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Pa. Game Commission
Pennsylvania’s 2022-23 hunting and trapping licenses are currently on sale. Buying one is key to getting in on some exciting action.
The new license year begins July 1. It is once again big on opportunities, featuring a record number of bull elk tags, as well as seven weeks of archery deer hunting, a firearms deer season that includes the weekend after Thanksgiving, the chance to hunt trophy black bears, more stocked pheasants than anywhere in the Northeast and more.
License prices, meanwhile, remain unchanged, with one notable exception.
This year, for the first time, a discounted hunting license is available to Hunter-Trapper Education instructors. Instructors who are Pennsylvania residents now can purchase a general hunting license for just $1, plus $1.97 in administrative fees.
This discount was made possible by House Bill 1122, sponsored by state Rep. Keith Gillespie and signed into law earlier this year.
Through their volunteer work, Hunter-Trapper Education instructors provide a valuable service, ensuring new hunters have opportunities to join the hunting ranks, and giving them everything they need to make safe, ethical decisions afield, and ultimately achieve success. The Game Commission can’t thank these instructors enough, and the discounted license serves to demonstrate that appreciation.
Otherwise, general hunting licenses and furtaker licenses each cost $20.97 for Pennsylvania residents and $101.97 for nonresidents.
Resident senior hunters and furtakers ages 65 and older can purchase one-year licenses for $13.97, or lifetime licenses for $51.97. For $101.97, resident seniors can purchase lifetime combination licenses that afford them hunting and furtaking privileges.
Like other hunters and trappers, seniors still need to purchase bear licenses to pursue bruins and obtain permits to harvest bobcats, fishers or river otters. Hunters who acquired their senior lifetime licenses after May 13, 2017 are required to obtain an annual pheasant permit to hunt or harvest pheasants.
Hunting licenses can be purchased online at huntfish.pa.gov.