Pennsylvania Game News - August 2020 - 35

they decided to a certainty the sex of the
deer. The great majority of deer hunters I
have met last fall, both during the season
and since that time, although frequently
disappointed in not securing a deer,
expressed themselves as satisfied with
the law."
Seeing deer always satisfies hunters,
even to this day. But as soon as two years
after the buck law was put on the books,
it was obvious that whitetails - in their
northern-tier strongholds - were becoming abundant. Wildlife management was
working.
"The protection secured to female deer
in this state has resulted, as was expected,
in a decided increase of deer that has to
a more or less extent crowded the lands
upon which deer were found when this
law was passed and caused an overflow
in the surrounding territory upon which
deer have not been seen for many years,"
Kalbfus wrote in his 1909 annual report.
"Deer have been seen and killed this fall
in sections of the state where no wild
animals of this kind had been seen for a
decade."
As deer populations increased, deer
began to expand their range from forests into agricultural areas. Farmers and
orchard owners soon felt the financial
losses deer could inflict, and alerted
Kalbfus and legislators, who would work
together in 1911 to develop a bill allowing
for the killing of antlerless deer.
Their doe bill made it out of committee and to the floor of the House, but was
defeated on its second reading. In many
elected representatives' home districts,
hunters were hoping deer would become
established, or their numbers would
increase.
New funding provided by the creation
of the resident hunting license in 1913
gave Kalbfus the means to do more for
AUGUST 2020	

deer hunters in those areas. First, he
sought and secured legislation to close
counties to deer hunting for herd restoration, closing Cambria, Chester, Clarion,
Fayette, Forest, Jefferson, Somerset,
Warren and Westmoreland counties first.
In counties needing the most help to resurrect whitetail numbers, Kalbfus released
deer purchased from the Mosser Preserve
in Clearfield County and Trexler's Game
Preserve in Lehigh County.
Even with county closures and the loss
of hunters due to World War I service, Kalbfus estimated the 1914 buck kill at 1,000.
It was apparent the Commonwealth's deer
herd was on the rise and becoming more
visible. The war would continue to draw
down Pennsylvania hunters, and the buck
law continued to push deer numbers to
historic heights. By 1916, Kalbfus might
have been losing sleep over the whitetail's
resurgence in Penn's Woods.
"In many sections of the state, female
deer have increased exceedingly, and
because of the Law giving them absolute protection, have apparently come to
believe they belong to a privileged class
that can do as they please, and they are
so acting that in my opinion it will be
necessary in the near future, perhaps the
next session of our Legislature, to declare
open season for does for a fixed period,
during which some may be killed and
others taught their place," Kalbfus wrote
in his 1916 annual report.
A year later, Kalbfus grumbled in his
annual report about deer pillaging farms
in Adams, Cumberland and Franklin
counties. His identified need to harvest
antlerless deer was greater than ever.
Seth Gordon, Kalbfus' understudy
and the Commission's third executive
secretary, spoke about Kalbfus' 1917
frustrations at the 29th International Association of Game, Fish, and Conservation
35
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