HARRISBURG – The Game Commission has developed eight new brochures to help Pennsylvanians learn more about why and how the agency manages deer, and the factors, variables and intangibles that influence this evolving management process.
“These brochures provide another way for Pennsylvanians to increase their knowledge of deer and why and how we manage them,” explained Dr. Christopher Rosenberry. “We’re hopeful that people whose lives are influenced by deer will take the time to read them and that it will help improve their understanding of the whole process.”
The following is a brief overview of the brochures:
Deer Management For Everyone: Is it Mission Impossible? – Managing deer across the Commonwealth is no small chore and has tremendous influence on the lives of other wildlife and people, as well as habitat.
Pennsylvania’s Deer Management Goals: Measuring Progress – The Pennsylvania Game Commission uses three goals to manage the Commonwealth’s whitetails: healthy forest habitat, healthy deer, and acceptable levels of deer-human conflicts.
How Many Deer Are There? – Managing deer based solely on deer density objectives is a thing of the past. The Pennsylvania Game Commission monitors population trends and makes management decisions based on the impacts of deer on themselves, the forest and Pennsylvanians.
A Keystone Species of the Keystone State – Deer are a keystone species – one with tremendous influence on other species – because their foraging can harm a forest ecosystem.
A New Tradition: Concurrent Seasons – Combining the firearms antlered and antlerless deer hunting seasons was done to improve the efficiency of hunters and provide them more opportunity.
Harvest Estimates: Why Can’t We Just Count Them? – Every year, the Pennsylvania Game Commission commits money and manpower to collect data from hunter-harvested deer and from hunters to estimate the state’s annual deer harvest.
Where Are the Deer? – The answer isn’t as simple as some might believe. There are fewer deer today in many areas than there were 10 years ago, but that’s not the only reason deer might be hard to find.
Hunters: Customers, Partners, Stakeholders – The Pennsylvania Game Commission recognizes the important contributions deer hunters have made and continue to make to wildlife conservation in the Commonwealth.
The brochures, available in PDF files only, can be accessed by visiting the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and clicking on the “Deer Management Brochures” link found in the center of the homepage.