White-tailed Deer

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White-tailed Deer.jpg Scientific Name: Odocoileus virginianus

Deer Hunting

Seasons and Bag Limits

Tagging and Reporting Your Deer

Report Your Deer Harvest

Deer Aging (Video)

Deer Hunter Focus Areas

Antlerless Deer Licenses and Applications

Deer Management Assistance Program - DMAP

Venison: From Field to Table (PDF)

Warm-Weather Venison Care
Deer Weight Chart

Pennsylvania Big Game Records

Hunters Sharing the Harvest Program

Deer Management

2023-24 Deer Population Report and Antlerless Allocations (PDF)

2022-23 Deer Population Report and Antlerless Allocations (PDF)

2021-22 Deer Population Report and Antlerless Allocations (PDF)

2020-21 Deer Population Report and Antlerless Allocations (PDF)
Seeing the Whole Picture – Estimating Deer Harvests
2022-23 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2021-22 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2020-21 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2019-20 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2018-19 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2017-18 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2016-17 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2015-16 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2014-15 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2013-14 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2012-13 Deer Harvest Estimates (PDF)
2009-18 White-Tailed Deer Management Plan(PDF)

Deer Harvest Data and Maps
Monitoring Deer Populations in Pennsylvania (PDF)
Effect of bait on deer harvest special regulation areas of Pennsylvania (PDF)
Citizen Input into Deer Management
An Evaluation of Deer Management Options (PDF)
Forest Habitats and Deer Deterrent Fencing
Deer Habitat Relationships
Wildlife Management Units

Antler Restrictions

Antler Restrictions in Pennsylvania: Are They Working?

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Deer Health and Public Safety

Chronic Wasting Disease

Wild White-tailed Deer & COVID-19

Lyme Disease & Deer-Revelation or Red Herring

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease

Tick Management Handbook - Connecticut Ag Experiment Station (PDF)

Deer Biology

When is the Rut in Pennsylvania?

Predation and Pennsylvania's Deer Population

What is a Healthy Forest?

Where Does the Buck Stop? How habitat influences deer movements

Living with Whitetails

Urban Deer Management - Facts & Fiction

Guide to Community Deer Management (PDF)

Community-Based Deer Management: A Practitioner's Guide (PDF)

VIDEO: Community Deer Management (15 min.)

Landowner Assistance Programs

Please Don't Feed the Deer (PDF)

Winter Feeding of Deer and Wild Turkey (PDF)

Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management

White-tailed Deer Damage Fact Sheet (PDF)

Northeast Wildlife Damage Cooperative

Deer Resistant Plants (PDF)

Deer Damage Management Techniques

Using Commercial Deer Repellents to Manage Deer Browsing (PDF)

Research and Surveys

Deer-Forest Study

Concurrent Firearms Season Length (PDF)

2011-12 Reporting Rate Survey Report (PDF)

2017 Pennsylvania Deer Hunter Survey Statewide Results (PDF)

2014 Pennsylvania Deer Hunter Survey Statewide Results (PDF)

2011 Pennsylvania Deer Hunter Survey Preliminary Results (PDF)

Deer and Deer Management Opinions and Attitudes (PDF)

Deer Field Study in Southeastern Pennsylvania

Deer Capture Techniques
Impact of Predators on White-tailed Deer Fawns - a webinar recorded April 15, 2016 (41:43)

Fewer Deer and Fewer Hunters: Are They Related?

Publications

Annual Reports of the White-tailed Deer and Elk Section can be viewed in the document library.

Whitetail Periodicals:Life and Times of the Whitetail Columns

Use of citizen advisory committees to direct deer management in Pennsylvania (PDF)

White-tailed deer age ratios as herd management and predator impact measures in Pennsylvania (PDF)

Reporting rate variability and precision of white-tailed deer harvest estimates in Pennsylvania (PDF)

Survival rates, mortality causes, and habitats of Pennsylvania white-tailed deer fawns (PDF)

Influence of roads, rivers, and mountains on natal dispersal of white-tailed deer (PDF)

Lack of mother-offspring relationship in white-tailed deer capture groups (PDF)

Multiple proximate and ultimate causes of natal dispersal in white-tailed deer (PDF)

Modeling the distribution of dispersal distances in male white-tailed deer (PDF)

Forest cover influences dispersal distances of a habitat generalist, the white-tailed deer (PDF)

Efficacy of detecting Chronic Wasting Disease via sampling hunter-killed white-tailed deer (PDF)

White-Tailed Deer

Content Editor

2023-24 HUNTING SEASONS

One antlerless deer with each required antlerless license. One antlered deer per hunting license year.

DEER, ARCHERY (Antlered and Antlerless) WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D: Sept. 16-Nov. 11, Sunday Nov. 12, Nov. 13-18, Sunday Nov. 19, Nov. 20-24 and Dec. 26-Jan. 27, 2024

DEER, ARCHERY (Antlered and Antlerless) Statewide: Sept. 30-Nov. 11, Sunday Nov. 12, Nov. 13-17 and Dec. 26-Jan. 15, 2024

DEER, ANTLERLESS MUZZLELOADER (Statewide): Oct. 14-21. An antlerless deer with each required antlerless license.

DEER, ANTLERLESS SPECIAL FIREARMS (Statewide): Oct. 19-21. Only Junior and Senior License Holders, 6 Commission Disabled Person Permit Holders (to use a vehicle as a blind), and Residents serving on active duty in the United States Armed Forces or U.S. Coast Guard

DEER, REGULAR FIREARMS (Antlered and Antlerless) Statewide: Nov. 25; Sunday, Nov. 26; and Nov. 27-Dec. 9.

DEER, ANTLERED OR ANTLERLESS FLINTLOCK WMUs (1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A and 5B with required muzzleloading license): Dec. 26-Jan. 15, 2024.

DEER, ANTLERED OR ANTLERLESS FLINTLOCK (WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D): Dec. 26-Jan. 27, 2024.

DEER, ANTLERLESS EXTENDED REGULAR FIREARMS: (WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D): Dec. 26-Jan. 27, 2024.

DEER, ANTLERLESS (Military Bases): Hunting permitted on days established by the U.S. Department of the Army at Letterkenny Army Depot, Franklin County; New Cumberland Army Depot, York County; and Fort Detrick, Raven Rock Site, Adams County. An antlerless deer with each required antlerless license.