HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania hunters harvested about 6% more deer in the 2025-26 hunting seasons than they did the year before, according to Pennsylvania Game Commission estimates.
The statewide 2025-26 deer harvest was estimated at 505,600 deer, 185,310 of them antlered and 320,290 antlerless.
By comparison, the statewide 2024-25 harvest was estimated at 476,880 deer.
The year-over-year increase is equally attributable to rises in the antlered and antlerless deer harvests. Both were about 6% higher than the year before.
It’s notable, however, that 2025-26’s antlered deer harvest was up about 9% over the most-recent three-year average, and the antlerless harvest was about 17% higher.
That was partly by design, in regard to antlerless harvest, said Game Commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook.
The objective in most of the state’s 22 Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) was to reduce deer numbers, either because deer were negatively impacting forest health, Chronic Wasting Disease is present and increasing harvest might slow the spread, or both.
To help meet those harvest objectives and expand hunter opportunity, the Game Commission offered additional antlerless licenses last season.
That hunters responded – helping guide local deer populations toward target levels by buying hunting licenses, obtaining available antlerless deer tags and filling them – is no surprise, said Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith. For more than century, hunters have been a powerful force for conservation.
“Pennsylvania has a strong hunting heritage, one that brings hundreds of thousands of hunters together in groups large and small each fall and winter to enjoy days with family and friends,” Smith said. “But this is about more than just fun and tradition.
“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. Hunters, by managing deer, buoy not only deer, but all our other natural resources. Their time afield is a commitment to stewardship that deserves our thanks.”
The Game Commission’s harvest estimates are calculated using antlered and antlerless harvest reports submitted by hunters in combination with data from deer checked at processors across the state, Stainbrook said. Last season, hunters reported more than 150,000 deer – by far most often using the online reporting form – and Game Commission personnel checked more than 25,000 deer at processors.
Statewide, about 29% of deer hunters took an antlered deer. That’s the highest success rate since at least 2007.
Most of those bucks were older ones, too. Two of every three were at least 2.5 years old.
Meanwhile, hunters turned about 25% of antlerless tags into harvested deer. That’s consistent with past seasons, as is the fact about 70% of those deer were adult females.
Looking at the harvests by season, hunters once again took more deer overall in the regular statewide firearms deer season than in any other. It accounted for an estimated 299,230 deer, counting 89,980 antlered and 209,250 antlerless.
Archers, meanwhile, took an estimated 182,190 deer, 94,290 of them antlered and 87,900 antlerless. Muzzleloader hunters got 24,180 deer, 1,040 of them antlered and 23,140 antlerless.
It’s worth noting that firearms seasons account for the majority of the harvest in most WMUs. Archery harvests make up the majority in more-developed WMUs (such as WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D), where the use of firearms might be more restricted. Archery hunting is critical, Stainbrook said, to effectively manage deer in those more-suburban areas.
The 2025-26 Deer Harvest Estimates report can be found alongside harvest estimates from other years on the White-tailed deer page.
In the meantime, here’s a look at the estimated harvest by Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) for 2025-26, with 2024-25 estimates in parentheses for comparison:
WMU 1A: 10,000 (8,900) antlered, 15,800 (16,600) antlerless.
WMU 1B: 11,100 (9,200) antlered, 17,600 (14,100) antlerless.
WMU 2A: 8,400 (8,800) antlered, 13,600 (13,800) antlerless.
WMU 2B: 9,000 (8,000) antlered, 15,000 (14,300) antlerless.
WMU 2C: 11,400 (10,400) antlered, 23,000 (21,700) antlerless.
WMU 2D: 15,000 (13,400) antlered, 27,300 (28,800) antlerless.
WMU 2E: 7,700 (6,800) antlered, 12,500 (14,900) antlerless.
WMU 2F: 10,800 (11,100) antlered, 15,700 (17,700) antlerless.
WMU 2G: 7,600 (9,300) antlered, 12,300 (8,200) antlerless.
WMU 3A: 7,600 (6,300) antlered, 6,900 (6,600) antlerless.
WMU 3B: 7,900 (7,100) antlered, 14,100 (8,500) antlerless.
WMU 3C: 8,000 (10,500) antlered; 14,700 (12,300) antlerless.
WMU 3D: 6,000 (5,600) antlered, 9,600 (7,700) antlerless.
