By Larry Keane
U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- Pennsylvania hunters racked up big numbers during the 2020 deer season, packed their meat freezers a little fuller, and are already eyeing their calendars for next year.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s trial run of Sunday big game hunting included three weekends in November last year. It was such a success they’re considering more Sunday hunts in 2021 and the 2020 deer harvest numbers show just how big of a boon the extra days were.
Hunters Took Advantage
The coronavirus pandemic led to an unprecedented renaissance for hunters in 2020 heading out to fields and woods for some natural social distancing. In Pennsylvania, that included an experiment for three extra days of big-game hunting on November Sundays. Pennsylvania hunters didn’t miss their shot.
“This year’s Sunday hunting opportunities were extremely popular with our hunters, and they did not see any substantial issues occur on these Sundays,” explained Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans.
Just how “extremely popular” were the extra Sundays outdoors? The 2020 deer season harvest numbers were released and they’re big. Really big. Almost 400,000 big.
In fact, Pennsylvania was one of only three states that harvested more than 300,000 deer and Keystone State hunters blew past that mark by nearly 90,000. When Burhans submitted the PGC annual report to the state’s General Assembly recently, it showed Pennsylvania hunters took advantage of the extra days and they bagged more than 389,000 white-tailed deer. Even with the significant increase in those heading out to the woods and fields, Pennsylvania hunters did so responsibly, receiving fewer wildlife game violations than all of last year. Burhans praised Pennsylvania hunters.
“This
