If you haven’t yet purchased your 2018-19 Pennsylvania hunting license, now might be the time.
The new license year began July 1, so only 2018-19 licenses are valid when hunting or using Game Commission shooting ranges. And the sale of 2018-19 antlerless deer licenses is about to begin, and only hunters holding valid general licenses may apply.
Pennsylvania residents are given preference in applying for antlerless licenses, and resident hunters may apply for their first antlerless licenses beginning Monday, July 9.
Nonresidents may submit their first applications a week later, beginning Monday, July 16.
The application dates identified in the Game Commission’s 2018 Pennsylvania Wildlife Calendar do not represent the beginning of the application period.
There have been some slight modifications to the pink envelopes in which antlerless license applications are sent. The check boxes on the face of the envelope, which identify whether one, two or three applications are being sent, and whether the applicants are residents or nonresidents, have been grouped in one box. And peel-and-stick strips on the edges of the envelope have replaced the moisten-and-seal adhesive. Otherwise, the envelope essentially is the same. And the old envelopes still will be accepted by county treasurers.
Resident applicants need to make checks and money orders payable to “County Treasurer” for $6.90 for each license they seek. The fee for nonresidents is $26.90 per license.
A list of participating county treasurers and their addresses is provided by issuing agents when licenses are purchased and can be found within the 2018-19 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest, which can be purchased with a license or viewed online.
Applications that are incomplete or sent without proper remittance will be rejected and returned to the applicant. Applications received before the Monday start of any round also will be returned to sender.
In any WMU where antlerless licenses remain, resident and nonresident applicants may apply for a second license beginning Aug. 6, and a third license Aug. 20.
Applications during these rounds are accepted by mail only, and must be mailed with proper remittance in an official pink envelope, which ordinarily is provided by the license-issuing agent at the time a general hunting license is purchased.
In most parts of the state, hunters are limited to purchasing a total of three antlerless licenses.
However, in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, an unlimited number of licenses can be obtained. Each hunter may apply for only one license per round in those WMUs until Aug. 6, when an unlimited number of applications can be submitted. Only three applications can be mailed in each envelope.
If licenses remain, over-the-counter sales begin Aug. 27 in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, and Oct. 1 in all other WMUs.
Courtesy PA Game Commission www.pgc.pa.gov