The number of deer might be going up in some areas of the state, while the population will be decreased in other areas and stabilized throughout the rest of the state.

With yesterday's approval of a set of deer hunting seasons and antlerless deer license allocations for 2008-09, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners will attempt to increase deer populations in parts of central and south-central Pennsylvania (Wildlife Management Units 4E and 5A), and continue efforts to increase the population trend in the state's central regions (WMU 4B).

The agency will continue efforts to decrease deer populations in the state's most populated areas, Allegheny and parts of adjacent counties (WMU 2B), and the southeast corner surrounding Philadelphia (WMUs 5C and 5D).

Mandated by the legislature to manage the commonwealth's wildlife, the Game Commission attempts to control deer populations through regulated hunting predation.

Its controversial deer management plan calls for various hunting seasons to be added, eliminated, expanded or maintained and allocations for permits to kill antlerless deer are manipulated, in an effort to use hunters as a tool to impact deer populations. Assessments are based on regional measurements of health, habitat health, numbers of deer-human conflicts, population trends and input from a citizen advisory committee.

Weeks ago the state House of Representatives' Budget and Finance Committee voted to oversee an audit of the Game Commission's deer-management plan. The biggest change in yesterday's vote was the addition of a five-day antlered deer season in central and northern counties (WMUs 2D, 2G, 3C and 4B) Dec. 1-5 and seven days of concurrent antlered and antlerless deer hunting Dec. 6-13.

"The goals of the deer management plan have not changed," said Carl Roe, Game Commission executive director. "The changes to these four WMUs will allow us to investigate the relationship between antlerless allocations and season length as we move forward with our deer management plan."

Last year in the WMU including most of Allegheny County, deer-hunting opportunities were increased in an effort to cull the herd. But the regional deer harvest was lower than expected, and about 10,000 antlerless permits, out of an allocation of 68,000, were left unpurchased. WMU 2B, in fact, was the only unit in the commonwealth to fail to sell all of its doe tags.

The 68,000 allocation and lengthened seasons will continue in 2008-09.

"We realize that hunting access is the critical issue in these urban areas," said commission spokesman Jerry Feaser. "We don't have the authority to tell private landowners they have to open [lands to hunters], but we're discussing options with municipal officials and landowners who call about chronic deer problems."