Snow showers expected to drop on Western Pennsylvania Sunday mark the front of a major winter storm that may bring some normalcy to the light-jacket weather the region has experienced since late autumn.
Snow-white landscapes and temperatures ranging from the high 20s to the mid-40s through January should provide good conditions for Pennsylvania’s late deer hunting seasons.
Throughout most of the state, properly licensed rifle and rifled-slug shotgun hunters can harvest only does through Jan. 27. With the rut long past and most whitetails hormonally back to normal, it’s a whole new world in rural and suburban woodlands and fields. Post-rut hunting strategies recognize the changes and provide an edge for late-season deer hunters.
“First there’s less people. That’s less lead flying around, but also fewer people moving the deer,” said Walter Grimson of Monroeville, who has hunted for deer in January on private property in Allegheny County since the early 1980s. Centerfire rifles are not permitted for hunting in Allegheny — he prefers the closer shots taken with a shotgun and rifled slugs. Also, he said, the late season appeals to him because he prefers tender doe venison over gamey tasting testosterone-heavy buck-in-rut meat.
“I’d rather be out now than during the two-week regular season,” he said. “But it’s different. Mostly, the does aren’t where they were in November. The bucks aren’t chasing them and if there’s no one around — or if [hunters are] not moving — the deer aren’t being pushed. You have to know their natural movement patterns this time of year or bust them out of where they’re sleeping.”
By now, nearly all does more than 1 year old are carrying fawns. A small number whose pregnancies were terminated may enter a second estrus, attracting resilient bucks. But January deer hunters have a better chance of scoring if they ditch autumn hunting strategies.
After impregnation, most female deer move to their smaller post-rut ranges, a behavior confirmed during a 10-year Game Commission-sanctioned study at Bryn Athyn College.
The school is on an unfenced 130-acre campus adjacent to an 852-acre land trust in a suburb north of Philadelphia.
Faculty, their assistants and students tracked deer density using trail cameras and GPS telemetry electronics developed at the college. The research focused on the ecological constraints of suburban habitat, deer-related vegetation impacts, choices of road crossing sites and seasonal changes to the home ranges of male and female deer. The peer reviewed study confirmed that suburban deer know they’re safe on posted lands when the hunt is on, and it developed methods of statistical analysis to better track the movements of individual deer and their interactions.
Not surprisingly, the home ranges of does grew in size during estrus and contracted following the rut. The study followed one doe that had several distinct ranges that fluctuated in size relative to the season. When she was giving birth and nursing the home range shrank. It expanded when her fawn started walking. Twice, while under particular scrutiny by Bryn Athyn researchers, the doe explored new territory far beyond her typical range.
The study found correlating fluctuations of range sizes among neighboring does with some territorial overlap, suggesting the deer may have been mother and daughter.
Mr. Grimson said the Bryn Athyn study brings up some good points, but it doesn’t include an important detail for post-Christmas deer hunting, something he said he learned during 40-some years in the hollows between Monroeville housing plans.
“[Bryn Athyn] says home ranges change, and that’s right,” he said. “Hunters always say you have to scout before the season, but that won’t tell you where the deer are in the late season. Most of the does are expecting, so they’re eating for two at a time of year when food is the least available.
“Look for their small winter ranges under nut trees, near farm edges where grain is wasted and backyards with gardens. There will be a steady source of water and thick cover, like rose bushes or pine thickets, where those does can stay warm out of the wind in winter.”
Regional controlled archery deer hunts observe state game laws and are expected to end with the late archery season Jan. 27. On Friday, Shaler police said the township’s ongoing deer control program had removed about 35 whitetails. Harvest updates were not available for controlled hunts in two Pittsburgh parks, Mt. Lebanon and other municipalities.
John Hayes: jhayes@post-gazette.com.
First Published: January 6, 2024, 4:10 p.m.
Updated: January 7, 2024, 12:08 a.m.
