HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ)– The stats are in, Pennsylvania hunters took more deer during the recent season than they did during the previous one.

The 442,960 white-tailed deer that were harvested by hunters is a 12 percent increase from 2021-22’s harvest of 376,810, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The increase is a good thing. If the number of deer that hunters harvest rises each year, then that also means the deer population is too, Game Commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook said.

“The long-term buck harvest trend indicates Pennsylvania`s deer population is in a pretty good place right now,” Stainbrook said in a statement. “We see generally stable population trends in most of the state, near goal levels, and we are seeing more older bucks available for harvest.”

Hunters who used firearms to hunt took in 251,520 deer, and out of that amount 87,190 were buck and the rest were antlerless. Bowhunters took 145,640 deer while muzzleloader hunters took about 25,790.

It is estimated that 164,190 buck and about 258,770 antlerless deer were harvested. For the antlerless deer harvest, 67 percent were doe while 17 percent were button bucks and 16 percent were doe fawns. The 2022-23 deer season ended in January.

“We’ve been saying for a while now that this is a great time to be a Pennsylvania deer hunter,” Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans said. “These harvest figures are the proof of that.”

Last season’s harvest was actually a 13 percent decrease from the 2020-21 season, which was one of the largest deer harvests within the past a decade.

More information about the 2022-23 deer seasons harvest can be found online at the game commission’s website.