By SAXON DAUGHERTY
Staff Writer
Hunting and furtaker licenses for the 2017-18 season are scheduled to go on sale Monday, and local county treasurer offices are reminding residents to be aware of some key dates and changes to the process this year.
Pennsylvanians can begin purchasing hunting licenses Monday and can start submitting antlerless license applications on July 10.
To qualify for a resident license a person has to maintain a true, fixed and permanent home and principle residence in Pennsylvania for a period of 30 consecutive days immediately preceding the application for a license.
In years past, resident hunters have had two weeks of exclusive sales before the non-resident doe application process gets underway, but that timeframe was reduced to one week last year.
All non-residents can submit antlerless deer applications beginning on July 17.
The first round of unsold or bonus applications will be available Aug. 7, and the second round is scheduled for Aug. 21.
General licenses can be purchased at the treasurers’ offices in Venango, Clarion and Forest counties, but the antlerless applications will only be accepted by mail.
Participants need to fill in their three wildlife management unit preferences using the provided envelope to mail the application to the treasurer’s office.
The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners voted in March to allocate 804,000 antlerless deer permits, which is a boost from 748,000 last year.
One new twist this year is that a hunting and trapping digest will not be provided with the purchase of a license.
A digest can be purchased separately for $6.
No longer giving away free digests to all license buyers, the Game Commission will save significantly on the cost of printing and mailing hundreds of thousands of digests.
Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans explained this decision is being motivated by the agency’s financial situation, which already has caused the organization to eliminate programs and reduce personnel.
“These kinds of reductions in services are necessary as the Game Commission approaches nearly two decades without an increase in the cost of a general hunting or furtaker license,” Burhans said in a press release.
Another new wrinkle is the creation of a pheasant permit to help sustain the state’s pheasant propagation program.
Pheasant will no longer be part of the general hunting license. Pheasant hunters will have to purchase this designation separately at a cost of $26.90.
Steps have been taken to curtail the cost of the program. The Game Commission last year closed two of its four pheasant farms, and the statewide pheasant allocation for 2017-18 has been reduced to 170,000.
By creating a pheasant permit, the Game Commission has established a mechanism to help fund the pheasant program – giving hunters a chance to help sustain the program rather than see it vanish.
Here is a listing of the mailing addresses for the treasurer’s offices in the tri-county region:
- Venango County – Courthouse Annex, 1174 Elk St., P.O. Box 708, Franklin, 16323
- Clarion County – 330 Main St., Room 110, Clarion, 16214.
- Forest County – 526 Elm St., Unit 11, Tionesta, 16353.
