WMU 5D, Pennsylvania

Heavily suburban and developed landscape with fragmented woodlots, riparian corridors, residential edges, and scattered agricultural parcels. Rolling Piedmont topography with moderate slopes. Very little contiguous forest; deer concentrate in wooded buffers between subdivisions and along creek drainages. High human-wildlife interface throughout the unit.

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Antlered deer: one per license year, OTC with general hunting license. Antlerless: extremely liberal allocation — hunters may hold up to 15 unfilled antlerless deer licenses in WMU 5D (compared to the standard statewide per-hunter limit of 6). Antlerless licenses sold by WMU through PGC; 39,000 antlerless licenses were allocated for 5D in 2025-26, a significant increase from prior years. Residents guaranteed their chosen WMU if purchased before the early-July deadline. Liberal allocation reflects the need for aggressive doe harvest in a high-density suburban deer population with constrained hunting access.

DEER: Archery season Sept 19 – Nov 27 and Dec 26 – Jan 24; regular rifle/firearms season Nov 21 – Dec 5 (2025-26); muzzleloader/flintlock season Dec 26 – Jan 24; extended antlerless firearms Dec 26 – Jan 24. One antlered deer per license year; up to 15 antlerless licenses may be held. BEAR: Archery bear season open — runs Sept 20 through Nov 28 including Sundays, covering much of the archery and early firearms period (WMUs 2B, 5C, 5D share an extended archery bear season). One bear per license year. No separate firearms bear season listed for this unit. TURKEY (Spring): Spring gobbler season May 2–30; junior/mentored season April 25; daily limit 1, season limit 2 gobblers. TURKEY (Fall): CLOSED — WMU 5D is closed to fall turkey hunting. ELK: Not applicable; elk are managed exclusively in WMU 2G (north-central PA elk range). No elk present in WMU 5D.

One of PA's most deer-dense units — suburban sprawl has created ideal edge habitat and deer are largely unhunted on most private land. Hunters with private property access can encounter exceptional antlerless opportunity. Extended firearms season runs through late January. Archery hunting is particularly well-suited here given zoning and safety constraints. Bear season is open with archery extending through late November. Fall turkey is closed.