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Firearms deer season off to strong start, according to processors

The rising popularity of hunting can be at least partially attributed to the pandemic, when many were looking for activities to do outdoors.

ENOLA, Pa. — Two days into the firearms deer season, Blue Mountain Deer Processing was swamped with orders.

“It’s just nonstop from 9 a.m. ‘til midnight,” owner Dean Deimler said. “There were trucks waiting to get into the parking lot, there was a 20 to 30 minute wait, sometimes, to do paperwork in the office.”

Blue Mountain cuts meat from deer and also uses the meat to make venison products such as hot dogs, bologna, and sausages. They processed 370 deer total in 2019 and 600 deer total in 2020. So far this year, they’ve already received 270 deer.

The surge at the deer processor mirrors the overall deer harvest, which rose sharply last year, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Hunters harvested 435,180 deer in 2020, up 12% from the 2019 harvest of 389,431 and the highest harvest in 15 years.

The rising popularity of hunting can be at least partially attributed to the pandemic, when many were looking for activities to do outdoors.

“It’s part of the culture of being outside, doing what you love to do," Brett Sawyer, a hunter from Enola said. "If you get one, that’s great, you have some food. If you don’t, you’re still out in the woods and enjoying yourself." 

“It’s something that you can show your kids growing up, try to get them involved with it,” hunter Bryan Sweigart of Linglestown said. 

New rules from the state have also attracted more hunters. For the first time, hunters across the state can harvest both bucks and does through the whole two-week season.

And since 2019, the season has opened on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, as opposed to the Monday start date that had been in effect since 1963. That rule change, however, has drawn some criticism as well.

“A lot of people kind of had their tradition of going up to camp on Saturday, sort of relaxing before the opening day on Monday, so it’s sort of all over the place,” Deimler said.

The season runs through Dec. 11.

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