Could multiple buck tags via a lottery system be floated? I’ve seen more aggressive ideas around the country. Will hunter numbers continue to decline, necessitating drastic action in years to come? We’ll know soon enough.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Exposing the Big Game 