While many had turkey on their mind Thursday, some will be thinking about deer as Rifle Deer season opens tomorrow morning.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is expecting tomorrow to be the busiest, if not one of the busiest, hunting days on the calendar. The National Deer Association regularly ranks Pennsylvania the top state in the country for hunter density, with around 14.4 hunters per square mile reported in 2021. Only three other states hit double digits in that department, those being New York, Wisconsin and New Jersey.
Pennsylvania is also consistently among the top states when it comes to the deer harvest. In 2021, the NDA reported that the state was in the top five for antlered buck harvest per square mile; antlerless deer harvest; antlerless deer harvest per square mile; and antlerless deer per antlered buck harvest. Last season, hunters harvested an estimated 422,960 white-tailed deer: an estimated 164,190 bucks and 258,770 antlerless deer.
The season opens on Saturday, and will run through December 9th, with the exception of Sunday, December 3rd. Hunting is permitted this Sunday.
Comments