Change made to antlerless deer license system to 'guarantee' availability in most of Pa.

Brian Whipkey, Pennsylvania Outdoors Columnist
·3 min read

Pennsylvania deer hunters in 19 of the 22 Wildlife Management Units will be guaranteed the ability to get an antlerless deer license if they are purchased early in the process.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is changing the timing to purchase an antlerless license in an attempt to cut down on customer lines and online delays similarly to what happened last year on the first day of license sales.

When general hunting licenses first go on sale at 8 a.m. June 24, hunters will only be able to apply for antlerless deer licenses in three Wildlife Management Units for the first three days.

The three WMUs are 1B in northwestern Pennsylvania with 37,000 antlerless licenses, 2G in northcentral part of the state with 37,000 antlerless licenses, which is 2,000 more than last year, and 3A on the northcentral border with New York with 21,000 antlerless tags. Those were the first areas to sell out last year. WMU 2G was the first and it took three days.

A group of doe trot along a hillside Feb. 4 in Somerset County. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has changed the timing to purchases antlerless deer licenses in June and early July.
A group of doe trot along a hillside Feb. 4 in Somerset County. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has changed the timing to purchases antlerless deer licenses in June and early July.

“For the first three days of sales, it’s just going to be those three WMUs,” said Travis Lau, communications director for the agency.

Those licenses will be sold on a first come, first served basis until the allocated number sells out.

On Thursday of that week, June 27, hunters can start getting antlerless licenses in the 19 other WMUs in the state.

“As long as a resident hunter goes to buy a license in any of those other 19 WMUs, and does so by 7 a.m. July 8 — anytime between 8 a.m. June 27 and 7 a.m. July 8 — they are guaranteed to get the tag in the WMU that they want,” Lau said.

The licenses become available to nonresidents at 8 a.m. July 8. At that time, the agency will limit antlerless licenses to the allocated numbers for every WMU until they are exhausted.

The changes to the sales schedule and process are expected to reduce wait times for hunters buying licenses throughout the first round.

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Last June was the first year hunters could purchase antlerless deer licenses when they bought their general hunting licenses. Each WMU has an allocated number of antlerless deer licenses that sell out in most parts of the state.

The first day licenses went on sale, many hunters across the state stood in line or experienced delays online to get their antlerless licenses because of concerns the tags would sell out in their area.

David Stainbrook, deer and elk section supervisor for the agency said Friday that more than 300,000 hunters tried to purchase licenses on the first several days licenses were available last year. Hunters were trying to purchase antlerless licenses in WMUs where there were plenty of licenses for multiple rounds of sales.

“To help reduce those issues, this year we have identified a way to break up the first round of sales and spread out that demand,” Stainbrook said about the new process.

Additional doe tags

A hunter is limited to buying one antlerless license per round in the first three rounds. Sales begin at 8 a.m. on the first day of any round, and there will be no sales between 7 a.m. and 7:59 a.m. on the first day a round opens, allowing for online customers to join the buying queue.

The second round of sales begins at 8 a.m. July 22 and the third round begins at 8 a.m. Aug. 12.

Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) permits also go on sale when the third round begins. During the fourth round, which begins at 8 a.m. Aug. 26, a hunter may purchase more than one license for any WMU where licenses are available. No hunter may possess more than their personal limit of six antlerless licenses at a time.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors, and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: How do you get a doe tag in Pennsylvania?