When is the first day of rifle season in pennsylvania

The biggest day on the hunting calendar, the first day of the firearms hunting season for deer, is Saturday.

More Pennsylvania hunters will take to the forests and fields on Saturday than on any other day of the year, all in pursuit of the white-tailed deer, the No. 1 most targeted game animal in Pennsylvania and across the U.S.

Non-hunters will want to be aware of that big event as hunters stir deer across the state into a lot of movement, including across roadways statewide and through residential neighborhoods.

The hunting day runs from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset, resulting in deer moving much more than normal during daylight hours rather than during the more anticipated period of dusk to dawn.

After the season closes on Dec. 11, the number of deer left to pose threats as traffic hazards will be greatly reduced.

By the time the final 2021-22 hunting season finishes at the end of January, hunters will have removed hundreds of thousands of deer from the state.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, hunters killed an estimated 435,180 in the 2020-21 season, which was the biggest harvest in 15 years and 12 percent higher than the total harvest in 2019-20.

Antler-toting bucks – the trophies that most hunters are hoping to gain beginning Saturday – accounted for 174,780 deer kills last year, up from 163,240 in 2019-20 and 147,750 in 2018-19.

“No other state in the Northeast can match those numbers, not even when taking land mass into account,” the commission noted.

According to the National Deer Association, in 2019 – the most recent year for which full statistics are available – Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation in buck harvest per square mile, trailing only Michigan. It produced almost three times as many bucks per square mile as any other state in the Northeast.

Pennsylvania also ranked second nationally in 2019 in doe harvest per square mile, behind only Delaware. It produced twice as many does per square mile as any other Northeast state.

Despite all that harvest, deer populations remain stable across most of the state’s 23 wildlife management units.

Opening the season on a Saturday rather than the Monday after Thanksgiving, as was the case from 1963 to 2019, and having hunting available on the first Sunday of the season (Nov. 28) remains unpopular with some hunters. They see it interfering with their traditional post-Thanksgiving plans for travel to hunting camps or they oppose hunting on Sundays. But the commission is promoting the season schedule as a “convenience designed to maximize flexibility” for hunters.

In its annual preview of deer season, the commission stressed, “First, it begins on Saturday, November 27 and continues Sunday, November 28, providing hunters – many off work or school – a full weekend to be afield. Deer season then runs through December 11, closing only on Sunday, December 5.

“Second, hunters with the proper licenses can harvest either an antlered or antlerless deer at any time throughout the season anywhere in the state. That’s a change from last year, when just 10 WMUs allowed concurrent buck and doe hunting.

“And third, the Game Commission this year made it possible for hunters willing to use antlerless tags to get more of them if the allocation hasn’t been sold out. It adopted a regulation change allowing hunters to hold up to 6 antlerless licenses at a time. That’s up from 3 previously.

“That’s designed to give hunters desiring to take deer the opportunity to do so, and maybe even let last-minute license buyers get in on the action.

“Last season, for example, more than 16,000 antlerless licenses remained available in mid-November in WMUs 2A and 4A (in the southwestern and southcentral regions of the state). Yet hunters who already had 3 tags couldn’t buy any, even though no one else wanted them.

“Upping the licenses-per-hunter limit better ensures tags are issued to the fullest extent possible. It also gives hunters the chance to buy antlerless tags deeper into hunting season.”

As of Tuesday, 8,610 antlerless licenses remained from the original allocation of 49,000 in WMU 2B around Pittsburgh, 5,943 remained of 50,000 in WMU 4A in southcentral Pennsylvania and 94 remained of 31,000 in WMU 5A in southcentral Pennsylvania.

“It truly is an exciting time to be a Pennsylvania deer hunter,” commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans said. “Hunters have the opportunity to pursue large-racked bucks in numbers unlike anything we’ve seen in more than a century. Plus, they’ve got more flexibility when it comes to deciding when and where to take antlerless deer.

“We know that’s important. In Pennsylvania and across the nation, hunters busy with family, work and school commitments consistently list lack of time as the biggest obstacle to getting into the woods. These changes address that and set the stage for folks to make some wonderful memories.”

If you harvest a deer and would like to share a photo with PennLive.com readers, send it to , with your name, hometown, time and date of your harvest, county of your harvest, and any notes you would like to share about the hunt.

One of Pennsylvania’s oldest hunting traditions is changing after the Game Commission on Tuesday moved the start of deer rifle season to the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The opening day of rifle season has been on the Monday after Thanksgiving since 1963. Hunters will start the season on Nov. 30 this year after the Game Commission’s Board of Commissioners voted 5-3 Tuesday to change the start date.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, the Game Commission has changed the framework of many of its hunting seasons including those for black bears, turkeys, pheasants and ruffed grouse. The one season that has always been off limits — until now — is the regular deer rifle season.

One of the driving forces behind moving the rifle opener is creating additional opportunities to recruit and retain hunters. The number of hunters has dropped in the state and across the country in recent years.

Supporters hope moving the deer season opener to Saturday will entice college students who are home for Thanksgiving and those with busy work schedules who can’t get off on Monday to head afield.

Commissioner Brian Hoover of Glenolden, who voted for the change, said a Saturday opener will help recruit hunters.

“We need to look to the future concerning our hunters and bringing in more youth,” Hoover said.

The season will run through Saturday, Dec. 14, so there will be three Saturdays for rifle season.

The split vote shows how divisive the topic is.

Sportsmen who have busy work and family schedules have generally been in favor of the Saturday opener, while hunters who cherish the tradition of opening on Monday or who travel to deer hunting camps after Thanksgiving have been generally opposed.

“A majority of our members who weighed in on this issue were against the change, mostly due to liking and wanting to keep the tradition of the Monday opener,” says Harold Daub, executive director of Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen & Conservationists, the largest sportsmen’s group in the state. “Evidently, the majority of the commissioners heard enough to support the change.

“While we are disappointed with the outcome of the vote, we look forward to working with the commissioners in the future.”

Historically, many school districts have been closed on the Monday after Thanksgiving, because so many families took part in opening day.

Allentown, Reading, Pittsburgh and Hazleton are among the school districts that have closed on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

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The deer rifle season opener is the most popular hunting day of the year, but it’s also one of the few major hunting season openers that didn’t take place on a Saturday.

Now that the date has been moved, is Sunday hunting in the state’s future?

Right now, it’s too early to tell. While the concept has been discussed off and on for years, the efforts to advance Sunday hunting have essentially gone nowhere because they require a change by the state Legislature.

Earlier this year, Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, introduced SB147, which would give the Game Commission the authority to institute Sunday hunting. That bill passed the Senate Game & Fisheries Committee, which Laughlin chairs, marking the first time a Sunday hunting bill has ever moved out of committee. It now needs to go before the full Senate for a vote.

Mark Demko is a freelance writer.