Deer Hunting
Welcome to the Deer Hunting web site brought to you by a Pennsylvania Deer Hunter.
Deer Hunting in Pennsylvania has several different seasons.
ARCHERY SEASON.
DEER, ARCHERY (Antlered and Antlerless) Statewide: Oct.5-Nov. 16 and Dec. 26-Jan. 11, 2003. One antlered deer per hunting license year. One antlerless deer with each required antlerless license.
MUZZLELOADER SEASON.
DEER, ANTLERLESS MUZZLELOADER (Statewide): Oct. 19-26. An antlerless deer with each required antlerless license.
GUN SEASON
DEER (Antlered and Antlerless) Statewide: Dec. 2-14. One antlered deer per hunting license year. An antlerless deer with each required antlerless license.
FLINTLOCK
DEER, ANTLERED OR ANTLERLESS FLINTLOCK (Statewide): Dec. 26-Jan. 11, 2003. One antlered deer per hunting license year, or one antlerless deer and an additional antlerless deer with each required antlerless license.
Special Regulations DEER, ARCHERY (Bow and arrows only # )
Antlered and Antlerless (Special Regulations Areas: Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties): Oct. 5-Nov. 16, and Dec. 26-Jan. 11, 2003. One antlered deer per hunting license year. An antlerless deer with each required antlerless license. Preliminary approval was given by the Board to allow the use of crossbows in this season. (# - This provision must be approved at the Board's June meeting before taking effect.)
Deer Information
Deer, like man live well at the edges of things. Today, whitetail deer range from the Atlantic to the pacific and from southern Canada to Peru. When startled or alarmed the whitetail raises its tail and canters or trots away. If really alarmed it will run at a fast pace which can reach speeds up to 40 mph. Whitetail deer are mostly active at dusk and dawn and may often feed at night. This may be an adaptation to the habits of man because man relies on his sight to find deer. Sight is not the deer’s keenest scene. They sometimes can’t distinguish between a motionless figure and its background but deer are very quick to spot movement.
Just a slight movement will warn the deer that something isn’t quite right and send the deer running for cover. If the deer is suspicious and there is no movement the deer will approach and stamp with its foreleg
As to get the suspicious figure to move.
The deer may also move downwind and analyze the wind with their nose for the detection of danger. There is no doubt about the deer’s keen scene of hearing. Their ears are great collectors of sound waves. There is also no doubt about the high degree of sensitivity of the deer’s nose, which us humans can’t even begin to understand. Deer, wolfs, coyotes, bears and dogs speak a language with their nose that us humans are totally illiterate.
In May the pregnant doe drives away her offspring of the previous year. As her term draws near usually in late may or early June, some does seek out a particular place but most give birth wherever they happen to be. The fawn is usually born with its front feet coming first and the head between the legs. Labor is short and often takes place at dusk. Long before morning she has licked the fawn clean and more or less dry. This is done to leave the fawn scent free while she goes off and feeds. The doe will also lick under the fawn’s tail to stimulate the fawn into defecating. Then the doe will eat the droppings so the area is scent free. With her sharp and lightning quick hooves she defends her young against bobcat and coyote. The doe’s milk is very rich so the fawn can grow rapidly so after a couple weeks the fawn can fallow her and soon keep up with her as she runs. The fawns that survive the venerable days of hiding and start to follow their mothers must be strong enough to rely on flight to evade predators. They learn to graze as they imitate their mothers and to rely less on her milk for both doe and fawn must build fat reserves if they are to survive the coming winter. By august like their mothers the fawns begin to molt. Replacing there spotted reddish summer coats with winter ones of brownish gray. This coat will make them invisible when standing among the leafless trees.
Single parent families are the rule among deer. The male deer only contributes his gene and leaves all the nursery duties to the does. For the rest of the year he concentrates on eating and in summer growing antlers.
Antler growth usually begins in the month of April or may. The antlers begin as a special kind of cartilage witch turn into bone as the antlers grow. They grow from the base of a permanent pedicle and are covered by a special kind of skin called velvet. The antlers grow very fast and are nourished by arteries inside the antlers and outside by the velvet. By august the antlers have reached their maximum growth for the year. There size and form reflect the age and condition of the buck and the nutrition condition of the habitat.
The cartilage has now becomes strong hard bone and arteries inside the antlers and the velvet slowly dies. By September the buck rubs off the remaining dead velvet on trees and shrubs and the antlers are now polished and ready. Antlers are deciduous and grow at the tips like trees. They even look like trees. In October after the velvet is shed bucks will use their antlers on trees and each other to polish their skills for the breeding season to come.