> 2006 deer harvest had size
> By MICHAEL MOLITORIS, Oil City Derrick - Dec. 15, 2006
> Hunters were gunning down animals with big bodies and antlers.
> Pennsylvania whitetails were a little more challenging to find during this
year's hunting season - but when hunters landed their trophy catches, many were
nothing to scoff at.
> Harvest numbers from the combined antlered and antlerless two-week season that
ended Dec. 9 won't be available until March, but a quick check has shown some
impressive animals being taken from Pennsylvania forests.
> "The quality of the deer was excellent if you're looking at body size and
antlers," said Regis Senko, an information education supervisor with the
Pennsylvania Game Commission's northwest region in Franklin. "I've been in some
of the taxidermist's (studios) and have seen some tremendous bucks."
> Bryan Thatcher, owner of Bryan's Creative Wildlife Taxidermy in Franklin,
agreed that the quality of this year's harvest was "much higher than normal."
> "There wasn't necessarily the quantity, but the quality has improved," Thatcher said.
> He typically preserves 70 deer in a season and most bucks average eight
points, but the highest he has seen this year is 14 scoreable points.
> "The average spread is up this year to about 17 or 18 inches," he added. "Last
year, the spreads on most 2-year-olds was about 16 inches. That's increased in
the 3-year-olds, putting some in the 18-inch category."
> The bulk of deer he has seen this year sit in the 2-year-old range, but he
also had one specimen that was believed to be 5 years old.
> "I've seen increases in the 3-year-old whitetails, but the 2-year-olds
dominate most of the whitetails in Pennsylvania as far as harvesting for
mounting. It's nice to see some bucks that made it 4 years (and older),"
Thatcher said.
> Senko said the Game Commission's point restriction guidelines are only partly
responsible for allowing bucks to mature, grow larger and produce trophy racks.
Food supplies, too, have helped the matter.
> "This past year, the winter of 2005, was very mild and we had an excellent
food year going in and an excellent mass crop. Two years prior to that, we had
significant winters and a poor mass crop. Deer were able to exit this past
winter to put on that body growth and extra energy into antler development,"
Senko said. "You're harvesting deer larger than what most of us are used to from
years gone by."
> Though harvest numbers have yet to be tallied, Senko said he also gauged this
year's hunting results from visits to deer processors - many of whom saw
business swiftly boom because of this season's unseasonably warm temperatures.
> "I'm hearing things similar to last year (regarding numbers of deer killed),"
Senko said. "Some people who may not normally take a deer to a processor may
have this year because of the weather."
> He believes that also impacted the season's opening-end harvest.
> "On the first day, conditions were far from ideal. Weather was far from ideal
with most hunters sitting on stands and not getting the deer moving. During colder weather, people get up and
get moving along to keep warm and the end result is that you get deer moving a
lot more.
> "The last day of the season had the best hunting conditions. There was snow on
the ground and very decent temperatures to hunt. It was cooler and hunters found
some good hunting," Senko said.
> From the Game Commission's standpoint, Senko qualified this year's season as a
success.
> "I think it was on par with other seasons with the difference being - from my
personal observations - I'm hearing individuals continue to comment on less
deer. That is what the management program was designed to do, and in this case,
it's been successful," he said.
> "I hear people saying they see multiple bucks. Some are sublegal and they
can't harvest them, or others that may have been of the harvestable variety but
they couldn't get to them. That all adds to the quality of it." >
> The two-week season, however, was not without incident. Senko said two regional gun-related accidents were reported: one in Venango County and the
other in Jefferson County. In both, people received firearm-inflicted injuries,
but Senko could not comment further on the incidents.
>