The start of rifle deer season began on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. According to Travis Lau, Pa Game Commission Communications Director, most participation takes place on opening weekend.

“So, what we've seen is like in the firearms deer season, which is still the big one that we're that, you know, it sort of generates a lot more media requests than anything else. We have longer deer seasons, longer stretch deer seasons than we ever have in Pennsylvania, higher participation by hunters in earlier starting seasons. But we'll still see about 550,000 deer hunters out during the firearms deer season.”

Deer hunting is very important in Pennsylvania as it helps to control the deer population.

“You know, the deer are our state animal here in Pennsylvania. They influence a lot of the impact Pennsylvanians in a lot of positive ways. But at the same time, there are negatives there. So, it is a balancing act. You know, the annual deer harvest is an important means of managing that population to the objective. And the hunters really should be complimented for the work they do there. You know on the wit with hunters not only do hunters provide a public service in deer management and pay to do it, but then at the same time, through the purchase of their hunting licenses, they fund the conservation of all other wildlife species.”