New hunting license year features a few twists

The new (and improved?) 2019-2020 Pennsylvania hunting licenses went on sale last week. To that end, members of the state’s storied “orange army” can expect to find a few surprises when they make the purchase this year. Although many of the actual hunting seasons won’t kick in until September, the new license year begins next week on July 1 (an important date for our fraternity of ground hog hunters who foray afield in quest of whistle pigs throughout the summer while pondering the amount of wood a woodchuck would chuck).

I haven’t hunted ground hogs for years now, but having some time on my hands, I moseyed on over to the Chester County Treasurer’s Office last week to renew and refresh my Pennsylvania Senior Lifetime Resident Combo

License. While my combo lifetime license includes tags for deer and turkey, lets me hunt during firearms, archery, and flintlock seasons for deer, and includes small game and furbearers (and woodchucks), it does not include Pennsylvania’s required Migratory Game Bird Stamp, bear license, additional turkey license, duck stamp, or doe permits. It also does not include permits to harvest bobcats, fishers or river otters. Since I purchased my lifetime license prior to May 13, 2017, it does allow me to hunt pheasants. Hunters who purchased lifetime licenses after that date are required to obtain an annual pheasant permit to hunt or harvest pheasants.

Another thing my lifetime license does not include is the application fee for a chance at an elk license, which brings me to the first “twist” in this year’s licensing process. In past years would-be Pennsylvania elk hunters could pay a fee (around ten dollars) to apply for an elk license with very slim odds of actually drawing one. But this year the folks at the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) have cleverly created three separate elk seasons with separate applications and fees for each one. Two new elk seasons – a September archery season and a January season for antlerless elk – have been added in 2019-20. The original general season in November also will be held.

In total, 142 elk licenses, 32 for antlered elk, have been allocated for 2019-20. Fifteen licenses, five for antlered elk, are available for the archery season, 98 licenses (27 antlered, 71 antlerless) are available for the general season and 29 antlerless licenses are available for the January season. Hunters now can boost PGC revenues by applying for that slim chance to take part in any of the three seasons, or all of them, but a separate application is needed for each with an $11.90 application fee for each season, meaning it costs $35.70 to apply for all three. In each drawing, season-specific bonus points are awarded to those who aren’t drawn. The deadline to apply for an elk license is July 31.

But while your odds of drawing any elk permit may not be any better than in past years (despite paying as much as three times as much for the privilege) a second minor “twist” here is that you can save a few bucks on your copy of the Pennsylvania Hunting and Trapping Digest this year. After being complimentary with every hunting license purchase in past years, the PGC decided to charge $6.00 for a print copy of the digest last year (although hunters could always find it on the PGC website and download it for free). The PGC made the right call by reinstating the policy of providing a complimentary copy with each license this year.

But ground hog hunting aside, what’s the rush to buy a new license? Such an early purchase seems counterintuitive since summer has officially just begun and most hunting doesn’t start until deep into the fall. The PGC suggests that one reason many hunters buy their licenses as soon as sales begin is to secure a Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) permit, which are available in limited numbers. Of course the biggest and most controversial twist of all this year is that the opening day of the firearms deer season will take place on the Saturday (not the traditional Monday) after Thanksgiving. A Saturday opener assures that more hunters are likely to be afield which likely equates to an increased demand for DMAP permits that enable holders to harvest antlerless deer in any established deer season including the antlered-only portion of the firearms season.

The only potentially bigger twist than the Saturday opener would be the legalization of Sunday deer hunting, and there are some optimistic folks who believe that could happen this year. The first step would be approval by the state senate and, lo and behold, they may be voting on an amended version of Senate Bill 147 as early as this week. Senator Dan Laughlin, the bill’s sponsor, will propose a scaled down version which would limit hunting to just three Sundays, not the 14 proposed by the original bill. If the modified bill passes the legislature, it would then give the PGC the prerogative to act on it ASAP. Could it happen this year? Stay tuned.

Another benefit of buying a license early is that it helps ensure hunters won’t miss their opportunity to apply for an antlerless deer license, which in most of the state cannot be used during the first six days of the firearms deer season. A resident Pennsylvanian who buys his or her 201920 hunting license is eligible to apply for an antlerless deer license July 8. Nonresidents can apply July 15. And a second round in which a hunter can receive a second antlerless deer license begins Aug. 5 for wildlife management units where licenses remain. And if licenses still remain, a final round begins Aug. 19.

General hunting licenses and furtaker licenses each continue to cost $20.90 for Pennsylvania residents and $101.90 for nonresidents. Resident senior hunters and furtakers, ages 65 and older, can purchase one-year licenses for $13.90, or lifetime licenses for $51.90. For $101.90, resident seniors can purchase lifetime combination licenses that afford them both hunting and furtaking privileges.

A complete list of licensing requirements can be found at www.pgc.pa.gov. SALT WATER UPDATE >> For saltwater anglers who venture offshore to the canyons, recent tuna action has mostly shifted from bluefin to yellowfin with a number of mahi-mahi also in the mix. The bite had been strong over the past two weeks but has slowed a bit of late. Plenty of Mako sharks are still hanging around and the first swordfish of the season, an 87 pounder, was caught just outside the Washington Canyon this weekend. I haven’t gotten offshore into the deep blue yet this season, but found time to drift the back bays for flounder last week. On Thursday I caught 15 of the wily flatfish, but only one of those, a 17-incher, qualified as a keeper, just barely over the 16½ inch legal Maryland limit. Of the 38 flounder I’ve caught so far this year, only four have qualified for the frying pan. Considering the odds, you might catch a lot of throwback flounder, but if you manage to boat a keeper, it’s likely a fluke.