Pennsylvania hunters killed an estimated 6% more deer during the 2025-26 season.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission said on Monday that 505,600 deer were killed statewide. Of the deer killed, 185,310 of them had antlers and 320,290 were without antlers – typically does.
This year, the state’s Wildlife Management Units issued more doe licenses to reduce deer populations in some areas and protect forests. The units manage nearly all game except elk, waterfowl and other migratory birds, and the move also aims to slow the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal, contagious neurological illness.
“Deer are one species that can impact the composition of their own environment, with consequences not just for themselves, but for our forests and fields and all the other wildlife that habitat sustains,” said Steve Smith, executive director of the Game Commission.
Game Commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook said the Game Commission’s estimates are calculated using antlered and antlerless harvest reports submitted by hunters along with data from deer checked at processors across the state.
During the 2024-25 season, hunters reported more than 150,000 deer and Game Commission personnel checked more than 25,000 deer at processors.
This year’s antlered deer harvest was up about 9% over the most-recent three-year average, and the antlerless harvest was about 17% higher.
Statewide, about 29% of deer hunters took an antlered deer.
The Game Commission reported that it was the highest success rate since at least 2007 and two out of three deer killed were at least 2 ½ years old.
About 25% of hunters turned antlerless tags into harvested deer.
“That’s consistent with past seasons, as is the fact about 70% of those deer were adult females,” the report said.
More than 299,200 deer were killed by a firearm while roughly 182,190 deer were killed by an archer.
Archery hunting is critical for managing deer in those suburban areas, Stainbrook said.
