Needless to say, as we begin to move into fall months, Pennsylvania deer hunters are seriously starting to scrutinize the woods and fields around them in hopes of seeing some nice deer racks.

I’ll confess that anytime I go anywhere, I’m on the lookout for deer, turkeys, and any other game I can see as I travel down country roads and highways.

While I’ve talked to a few people who have reported disappointment in not seeing many deer, I, on the other hand, have been spotting a pretty good number of deer along with a good number of fawns. In addition to what I see in my travels, I’ve also been seeing a pretty good number of deer, including bucks, on several cameras in different areas.

Certainly, every year about this time, we are all wondering what to expect when the various deer seasons roll around, but the truth is Pennsylvania ranks pretty high in deer harvests when compared to other states across the country.

Each year, the National Deer Association (NDA) publishes its “Deer Report,” and the 2022-23 report concluded that it was the fourth-highest antlered deer harvest in the country in the past ten years. Additional figures showed that there were 1.7 bucks taken per square mile.

So, how does Pennsylvania fit into all of this? In Pennsylvania, hunters took 3.7 bucks per square mile, making them the top state in bucks per square mile. We also ranked second in the antlerless harvest.

To analyze the state more closely, here’s a look at the deer take in some of the WMUs.

Regarding deer harvested per square mile, WMU, 2B led the state with 16.9 per square mile-something they have done for eight of the past ten years. WMU 2B also came in second at 5.1 bucks taken per square mile.

I was a little surprised to find that WMU 2A, which is in Pennsylvania’s extreme southwest corner, took the top spot for bucks per square mile with a 5.5.

The unit where I do much of my hunting, WMU 4E, comes in fifth place at 12.6 deer harvested per square mile, seventh place, and 4.7 bucks taken per square mile. In WMU 4E, we came fourth in the antlerless deer harvest.

I don’t have room to list all the units here, but if you want to know how the unit you hunt in ranks, you can go to https://bit.ly/padeerharvestdata.

If you dissect Pennsylvania deer hunting even more, you find that archery hunting has made some great inroads in that the archery success rate has greatly increased. No doubt, much of that increase is due to the fact that the crossbow has entered the scene.

I know; I sometimes question whether or not the crossbow belongs in the same category as the compound or recurve, considering today’s crossbows are about as accurate as rifles at 30 or 40 yards.

Last year, archery hunters took 36 percent of the Pennsylvania deer harvest, but even more eye-opening is that archers took 48.6 percent of all the bucks that were taken in Pennsylvania this past season.

Well, the figures certainly look good for Pennsylvania, so now I guess I’ll have to do some serious practicing and some serious scouting and maybe even be a little bit lucky if I hope to add to those figures.