Deer Harvest

This year the deer population has been overwhelming in Pennsylvania and I'm sure other states also. I'm sure that if you live near a wooded area you have seen deer around your house. Hunters have also noticed on their farms and hunting areas that there have been more deer, Buck (a male deer) to be specific. The buck population has gone up over the year and the Doe ( a female deer ) population has gone down. Even though over the last 30 years it has gone up the most. One bad thing about such a high rise in deer population is there are more than 1 million vehicle/deer collisions each year with over 100 human deaths and a billion dollars in repair costs along with billions in damage to gardens, landscaping and agriculture and permanent damage to woodlands and prairies. Since there is such a great amount of white tailed deer in the eastern states methods of getting rid of some of these deer, trapping and relocating. Another way that they could reduce the amount of deer is to get rid of the limit of deer you can have each year but i doubt they will do that. No solution to the serious deer population problem will be possible until local, state and federal governmental agencies assume responsibility for this situation and implement a solution to this problem.

That is how the deer population has changed over the last couple of years

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette states "Hunters killed an estimated 316,240 deer during Pennsylvania's 2010-2011 seasons. That's slightly more than during the previous seasons, when hunters took 308,920 deer. As reported by the Game Commission, the biggest gains were the antlered deer harvest - a 13 percent increase from 108,330 in 2009-2010 to 122,230 in 2010-2011. The antlerless kill decreased 4 percent, from 200,590 in 2009-2010 to 193,310 in 2010-2011.

Things you dont know about hunting.

There are many things that i didn’t know about hunting and I’m sure there a lot for other people. Hunting has been an American tradition since the ice age. Also hunting is considered a sport.  Has anyone heard of a drop tine? Well if you don't, it’s a deer with a point on his rack grows in upside down. This is very rare. How about a half rack? When a deer losses its rack in February and March both there antlers fall off. But if a Buck or a male deer gets into a fight with another buck it could lose one antler. This then means it only has half of its rack! For example say a deer gets into a fight with another deer, the antlers could get tangled up and either the deer ends up dying or its antler falls off.  Some other things we will be talking about are hunting calls and other fun stuff. Hunting calls are calls. Such as a Grunt call. That is a call that makes the noise of a deer to attract them closer to the hunter himself. Also a turkey call, you have a thing you move back and forth and it scratches that sounds like the noise the turkey makes. I bet you didn’t know that the main coyote call in the wild is a distressed cat! I guess that when a cat is in trouble it makes a weird noise. And then the coyotes will surround the thing that’s in trouble. Coyote hunting is one of the greatest  things you can do says a Pennsylvania game commissioner.  “Calling a coyote into shotgun range is one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had in the outdoors,” said Perry County Wildlife Conservation Officer Steve Hower. http://www.wellsvilledaily.com/outdoors/x1328937303/Pa-Game-Commission-urges-coyote-hunting.

Image from Wellsville Daily

Why you should hunt

Image from Grunt Calls

There are many reasons why you should hunt. One such reason why you should hunt is because it provides food. Such as one food that it could supply is steaks, chops, ground meat and jerky. Also you can have turkey, which tastes exactly turkey from the store. Another reason why you should hunt is because it provides entertainment. One way it provides entertainment is because you never know what going to happen. Say that you are deer hunting, you might see the biggest buck of your life or you might see nothing. Also it is a challenge. Some reasons why it is a challenging is because of the obstacles you have to go though. Such as the woods, the woods can be a tough thing to go through if there are trees everyone high grass or even thorn bushes. Also if there is snow on the ground it is harder to walk in or you could even fall, because it is icy. Another reason why you should hunt because it provides great exercise. If you become a bear hunter and its bear season you better be in great shape or you’re going to get lost because you can’t keep up. You travel at least 15 miles a day from past experiences. But it is defiantly worth it if you can get a bear because anywhere around here, bear are rare so it would be nice. Also Deer are overpopulating this part of the state its getting insane every time you drive u see a dead deer on the road. the game commission is saying that there is to many deer so they are sending hunters out to kill some other them off its and outrage. But hunting Is a great sport to get into and I know you will have a lot of fun if you do it so go out there and hunt!

Why you should hunt