PENNSYLVANIA Deer program will see changes

More changes are coming to game commissions evolving deer program.
HARRISBURG -- Important changes are being made to the state's white-tailed deer management program that will improve the Pennsylvania Game Commission's ability to manage this popular and economically important resource, agency staff said Thursday in a hearing before the state House Game and Fisheries Committee.
Responding to an invitation to brief legislators about the latest deer management program news and to answer related questions about deer and deer hunting, Game Commission Deputy Executive Director Mike Schmit, Wildlife Management Bureau Director Calvin DuBrock, and members of the agency's Deer Management Section, as well as Game Commissioners and executive staff appeared before the committee, chaired by Rep. Bruce Smith, R-York.
Schmit spoke to legislators about the importance of whitetails and their management to Pennsylvanians, particularly hunters, and noted that there is no shortage of ideas on how best to manage this resource.
In a presentation to the committee, Dr. Christopher Rosenberry, recently named as the new supervisor of the agency's Deer Management Section, said deer harvest numbers for the 2004-05 hunting seasons show a 12 percent decline in the overall harvest (13 percent for bucks and 12 percent for antlerless deer) from last year. Also, the percentage of button bucks taken in the state's most recent hunting seasons did not change.
"Despite a number of rumors pertaining to substantial kills of button bucks, the percentage of button bucks in the antlerless harvest was similar to previous years," Rosenberry said. "