New tagging process, scouting technology available to rifle deer hunters
Brian Whipkey
Pennsylvania Outdoor Columnist
The holiday season is upon us.
For hunters, one of the biggest holidays of the year starts Nov. 27 – the first day of rifle season in Pennsylvania. It's a time-honored tradition that has been evolving over the years.
For example, this is the second-year hunters can rifle hunt for deer on one Sunday (Nov. 28) and statewide participants can pursue both buck and doe through Dec. 11.
In past years, some Wildlife Management Units allowed only bucks to be harvested during the first week of the season. This year's change provides hunters a few more days to fill their antlerless tags as both sexes are legal during the two-week gun season.
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Jusdan Griffith of Davidsville is looking forward to rifle deer season. At age 27, he said he's been enjoying deer hunting for 15 years. The growing problem, he said, is getting access to private land. He said landowners and farmers are posting their property from hunters more than in the past.
He's heard from farmers that the land is being posted because of disrespectful hunters who leave trash behind. " I don't blame them," he said about the landowners' frustrations.
He likes to hunt on public land, but it can be crowded at the beginning of the season. He said he scouted out a spot to go on the first day last year, and four other hunters wanted that location as well.
Griffith said deer hunting is a family event. "I like the camaraderie," he said. "For a lot of people it's like that."
Travis Lau, communications director for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said Tuesday the state has plenty of land for those looking for additional places to hunt.
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Across Pennsylvania there are more than 1.5 million acres of State Game Lands that are open to hunters. "There are spacious, sprawling tracts that might take hours or days to get back into."
The state has opened more of the state service roads this fall to help hunters get deeper into the woods. In addition to the game lands, Lau points out that through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources there are also parts of state parks, forests, and the Allegheny National Forest that provide more than 3 million acres of hunting land to explore.
If you are looking for a new place to go, Lau suggests looking at the mapping center found at pgc.pa.gov to look at the public game lands. "It's a good way to form a plan for how to hunt a new area before you even go." The mapping center has detailed maps of the terrain with parking areas outlined.
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If you are able to hunt in northwestern Pennsylvania, there are special hunting opportunities as well. The DCNR is offering a two-day, combined antlered and antlerless deer hunt at Presque Isle State Park, Erie County. The hunt is planned for Dec. 8-9 and helps the park maintain a healthy number of deer within the ecosystem and Presque Isle. On each day of the two-day hunt, up to 85 hunters will be allowed to hunt using shotguns loaded with slug ammunition that are not semi-automatic, black-powder muzzleloaders or archery equipment for both antlered and antlerless deer.
Individuals wishing to participate in the hunt must apply by calling the park office at 814-833-7424 by 2 p.m. on Dec. 3.
New tagging process
One of the biggest changes hunters need to know about this year is a different tagging process. Lau said the new tags require the hunter to notch the month and day into the paper license, not write the date like previous years. He suggests placing a piece of bark or something solid under the license when making the notches with your knife or if you are able, to carry a small pair of scissors to use. "I urge people to be careful in notching their tags," he said.
The other thing Lau points out that has been a problem for years is people tagging a deer on the antlers and not in the ear.
The law requires a deer to have the tag secured in the ear, but some hunters attach the tag to the antlers. He said the thought is the hunter doesn't want to make a hole in the ear because they plan to have the head mounted by a taxidermist. He said a large safety pin or a nylon zip tie will make a small hole in the ear that won't hurt the hide for the taxidermist and will keep the tag with the animal.
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He said the problem with tagging a deer on the antlers is that many hunters will ask their butcher to remove the horns so they can immediately take them home. If the tag is affixed to the antler, the Game Commission's staff doesn't have the harvest information when they check on the deer at butcher shops. Lau said the butcher shop inspections help the agency in determining harvests and how many antlerless allocations to approve for the following year.
"The big thing to remember in making sure that you're lawful when tagging big game is to follow the instructions on the tag," he said, noting that it says to place it on an ear of a deer or bear.
"It's like a lot of other things in hunting … preparation and having the thought before you need to act on it … be prepared," he said about having what you need to tag and get your deer safely out of the woods. "A safety pin takes up no space," he said about keeping them with your license.
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Another change this year is the approval of straight-walled jacket rifle cartridges in some special regulation areas around Pittsburgh and near Philadelphia. They can't be used in Philadelphia County or the nearby Tyler and Ridley Creek state parks but in areas nearby. The change allows these short-range calibers to be used in woodlots where longer-range bottle-necked centerfire rifle cartridges could create problems with residential areas. You can't use straight-walled cartridges in semi-automatic rifles, he also pointed out.
At the same time, the agency is removing the use of buck-shot shotgun ammunition that was used in some southeast special regulation areas.
Field care
For those concerned about the health of their deer regarding diseases and viruses, Lau said to follow the routine safe handling guidelines as presented in past years. They include wearing gloves to handle the meat and disinfecting your knives and other butchering gear in a solution of 10% bleach.
If you hunt in an area where there have been confirmed cases of Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, you are urged to have your deer tested. While the agency doesn't recommend eating venison that has tested positive for the neurological disease in deer and elk, there have been no cases found where it was transmitted to humans.
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The commission offers free CWD testing within the Disease Management Areas. Hunters should deposit the heads of deer they harvest with properly filled out and legible harvest tags in one of the head-collection containers the Game Commission provides within DMAs. Locations of head-collection containers can be found at http://bit.ly/PGC-CWDMap. Antlers should be removed from bucks before the double-bagged head is placed in a collection container. Hunters can check for their test results online or by calling the CWD hotline (1-833-INFOCWD).
Hunters can take deer they harvest to a processor within the DMA or on the list of approved processors for the DMA where they harvested the deer. The list of approved processors and taxidermists is available at www.pgc.pa.gov/CWD. Approved processors properly dispose of the high-risk parts. Hunters can also dispose of high-risk parts in trash that is destined for a landfill or quarter the animal and leave the high-risk parts at the kill site. The meat, antlers (free of brain material) and other low-risk parts then can be transported outside the DMA.
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Deer hunters getting taxidermy mounts also must take their harvests to a taxidermist within the DMA or on the list of approved processors and taxidermists for the DMA in which they harvested the deer available at www.pgc.pa.gov/CWD.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoor columnist for USA Today Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Outdoors Newsletter email on your website's homepage under your login name.