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By GEORGE SMITH; Times Leader Outdoors Editor
Wednesday, July 30, 1997 Page: 1B
Pennsylvania flintlock hunters need to hustle and antlerless deer hunters
must get their paperwork in order if they want to chase whitetails this
winter.
The final day to purchase a flintlock muzzleloading stamp is Thursday, and
Monday is the first day county treasurers will accept antlerless deer license
applications through the mail.
A state adult resident hunting license is $12.75. Muzzleloader and
antlerless deer licenses are an additional $5.75.
The fees remain unchanged from last year.
Hunters may apply for one of the statewide allocation of 639,900 antlerless
deer licenses. But an unlimited number of antlerless licenses will be issued
in the special regulation counties.
Luzerne County hunters can vie for one of the allotted 9,500 licenses. That
allotment is down from 12,650 last year.
State Game Commission wildlife managers had initially proposed a statewide
antlerless allotment of 748,800. But the game commissioners responded to the
concerns of hunters and legislators regarding the size of the deer herd and
lowered that figure to 639,900.
“The commissioners were able to reduce the initial proposal by working with
our people in wildlife without jumping out of the management program,” said
Game Commission spokesperson Bruce Whitman.
Whitman thinks the lower numbers might trigger an urgent interest in the
antlerless license application process.
“If the perception is that numbers are limited, that could spur some
activity,” he said.
New harvest limits are in place this year regarding antlerless deer. In
most counties hunters may now take only one antlered and one antlerless deer
per license year. Except in special regulations counties, where unlimited
antlerless licenses are available, an individual may apply for and receive
only one valid antlerless license.
And bonus licenses no longer exist in the 61 counties outside the special
regulations areas.
The only exception will be the hunter who purchases a muzzleloader stamp;
the hunter can then apply on Aug. 18 for any surplus licenses. A surplus
license is one that has not yet been sold at the time of application.
The timetable for the county specific antlerless licenses is as follows:
Monday, Aug. 4: County treasurers will accept through the mail applications
from Pennsylvania residents.
Monday, Aug. 18: County treasurers will accept, only through the mail,
applications from nonresidents applying for a regular antlerless license and
applications from holders of muzzleloader licenses applying for a surplus
antlerless license.
Monday, Aug. 25: Applications for a surplus antlerless license in a special
regulations area county will be accepted.
Not all county treasurers issue antlerless deer licenses through the mail.
Treasurers in eight counties will hold public drawings on Wednesday, Aug.
6, for the licenses. Those counties include: Armstrong, at 9 a.m. at the
treasurer’s office; Butler, 10 a.m., Butler City Hunting and Fishing Club;
Jefferson, 6 p.m., Heritage House Senior Center; Lackawanna, 10 a.m.,
treasurer’s office; Lehigh, 12:30 p.m., Courthouse Room 711; Northampton, 9
a.m., Government Center; Potter, 10 a.m., Game Commission Northcentral Region
Office, Jersey Shore; and Westmoreland, 1 p.m., at the treasurer’s office.
Applications for antlerless deer licenses in Potter County will be handled
through the Game Commission’s Northcentral Region Office, Jersey Shore. When
addressing the official pink envelope, black out County Treasurer pre-printed
on the front and write: Pa. Game Commission, P.O. Box 5038, Jersey Shore, Pa.,
17740.
With the exception of special regulations area counties, there will be no
over-the counter sales of antlerless licenses. Over-the-counter sales in
special regulations counties will begin September 24. Special regulation
counties include Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and
Philadelphia.
Hunters killed 350,997 whitetails during the most recent hunting seasons.
That is a decrease of 18 percent or 79,586 deer compared to the previous,
record-setting year when 430,583 whitetails were taken.
The muzzleloader season runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 10, while the antlerless
deer season runs Dec. 15-17.