11-08-2007, 07:10 PM
The Pennsylvania Game Commission counts on hunters to provide information on the deer they harvest. If all hunters who harvested a deer would send in their harvest report cards, as required by law, harvest estimates wouldn't be needed. But it hasn't been working out that way for some time.
The Game Commission began using reporting rates to estimate deer harvests in the 1980s, when declining report card returns were documented. Right now, reporting rates - for both antlerless and antlered deer - are less than 40 percent. The dropping compliance by hunters to report their harvests over the past decade is disappointing and an obstacle to simple deer harvest calculations.
Each year, according to Calvin W. DuBrock, Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management director, about 75 deer-aging personnel check and record information from ear tags on harvested deer throughout the state. During the 2006-2007 hunting seasons, more than 29,000 deer were examined. The information collected then was cross-checked with harvest report cards submitted by hunters to establish reporting rates for antlered and antlerless deer by Wildlife Management Units (WMU).
"Hunters submitted about 137,000 deer harvest report cards for deer taken in the most recent deer seasons," DuBrock noted. "That we continue to receive such a significant number of report cards indicates many Pennsylvania hunters are following through with their obligation to report their deer harvest, and their cooperation is appreciated.
"But when you consider that only slightly more than one in three deer that are checked are reported by hunters, it is obvious there is room for improvement. Successful hunters need to help the Game Commission have the best, most complete harvest data available for management decisions. Hunters should report their harvest, even if after the prescribed 10-day reporting period. The Game Commission is committed to managing deer to the best of its ability, but it cannot do it alone. Just as we rely on partners and stakeholders in other parts of the deer program, we rely on and need hunters to report their deer harvests accurately."
For more information on the Game Commission's deer harvest estimating procedure, visit the agency's website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), click on "Deer Management Brochures" in the center of the homepage, and scroll down to select "Harvest Estimates: Why Can't We Just Count Them?"
Additional information on the Game Commission's deer harvest estimating procedure is available by clicking on "Communications, Education and Outreach to Citizens" in the "Support Strategies" box, and then selecting the "Reporting rate variability and precision of white-tailed deer harvest estimates in Pennsylvania" under the "Science Publications."
The Game Commission began using reporting rates to estimate deer harvests in the 1980s, when declining report card returns were documented. Right now, reporting rates - for both antlerless and antlered deer - are less than 40 percent. The dropping compliance by hunters to report their harvests over the past decade is disappointing and an obstacle to simple deer harvest calculations.
Each year, according to Calvin W. DuBrock, Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management director, about 75 deer-aging personnel check and record information from ear tags on harvested deer throughout the state. During the 2006-2007 hunting seasons, more than 29,000 deer were examined. The information collected then was cross-checked with harvest report cards submitted by hunters to establish reporting rates for antlered and antlerless deer by Wildlife Management Units (WMU).
"Hunters submitted about 137,000 deer harvest report cards for deer taken in the most recent deer seasons," DuBrock noted. "That we continue to receive such a significant number of report cards indicates many Pennsylvania hunters are following through with their obligation to report their deer harvest, and their cooperation is appreciated.
"But when you consider that only slightly more than one in three deer that are checked are reported by hunters, it is obvious there is room for improvement. Successful hunters need to help the Game Commission have the best, most complete harvest data available for management decisions. Hunters should report their harvest, even if after the prescribed 10-day reporting period. The Game Commission is committed to managing deer to the best of its ability, but it cannot do it alone. Just as we rely on partners and stakeholders in other parts of the deer program, we rely on and need hunters to report their deer harvests accurately."
For more information on the Game Commission's deer harvest estimating procedure, visit the agency's website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), click on "Deer Management Brochures" in the center of the homepage, and scroll down to select "Harvest Estimates: Why Can't We Just Count Them?"
Additional information on the Game Commission's deer harvest estimating procedure is available by clicking on "Communications, Education and Outreach to Citizens" in the "Support Strategies" box, and then selecting the "Reporting rate variability and precision of white-tailed deer harvest estimates in Pennsylvania" under the "Science Publications."