If you haven’t yet purchased your 2019-20 Pennsylvania hunting license, now might be the time.
The new license year began July 1, so only 2019-20 licenses are valid when hunting or using Game Commission shooting ranges. And sales of 2019-20 antlerless deer licenses are 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 8.
Nonresidents may submit their first applications a week later, beginning Monday, July 15.
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 2019-20 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest, which again is being provided free of charge to all license buyers.
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. 5, and a third license Aug. 19.
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, there is no limit to how many tags a hunter may acquire until the total allocation has been exhausted. Each hunter may apply for only one license per round in those WMUs until Aug. 5, 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. 26 in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, and Oct. 7 in all other WMUs.