The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported results from the 2023-24 deer seasons, which ended in January.

Hunters harvested an estimated 430,010 white-tailed deer. The statewide buck harvest was estimated at 171,600, while the antlerless harvest was estimated at 258,410.

The overall harvest is 2% greater than that from 2022-23, which was estimated at 422,960. It’s 4% higher than the total harvest seen as a three- year average.

Game Commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook said harvest estimates are calculated using antlered and antlerless harvest reports by hunters in combination with data from deer checked by crews at processors across the state to estimate reporting rates.

“Last year, 31 teams of trained deer agers visited more than 400 processors across the Commonwealth during the statewide firearms season, to collect data, age deer based on tooth replacement and wear, and record information from harvest tags,” Stainbrook said. “They examined more than 24,000 whitetails.”

Hunters themselves, meanwhile, reported taking more than 134,000 deer, most often using the Game Commission’s online reporting system. That accounted for 74% of all reports received. Another 18% of deer harvest reports came via report cards, while 8% of reports were made by phone.

Taking a look at the buck harvest in particular, it was up in 2023-24 by 5% over the season previous and up 6% over the three-year average. Overall, 27% of deer hunters harvested a buck. That was a slight increase over 2022-23’s 26% success rate, and up significantly from the 15% success rate seen as recently as 2007-08.

The majority of bucks harvested are older than in decades past, too. Before antler point restrictions, most of the bucks harvested were yearling deer, meaning those 1.5-years-old. In 2023-24, 64% of bucks taken were at least 2.5 years old.

As for the 2023-24 antlerless deer harvest, 69% of the harvest was adult females. Another 16% were button bucks and 14% were doe fawns. Those, too, are in line with long-term averages.

About one in four antlerless licenses issued for last season resulted in a harvest.

As in years past, the regular firearms deer season accounted for the largest part of the 2023-24 deer harvest. Firearms hunters took an estimated 254,710 deer, with 86,260 of those bucks and the remaining 168,450 being antlerless. Bowhunters accounted for a little over a third of the total deer harvest, taking an estimated 154,850 whitetails (83,370 bucks and 71,480 antlerless deer) with either bows or crossbows. The estimated muzzleloader harvest was 20,450 (1,970 bucks and 18,480 antlerless deer).

Total deer harvest estimates by Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) for 2023-24 (with 2022-23 figures in parentheses) are as follows:

WMU 3C, which includes Schuylkill and part of Carbon counties: 8,900 antlered (8,000), and 10,600 antlerless (12,000).WMU 3D, Carbon and Monroe counties: 6,200 antlered (5,500), and 7,300 antlerless (7,400).

WMU 5C, which includes Lehigh and Northampton counties: 9,100 antlered (7,200), and 13,100 antlerless (16,700).