PENNSYLVANIA Hunting opportunities abound during holidays

Deer, rabbit and grouse are just some of the seasons in the offing.
HARRISBURG -- Hunters who haven't had enough time outdoors yet and love to hunt in cold weather have a mixed bag of big and small game hunting seasons awaiting them the day after Christmas.
They include three deer hunting seasons, as well as seasons for snowshoe hares, ruffed grouse, cottontails, pheasants, furbearers and waterfowl.
The statewide late archery and flintlock muzzleloader deer seasons, and late antlerless deer season for Wildlife Management Units 2B, 5C and 5D, run concurrently from Dec. 26 to Jan. 10.
Small game seasons
The small game seasons are as follows: squirrel, Monday to Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 to Feb. 7; ruffed grouse, Monday to Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 to Jan. 10; rabbit, Monday to Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 to Feb. 7; and snowshoe hare, Dec. 26 to Jan. 3.
In addition, male and female pheasant hunting will be available from Monday to Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 to Feb. 7 in WMUs 1B, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D.
Hunters who participate in any of these seasons must have a general hunting license, which provides Pennsylvania hunting privileges through June 30, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Depending on the deer season hunters are participating in, they also must meet additional licensing and fluorescent orange requirements. Any hunter carrying a sporting arm during the deer seasons must have an unused deer harvest tag.
All antlerless deer taken by hunters in the late archery and special regulations area antlerless seasons must be tagged with an unused Wildlife Management Unit-specific antlerless deer license harvest tag.
Flintlock muzzleloader season participants may harvest an antlerless deer with either a WMU-specific antlerless deer license or general hunting license deer harvest tag. Buck hunting in the late seasons is governed by antler restrictions and limited to only bowhunters and flintlock muzzleloader hunters who possess an unused general hunting license deer harvest tag.
The best days
Last year, the two best days for deer hunting in the late flintlock season were the first and last Saturdays of the season, when hunters took about 7,500 antlerless deer and about 400 legal bucks. Overall, hunters took about 22,000 antlerless deer and 1,300 antlered bucks during the late flintlock season.
During the flintlock season, only single-barrel long-guns with a flintlock ignition system are permitted. The firearm must be an original or reproduction of a gun used prior to 1800, which is .44 caliber or larger, with iron, open "V" or notched sights (fiber-optic inserts are permitted). A flintlock ignition system consists of a hammer containing a naturally-occurring stone which is spring-propelled onto an iron or steel frizzen, which, in turn, creates sparks to ignite a gunpowder. Flintlock hand guns are not permitted. Flintlock muzzleloader hunters may use "any single projectile."