Deer Season Field Guide: What You Need to Know before and after the Hunt

Headed to the woods? The Pennsylvania Game Commission provided the following tips:

• Be prepared. Hunters can check traffic and road conditions on more than 2,900 miles of roadways by  calling 511 or logging onto the Department of Transportation’s website.

• Share the bounty. The state’s Hunters Sharing the Harvest program allows hunters to donate venison to local food banks, soup kitchens, and needy families.

• Leave the land better than how you found it.

• Follow fair-chase rules.

• Know your capabilities and limitations as a marksman, and stay within your effective range.

• Try for a quick, clean kill.

• Make sure that meat and usable parts are not wasted.

• Treat both game and non-game animals ethically.

• Follow game laws and regulations.

• Cooperate with conservation officers.

• Report game violations.

• Respect other hunters.

• Follow safe firearm handling practices, and insist your companions do the same.

• Do not interfere with another person’s hunt.

• Avoid consuming alcohol, which can slow your reactions to the point of endangering others.

• Know your location.

• Let others know where you are. Wear proper clothing; fluorescent clothing is the most important item because it allows hunters to recognize one other.

• Pack a survival kit with proper signaling devices in case you get lost.

• When loading or unloading a firearm, hunting partners (including dogs) should stand back-to-back, facing away from one other.

• When hunting with a group, remember that it is illegal in most states to use your license tag on another person’s kill.

Related coverage

• Seasonable Weather Awaits Pennsylvania Deer Hunters (Nov. 29, 2010)

• Guest Column: Stocking the Freezer with Venison—and Stories for the Kids (Nov. 29, 2010)

• Fewer Kids, More Women Expected for Opening Day of Rifle Deer Season (Nov. 29, 2010)

• The History of Deer Management in Pennsylvania (Nov. 29, 2010)