Members requesting that we ask for additional bowhunting opportunity constantly bombard the UBP Legislative Committee. Although we have, and will continue to, include this request in our presentations at the PGC Commissioners Meeting; there is at least one primary issue which our members must address. And that issue is to increase our doe harvest.
The position taken by the PGC Bureau of Wildlife Management (BWM) is that, bowhunters do not represent a significant force in antlerless deer management. The average bowhunters reaction to this is to say that, if we had more time we would kill more does, but unfortunately our past harvest records do not lend credence to that statement.
Past harvest records indicate that the percentage of bucks that bowhunters kill each season has always been higher than the number of does. While last season�s harvest numbers did indicate that we took more does than bucks, it was undoubtedly attributed to the instituted antler restrictions. With no buck being legal game unless it sported at least 3-points to a side and 4-points in some areas; a reduced buck harvest by bowhunters was expected � and in fact occurred.
I am fully cognizant that many bowhunters have been practicing voluntary antler restrictions for many years. I also realize that the mindset of many generations of bowhunters and firearms hunters alike has been centered on harvesting a buck. Antlerless deer were considered fair game for seniors � juniors, and those hunters who completed archery season and the two-week buck season without filling a tag. This must change if we are to become a viable tool in the biology and science of white-tailed deer management.
As the song goes, the times they are a-changing. The non-hunting public has become a strong voice in the call for a reduction in the white-tailed deer herd in Pennsylvania. If the hunters of the Commonwealth are not willing to cooperate, that 80% of Pennsylvanian�s which do not hunt � but want to see flowers, crops, landscaping and forests � will be clamoring even louder than they are now, for alternative methods to control the deer.
The facts are before us. Doctor Gary Alt and the members of his deer management team have presented a plan to reduce the number of does to balance the herd. If successful, this program could have Pennsylvania joining other states where mature bucks are commonplace, as opposed to a rarity. Our late October and early November archery season could eventually rival that of many of the states where bowhunters now go to hunt mature bucks in an aggressive rut. But to affect this, the buck to doe ration must be brought to a more equal percentage. Only then will the competition between bucks for a reduced number of doe�s produce a true rut.
The secret to attaining this is in fact no secret. We must reduce the doe population. If we as bowhunters are not willing to cooperate by giving top priority to filling our antlerless tags we are part of the problem instead of being part of the solution. Bowhunter�s harvest records are a detriment to our attempts to gain additional opportunity and until we prove otherwise, by harvesting more doe, it will continue to be just one of many hurdles we face, in that regard.
So fill those antlerless deer tags. And if you have a problem with what you are going to do with all the meat don�t forget the Hunters Sharing the Harvest (HSH) program. The United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania has been a supporting organization of HSH since it�s inception, and donations from our members can make some less than fortunate families very appreciative of the hunting community.
