Pennsylvania Game News - September 2023 - 5

are 2.5 years old or older when tagged.
That's made a huge difference in antler
size.
Yearling bucks, Wallingford noted,
express only about 30% of their total
antler potential. Let them live even one
year longer, though, and that jumps to
60%.
So now, on average statewide, a
1.5-year-old Pennsylvania buck has
4 points with a 10-inch spread, said
Game Commission biologist Jeannine
Fleegle. By age 2.5, that same buck will
have 7 points and a 15-inch spread. At
3.5, it will have 8 points and a 16.75inch
spread.
Deer in excellent habitat get even
bigger, Fleegle noted. There, on average,
that 2.5-year-old will have 8 points
with a 16-inch spread, while a 3.5-yearold
will have more than 8 points and a
17.5-inch spread.
Some bucks, of course, wind up with
" a lot more bone on their head " than
even that, Wallingford noted. Hunters
put 119 whitetails in the Pennsylvania
Big Game Records book after the
2022 season. Seventy-five were typical
bucks taken with a bow, while 23 were
nontypical bow bucks. Firearms hunters
put 21 bucks - 19 typicals and two
nontypicals - in the book.
It's no wonder antler restrictions,
resisted by some hunters at first, are
now favored by two of every three.
" For older hunters that hunted under
the old restriction, letting that first buck
walk was a monumental task, a real
heartbreaker, " Wallingford said. " But
once they saw the world did not end if
they let him go, and especially if they
killed a bigger buck later, they became
supportive.
" There have been a lot of converts
SEPTEMBER 2023
over the last 20 years. Hunters like
bigger antlers. "
About one in four hunters fills their
buck tag annually, a number that might
be even higher except that some hunters
pass up smaller legal bucks, which lets
them grow.
Successful hunters are finding deer
all over the state.
Wildlife Management Unit (WMU)
2D had the highest buck harvest per
square mile in the state last year, producing
5.6 bucks per square mile in
2022. WMU 1A gave up 4.9; WMUs
1B and 2A, 4.8 each; WMU 2E, 4.7;
WMU 4E, 4.6; and WMU 5B, 4.1.
The statewide bucks-harvestedper-square-mile
average was 3.7 last
season, and 3.6 over the last three
combined.
Of course, bucks aren't the only deer
in the woods. Antlerless deer are plentiful
and often challenging, as matriarchal
does can be wiser and warier than
many bucks.
Hunters have plenty of opportunities
to pursue them. WMU-specific antlerless
deer licenses and Deer Management
Assistance Program (DMAP)
permits, which can be used to hunt
and harvest antlerless deer on specific
properties, were made available in good
numbers, and might still be available
for purchase.
upping the odds
Hunters looking to up their odds of
success in the deer woods - be it for
antlered or antlerless deer - should
focus on a few important things.
" The No. 1 thing hunters can do to
increase success is to spend more time
hunting, " Stainbrook said.
5
Pennsylvania Game News - September 2023

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