Trending
By Walt Young
For the Mirror
Back in April when I reported on the new system that had just been approved for the application and sale of antlerless deer licenses, I saw some possible glitches in the process.
I refrained from commenting on them at the time because doing away with the mail-in applications to county treasurer offices was long overdue. And hopefully, those potential problems wouldn't come to pass or only be minimal anyway.
Hunting licenses are valid from July 1-June 30 of the following year. Under the previous system, new hunting licenses went on sale on the second Monday in June, allowing hunters more than two weeks to purchase a new license before their current one expired. In case you are thinking that's not much of a factor because there is nothing to hunt in July, that's not entirely true.
Several species that are generally classified as "varmints," are open to hunting year-round, including groundhogs, coyotes, skunks, opossums and weasels. The reason most hunters purchased a new hunting license soon after they went on sale was because the first round of mail-in doe applications was around the second Monday of July, followed by two rounds of applications for unsold licenses, subject to availability, during August.
Under the new system, hunters can purchase a doe license over the counter anywhere hunting licenses are sold and receive their license and tag at the time of purchase or buy it online and receive the license documents via mail. Similar to the old mail-in process, there are several rounds but the timing of those rounds is slightly different than before. There are now four rounds of antlerless deer license sales, each beginning at 8 a.m.
The first round will be the fourth Monday in June, which was June 26 this year. Only Pennsylvania residents may apply during the first two weeks of this round. Nonresidents can apply beginning on the second Monday in July, which is July 10 this year. The date for the beginning of sales of the 2023/24 general hunting licenses was also shifted to June 26 this year. Therefore, general license sales were shifted about two weeks later and the first round of doe applications was shifted two weeks earlier than in the past.
The statewide total of antlerless deer licenses for 2023-24 is 1,095,000, which is up 147,000 from the 948,000 licenses allocated for 2022-23. Seventeen of the 22 Wildlife Management Units received increased allocations this year, four WMUs receiving the same allocation as 2022/23, and one WMU receiving a smaller allocation this year. All four of the WMUs covering our region all had significant increases as well, including: WMU 2C with 88,000, up from 67,000 last year; WMU 2E with 52,000, up from 42,000 last year; WMU 4A with 61,000, up from 50,000 last year; and WMU 4D with 77,000, up from 55,000 last year and the largest increase of any WMU in the state.
I typically get at least one doe tag for WMU 4D where I do most of my deer hunting. In past years, I can't recall WMU 4D selling out before well into at least the second round. Based on that and the increased allocation for this year, I saw absolutely no need to worry about applying for a doe tag on the first day of availability.
I felt certain, however, that plenty of folks would be compelled to buy theirs as early in the process as possible. And I have one fundamental rule I try to live by: Never stand in line unless there is no other alternative. I surely had no desire to stand in line to buy a doe tag that I wouldn't need for almost five months.
On June 26, however, I received several emails and texts from friends who spent hours trying to get a license and lamenting that the new system was flawed. To me, the flaw was in their misguided logic of needing to acquire a doe license on the first day they were available when there was a more-than-adequate adequate supply in almost all WMUs.
The lone exception was WMU 2G, which sold out of its allocation of 35,000 by 11:35 a.m. on June 28. Most years, WMU 2G usually sold out early in the first round of the old system, so nothing much different there. The Game Commission sent out an email on the afternoon of June 26 with a video message from Executive Director, Bryan Burhans, acknowledging the day-long backlog at issuing agents around the state and online as well as thanking hunters for their patience with the rollout of the new system.
I stopped and renewed my lifetime hunting license and bought a WMU 4D doe tag on the afternoon of June 28. No line, no fuss, no problem. And WMU 4D still had more than 60,000 available. The clerk there told me they submitted their first hunting license request into the system at 9:30 on the morning of June 26. The queue was so backed up that it finally processed and printed out around 11 a.m.
For those who plan to buy multiple doe tags or hunt in multiple WMUs, I would suggest keeping track of doe license sales and the number remaining per WMU to know when and where to put your priorities. You can find that information on the Pennsylvania Game Commission website, pgc.pa.gov and click on the red "Antlerless Deer Quota" bar on the homepage.
Walt Young writes about the Outdoors for the Mirror Sports section on a regular basis.