Bowhunting season for deer kicked off today in WMU's 2B, 5C and 5D

This trophy Albino buck is almost too beautiful to shoot. Contributed photo

The much anticipated early bowhunting season for antlered and antlerless deer kicks off Sat, September 19 in WMU’s 2B, here in 5C and 5D for a two-part season that ends Nov. 27 and opens again on Dec. 26-Jan, 24, 2027.  The statewide archery deer hunting season opens two weeks later on Oct. 3 also for a split season that ends Nov. 20 and kicks off again Dec. 26-Jan. 24, 2027.

There’s certainly no want for deer in these three management units. Unfortunately and because of development, deer are being pushed out of their wooded habitat to suburbs even within the city of Allentown.

Most recently, a photo was posted on a West End Neighborhood News site showing a velvet antlered buck grazing on a branch in Trexler Park. Last Thursday there was a road-killed doe laying at the entrance of the 15th Street ramp of Route 22. Where did that doe live in that heavily populated area? And yesterday as my wife and I walked the Rose Garden trail, four doe were grazing right next to the trail that actually was on Cedar Crest College property.. As we  walked by, they moved only a few yards away and continued grazing.

A few years back there was a doe in my Allentown West End home standing in my front yard at 3 a.m. Then there’s a buddy who lives on Buckingham Drive in Salisbury Township and close to Lehigh Parkway, who frequently has deer in his rear and front yards grazing on his ornamental bushes. Sometimes even a big buck shows up.

Two weeks ago as I passed the Lil-Le-Hi Trout Nursery, I spotted a sizable  buck grazing along the Little Lehigh Creek upstream from the nursery. And if the vast farmland located between Cedar Crest Boulevard and Mauch Chunk Road that is  owned by Jeris Corporation (formerly Trojan Powder) is developed, the large herd of deer and a small flock of turkey there will also have to vacate and take up residency in populated areas.

My grandfather who lived in Ironton years ago and was an avid deer hunter, would travel to Promised Land in the Poconos every year to hunt deer. But in all his years hunting there, he never managed to bring one home as he said he didn’t see a deer. Now, deer are all over his former Ironton property. He would be amazed if he were still alive.

This all goes to confirm that Pennsylvania has a lot of deer with a statewide harvest during the 2025-26 of an estimated 505,600 deer of which 185,310 were antlered deer and 320,290 were antlerless. This was up about 17 percent over the most three-year average, while the antlerless harvest was about 17 percent higher. Bowhunters alone took an estimated 182,190 deer of which 94,290 were antlered and 87,900 were antlerless.

This all goes to show how deer have managed to survive and multiply after getting evicted from their suburban woodlands.

On a side note, and if you’re an avid bowhunter looking for truly fresh deer scent to use this season, Bob’s Taxidermy on Kernsville Road in Orefield, will once again be selling his Yurine-Luck doe-in-heat and buck scent. He even has testimony from hunters who said they managed to lure in and bag a buck thanks to his scent. Call 610-398-7609 to insure it’s still in stock.
 

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