Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Hunters in Northeastern Pennsylvania will have another area in which antlered deer only will be legal for the first five days of the two-week rifle deer season.
During Tuesday’s board meeting, the Pennsylvania Game Commission approved a motion to add four Wildlife Management Units to the split season concept. Included in the group is WMU 3B, which encompasses parts of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming, Bradford, Tioga, Sullivan and Lycoming counties. Of the five WMUs in the northeast, three – 3B, 3C and 4E are now under the split season format. WMUs 4C and 3D remain in the concurrent format, meaning antlered and antlerless deer can be harvested during the entire two-week season.
The rifle deer season for 2011 begins on Nov. 28 and concludes Dec. 2.
Commissioner Jay Delaney, of Wilkes-Barre, represents the northeast. He said the move was made in response to the overwhelming support he has received from hunters. He said hunters should see more deer in WMU 3B during the second week of the season.
“The vast majority of all contacts I received from sportsmen in the northeast is they wanted to see a split season in 3B,” Delaney said. “It’s a rarity to hear someone want to go back to the concurrent format.”
Delaney added that the forest health in 3B has consistently improved to the point that a split season is feasible.
According to Delaney, when a WMU is changed from a concurrent to a split season format, the harvest typically drops by 20 percent. As a result, the agency increased the antlerless license allocation in WMU 3B to 40,000 this season. Last year the allocation in 3B was 33,761.
“When you put a WMU in a split season, it takes a higher allocation to get the desired harvest,” Delaney said. “Still, the deer herd in 3B should increase somewhat even though the allocations are going up.”
Statewide, 11 of the 22 WMUs are now in the split season format. The list includes (WMUs) 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3B, 3C, 4B, 4D and 4E. The package retains the two-week (Nov. 28-Dec. 10) concurrent, antlered and antlerless deer season in WMUs 1A, 1B, 2B, 3A, 3D, 4A, 4C, 5A, 5B, 5C and 5D.
Additionally, the board also gave final approval to extend the statewide late archery and late flintlock muzzleloader seasons, which will open on Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, and run until Monday, Jan. 16, 2012.
The board also gave final approval to a slate of bear seasons for 2011 that includes concurrent bear and deer seasons from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 in specific WMUs, including three of the four in Luzerne County: 3D, 4C and 4E.
While the board tackled big game, such as deer and bear, it also took action on smaller animals including turkey and porcupines.
The board approved the fall turkey seasons for 2011. The restructured fall season dates for all four local WMUs this year are: Oct. 29 to Nov. 18 and Nov. 24 to 26.
Acting on a request Game Commissioner David Putnam made at the board’s October meeting, and an amendment offered Tuesday by Game Commissioner David Schreffler, the board gave final approval to a specific hunting season for porcupines.
Under the new season, hunters can take porcupines from Sept. 1 through March 31. The daily limit is six and the field possession limit is 12.
Hunters pursuing porcupines may use any legal sporting arm, and must wear 250 inches of fluorescent orange material. Porcupines may be harvested from one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset.
Several other states in the region allow such harvests of the quilled-mammal that wreaks havoc on the timber industry because its main food is bark. Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York are among them.
License Allocation
2011-12 antlerless license allocations for WMUs in the northeast (last year’s allocation):
3B – 40,000 (33,761)
3C – 29,000 (26,358)
3D – 39,000 (31,622)
4C – 35,000 (34,351)
4E – 29,000 (30,052)