WMU 4A: 5,000 (4,000) antlered, 8,500 (9,700) antlerless.
WMU 4B: 6,700 (6,200) antlered; 14,400 (12,600) antlerless.
WMU 4C: 9,400 (8,000) antlered, 13,900 (12,000) antlerless.
WMU 4D: 9,400 (8,600) antlered, 15,400 (15,800) antlerless.
WMU 4E: 7,500 (7,400) antlered, 17,500 (15,900) antlerless.
WMU 5A: 4,800 (3,900) antlered, 7,300 (8,300) antlerless.
WMU 5B: 10,300 (11,200) antlered, 19,800 (17,200) antlerless.
WMU 5C: 8,100 (7,700) antlered, 18,000 (17,000) antlerless.
WMU 5D: 3,000 (2,300) antlered, 7,100 (7,700) antlerless.
Unknown WMU: 610 (580) antlered, 290 (200) antlerless.
Season-specific 2025-26 deer harvest estimates (with 2024-25) harvest estimates in parentheses) are as follows:
WMU 1A: archery, 5,740 (5,240) antlered and 4,250 (4,900) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 60 (60) antlered and 1,150 (900) antlerless.
WMU 1B: archery, 5,560 (4,930) antlered and 3,460 (3,150) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 40 (70) antlered and 1,140 (750) antlerless.
WMU 2A: archery, 4,140 (4,160) antlered and 2,850 (3,140) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 60 (40) antlered and 1,350 (860) antlerless.
WMU 2B: archery, 6,860 (6,230) antlered and 7,870 (7,850) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 40 (70) antlered and 730 (350) antlerless.
WMU 2C: archery, 5,710 (4,940) antlered and 5,610 (5,820) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 90 (60) antlered and 1,790 (980) antlerless.
WMU 2D: archery, 8,010 (7,080) antlered and 5,670 (6,700) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 90 (120) antlered and 2,230 (1,700) antlerless.
WMU 2E: archery, 3,530 (2,940) antlered and 2,380 (3,250) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 70 (60) antlered and 920 (750) antlerless.
WMU 2F: archery, 4,340 (4,320) antlered and 2,430 (3,260) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 60 (80) antlered and 1,270 (940) antlerless.
WMU 2G: archery, 2,750 (3,210) antlered and 2,210 (1,690) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 50 (90) antlered and 1,390 (710) antlerless.
WMU 3A: archery, 2,980 (2,380) antlered and 1,160 (1,510) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 20 (20) antlered and 640 (390) antlerless.
WMU 3B: archery, 3,570 (3,060) antlered and 3,080 (1,950) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 30 (40) antlered and 1,220 (450) antlerless.
WMU 3C: archery, 3,170 (3,970) antlered and 2,950 (2,570) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 30 (30) antlered and 1,250 (730) antlerless.
WMU 3D: archery, 2,780 (2,570) antlered and 2,680 (2,260) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 20 (30) antlered and 620 (340) antlerless.
WMU 4A: archery, 1,670 (1,460) antlered and 1,570 (1,950) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 30 (40) antlered and 630 (250) antlerless.
WMU 4B: archery, 3,250 (2,860) antlered and 3,950 (3,950) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 50 (40) antlered and 1,050 (450) antlerless.
WMU 4C: archery, 4,850 (3,960) antlered and 3,690 (3,770) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 50 (40) antlered and 910 (530) antlerless.
WMU 4D: archery, 3,830 (3,540) antlered and 3,460 (4,000) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 70 (60) antlered and 940 (600) antlerless.
WMU 4E: archery, 3,550 (3,670) antlered and 4,180 (4,610) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 50 (30) antlered and 1,420 (790) antlerless.
WMU 5A: archery, 2,480 (1,970) antlered and 2,320 (2,660) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 20 (30) antlered and 480 (240) antlerless.
WMU 5B: archery, 6,960 (7,400) antlered and 8,230 (7,730) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 40 (100) antlered and 1,270 (570) antlerless.
WMU 5C: archery, 5,850 (5,510) antlered and 8,690 (8,330) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 50 (90) antlered and 610 (370) antlerless.
WMU 5D: archery, 2,580 (1,990) antlered and 5,180 (5,500) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 20 (10) antlered and 120 (100) antlerless.
Unknown WMU: archery, 130 (150) antlered and 30 (50) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 0 (0) antlered and 10 (20) antlerless.