2020-21 deer harvest surpassed previous year

Game commission reports more than 435,000 kills, up 12%

Pennsylvania hunters killed an estimated 435,180 deer during the 2020-21 hunting season, the state game commission announced Friday.

That topped the previous license year’s harvest of 389,431 by about 12%, the agency reported.

In the past 21 years, the state’s hunters have harvested more than 400,000 deer 10 times. Twice during that period, deer harvests exceeded 500,000, in 2000 and 2002. The state’s record of 517,529 was set in the latter year, according to the agency.

The statewide buck harvest of 174,780 last season set a record for bucks killed in the antler restrictions era.

The buck harvest also increased 7% over the previous license year’s buck harvest of 163,240.

“About a quarter of the state’s deer hunters took a buck in the 2020-21 deer season,” said David Stainbrook, the game commission’s deer and elk section supervisor. “It’s a trend that hunters have maintained over the past three license years.

“The fact that we can maintain such high success rates on bucks year after year demonstrates the sustainability of the deer population in Pennsylvania.”

The antlerless deer harvest for the 2020-21 season was 260,400, a 15% increase from the previous season.

The last time the antlerless deer harvest exceeded 202021 was in the 2004-05 license year, when 284,910 antlerless deer were taken, according to commission records.

The percentage of older bucks in the 2020-21 deer harvest remained high. About 64% of the bucks taken by hunters were at least 2 ½ years old and the rest were about 1 ½ years old.

“The commonwealth’s antler restrictions have succeeded in providing more older bucks for Pennsylvania’s deer hunters,” said commission executive director Bryan Burhans.

“In place since 2002, they have transformed the smaller bucks that once dominated our deer harvests into a buck population that is the envy of deer hunters everywhere. Anyone who hunted deer before antler restrictions can see the results.”

About 68% of the antlerless deer harvest was adult females. Button bucks comprised 17% and doe fawns made up 15%.

The previous license year’s breakdown was similar, according to the agency.

Bowhunters accounted for over a third of Pennsylvania’s 2020-21 overall deer harvest, taking 160,480 deer, which includes 80,130 bucks and 80,350 antlerless deer. The 2019-20 archery harvest was 145,908, which included 74,190 bucks and 71,718 antlerless deer.

The estimated muzzleloader harvest of 28,270 was down slightly from the previous year’s harvest of 29,604. The 2020-21 muzzleloader harvest included 1,140 antlered bucks compared to 1,260 bucks in 2019-20.