The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported results from the 2021-22 deer seasons, which ended in January.

Hunters harvested an estimated 376,810 white-tailed deer. The statewide buck harvest was estimated at 145,320 and the antlerless harvest at 231,490.

That take, overall, is down about 13 percent compared to 2020-21, when hunters recorded the largest deer harvest in 16 years, harvesting an estimated 435,180 deer. It is, however, similar to the estimated statewide deer harvests during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.

That’s not cause for concern, said Game Commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook. The 2020-21 season was above average, and the 2021-22 season is back on track with previous years.

Twenty-two percent of hunters took an antlered deer, he noted. That’s right in line with the previous four-year average and better than in years past.

Of the deer taken by hunters, many of the bucks harvested were older. Sixty-two percent of antlered deer taken by hunters were 2.5 years old or older; only 38% percent were 1.5 years old.

That’s an almost complete reversal of how things were even two decades ago. Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans credited that to how hunters have embraced antler restrictions, in place since 2002.

“Pennsylvania is routinely producing some really impressive deer, on both public and private ground,” Burhans said. “We see that in the entries coming into our Big Game Records Program, in the photos smiling hunters share, and in the deer we see when our staff visits deer processors to collect harvest data.

“We couldn’t have any of that without a well-managed deer herd and cooperation on the part of our hunters,” he said.

Meanwhile, 25% of antlerless tags issued resulted in a deer harvest this past season. That’s right in line with previous years, too.

Among antlerless deer harvested, 69 percent were adult females, 16% button bucks and 15% doe fawns. All of those figures are consistent with long-term averages.

Total deer harvest estimates by WMU for 2021-22 (with 2020-21 figures in parentheses) are as follows:

WMU 3D, Parts of Carbon and Monroe: 4,700 antlered (6,200), and 6,300 antlerless (6,400).

WMU 4C, Carbon and Schuylkill: 5,700 antlered (7,000), and 6,400 antlerless (8,100).

WMU 5C, Lehigh and Northampton: 6,600 antlered (8,400), and 14,700 antlerless (15,200).