There are a lot of good reasons to go to deer camp. Getting to shoot a doe with a bow is apparently not one of them.
That’s what the numbers suggest anyway.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission earlier this week released its deer harvest estimates for the 2015-16 seasons. They say hunters killed 315,813 deer last season. That’s an increase of about 4 percent over the year before, when the estimate was 303,973.
Breaking those numbers down is revealing.
One thing that stands out is what hunters are shooting and where.
The “big woods” areas – wildlife management units 2F, 2G, 2H and 3A – that are home to so many hunting camps and so much public land in such big chunks account for a fair number of deer killed. They gave up 18,800 bucks, for example. That’s 14 percent of the total buck kill.
But only 4,670 of those – 9 percent of the total – were taken in archery season.
The disparity between the doe kill and the archery doe kill in those units is equally noticeable.
Hunters in those same four units took 14,900 antlerless deer, or 8 percent of the overall doe harvest.
Breaking that down by season, though, shows hunters there took only 2,590 does in the archery season. That’s 5 percent of the archery doe kill.
So, then, where are archers hunting?
Around the state’s population centers, that’s where. The buck kill shows that most clearly.
The top four units for archery buck harvest are, in order, 5C, 2D, 5B and 2B. Units 5C and 5B are just east of Philadelphia; unit 2B surrounds Pittsburgh, while 2D is just to the north, taking in all of Armstrong County and parts of several nearby counties.
Together, they accounted for 35 percent of the archery buck kill, or 17,840 animals..
By comparison, they produced 32,900 bucks across all seasons. That’s 24 percent of the total.
The top four archery doe units last season were 2B, 5C, 5B and 5D. That only makes sense. Excepting 5B, they have the longest doe seasons and more licenses available, per capita, than anywhere else.
Hunters in those units took 45,300 does overall, or 25 percent of the total. Of those, 21,420 were taken in archery season; that’s 45 percent of the total.
The trend is similar, though less pronounced, when it comes to muzzleloader harvests.
Anyway, here’s a look at how the units rank in various categories. Listed is the unit and the deer killed there in 2015-16.
Overall buck harvest
- 2D: 12,300
- 2C: 9,100
- 5B: 8,000
- 3C: 7,600
- 5C: 7,400
- 4D: 7,200
- 2F: 7,000
- 1B: 6,900
- 3B: 6,800
- 2A: 6,500
- 4E: 6,200
- 2G: 6,100
- 1A: 6,000
- 4B: 5,700
- 4C: 5,400
- 2B: 5,200
- 4A: 5,100
- 2E: 4,700
- 3A: 4,300
- 3D: 3,500
- 5A: 2,900
- 5D: 2,200
- 2H: 1,400
Overall antlerless harvest
- 2D: 15,700
- 2B: 15,000
- 5C: 13,600
- 5B: 11,500
- 2A: 10,500
- 3C: 10,500
- 1A: 9,100
- 4A, 8,670
- 2C: 8,490
- 1B: 7,700
- 4D: 7,443
- 3B: 7,400
- 4B: 7,000
- 4E: 6,900
- 2F: 5,400
- 2E: 5,300
- 5D: 5,200
- 4C: 5,000
- 5A: 4,600
- 2G: 4,100
- 3A: 4,000
- 3D: 3,700
- 2H: 1,400
Archery buck harvest
- 5C: 4,880
- 2D: 4,780
- 5B: 4,430
- 2B: 3,750
- 2C: 3,130
- 1A: 2,610
- 1B: 2,560
- 3B: 2,320
- 2A: 2,160
- 4C: 2,150
- 4E: 2,150
- 3C: 2,060
- 2F: 1,860
- 4D: 1,840
- 5D: 1,770
- 4B: 1,660
- 2E: 1,460
- 2G: 1,340
- 3A: 1,180
- 3D: 1,060
- 4A: 960
- 5A: 880
- 2H: 290
Archery doe harvest
- 2B: 7,880
- 5C: 6,310
- 5B: 3,790
- 5D: 3,440
- 1A: 2,480
- 2D: 2,330
- 2A: 2,110
- 3C: 1,940
- 4D: 1,714
- 2C: 1,687
- 3B: 1,620
- 1B: 1,480
- 4A: 1,401
- 4B: 1,400
- 4C: 1,380
- 4E: 1,340
- 5A: 1,010
- 3D: 980
- 2E: 800
- 2G: 800
- 2F: 780
- 3A: 760
- 2H: 250
Muzzleloader buck harvest
- 2D: 120
- 5C: 120
- 1A: 90
- 3B: 80
- 2C: 70
- 5B: 70
- 2G: 60
- 4D: 60
- 2B: 50
- 4C: 50
- 4E: 50
- 1B: 40
- 2A: 40
- 2E: 40
- 2F: 40
- 3C: 40
- 3D: 40
- 4A: 40
- 4B: 40
- 5D: 30
- 3A: 20
- 5A: 20
- 2H: 10
Muzzleloader doe harvest
- 2D: 1,970
- 3C: 1,460
- 2A: 1,390
- 4A: 1,285
- 3B: 1,180
- 1A: 1,120
- 5C: 1,090
- 2C: 1,066
- 5B: 1,010
- 4D: 968
- 2B: 920
- 4B: 800
- 4E: 760
- 1B: 720
- 2F: 720
- 2E: 700
- 2G: 700
- 3A: 640
- 4C: 620
- 5A: 590
- 3D: 520
- 2H: 250
- 5D: 160