The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently announced that it sees an anticipated decline in the number of non-residents applying for an elk license because of several new changes to the program.

The agency Commission is offering such things as 155 elk tags, including 80 for bulls, over four hunting seasons this year. The deadline to apply is July 12.

As of July 7, the agency has received applications from 35,712 hunters across the country, including 10,975 applications from people who didn’t apply last year. Also, 5,074 people applied for the first time.

As of this time last year, the agency received applications from 37,328 hunters and a total of 52,155 by the deadline.

With the requirement to purchase a general license before applying, the agency is seeing a decrease in non-resident applications. In 2025, 18,893 non-residents applied and so far, this year, 3,553 out of state hunters have entered the drawing.

The agency made several changes to the application process.

Last year, hunters could pay $11.97 for a chance at one of three seasons or pay $35.91 for chances at a tag for archery, rifle or a late season hunt. A hunter was not required to have a Pennsylvania general hunting license to apply for the lottery.

This year, hunters are required to have a hunting license before applying for the elk license lottery drawing. The license costs $20.97 for residents and $101.97 for out of state hunters.

However, to apply for an elk license, hunters are only paying $11.97 for five opportunities to win a tag this year.

The winners of this year’s elk licenses will mostly be Pennsylvania residents as the agency has limited non-residents to a maximum of 10% of the allocation. Over the past couple years, 12-13% of the licenses went to people living outside of the Keystone State.