HARRISBURG – With the 2008-09 deer seasons closed, Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe is reminding hunters who harvested an antlered or antlerless deer to submit their postage-paid harvest report card that they received when they purchased their license. For those who may have lost their harvest report cards, replacement report cards can be found on page 33 of the 2008-09 Hunting & Trapping Digest, that they received when they purchased their license, or by going to the agency’s Web site, clicking on “Forms & Programs” in the left-hand column of the homepage, and then selecting “Big Game Harvest Report Card” in the “Forms” box.
Additionally, Roe noted that those who participated in the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) must complete and submit their report cards either by mail or through the agency’s Web site by Feb. 9. Under DMAP, all hunters are required to submit a report card, even if the hunter did not take a deer. This is being done so individual landowners can measure the effectiveness of the program.
If registering the report through the Web site, just click on “DMAP” in the “Quick Clicks” box in the right-hand column of the homepage and follow the instructions. Hunters will need to provide: their application number, DMAP unit number, coupon number, and birth date; the date of the harvest; the Wildlife Management Unit (WMU), county and township of the harvest; and what type of sporting arm they used. Although DMAP permits only may be used to take antlerless deer, hunters still need to identify whether the deer was male or female. Hunters also can report that they did not harvest a deer simply by checking a box at this website.
“When the agency fully transitions to our electronic license sale system for the 2009-10 seasons, all hunters will have the option of submitting a harvest report through the agency’s Web site,” Roe said. “The electronic license system will provide us with the necessary database that will enable us to validate harvest reporting information, and we hope to see an improvement in the harvest reporting rates.”
Roe noted that deer harvest numbers for the 2008-09 seasons won’t be available until mid-March, as in the past. In addition to hunters still submitting harvest report cards, which must be sent out for data entry, the agency’s Deer Management Section is compiling the data collected in the field by the deer aging teams.
While the late flintlock muzzleloader and archery seasons closed on Jan. 10, antlerless deer seasons in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D closed on Jan. 24.
During the 2007-08 hunting seasons, 801 properties enrolled in the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), and were issued 32,379 DMAP coupons, of which 22,148 were redeemed for DMAP permits. Hunters using DMAP reported harvesting 5,006 antlerless deer, and 79 percent of DMAP permit holders submitted their mandatory report card.
Harvest reporting rates from the 2007-08 seasons were less than 40 percent for both antlered and antlerless deer.
