Deer harvest up in PA despite fatal Chronic Wasting Disease spread

(Harrisburg) — Hunters harvested more deer last season than the one before despite the spread of a disease fatal to the animals.

The state Game Commission reports hunters bagged more than 343,000 deer during the 2012-2013 season, up two percent from the previous one.

Spokesman Joe Neville says Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, didn’t affect harvests much, but the agency will keep the disease on its radar. “Things shook out, in the end, fairly typically, so we’ll continue to monitor that in the future, and with CWD being found in Bedford and Blair counties, we will expand monitoring to those counties in this upcoming year.”

Neville says there was a five percent increase in bagged antlered deer.

He adds the hunter success rate stayed at about 25 percent, which kept pace with recent years.