Rushing the season: Time to buy hunting license
We鈥檝e not quite reached the Fourth of July, so something about the timing seems amiss, but it蘑菇视频 time to think about purchasing hunting licenses. Then again, the days are getting shorter now (My wife hates when I say that).
Still, there蘑菇视频 no real urgency about buying a license unless you plan to apply for an antlerless deer tag. The 鈥渄oe license鈥� application schedule drives the incentive to buy early, well before any hunting seasons open. This year, county treasurers will begin accepting antlerless deer applications from Pennsylvania residents on Monday, July 10. That application must be made by U.S. Mail, but you can鈥檛 apply for a Wildlife Management Unit-specific doe permit unless you have already purchased your general hunting license. So, if you plan on getting a doe license you might want to get out and buy your general license now, before the long lines form at issuing agents鈥� counters next Friday and Saturday 鈥� July 7 and 8. That蘑菇视频 especially important if you plan to apply for a doe tag in management units where the board of game commissioners again reduced the number of permits available.
Non-residents of Pennsylvania can apply for doe tags on July 17. Later, you can apply for unsold antlerless tags beginning Aug. 7.
You can also go on-line to the Game Commission蘑菇视频 web page and purchase your general hunting license, instead of visiting a local agent. But if you go that route you can鈥檛 be sure you鈥檒l get your antlerless application form and required 鈥減ink envelope鈥� in the mail in time to apply early. If you buy your general license at an agent蘑菇视频 location, you鈥檒l be given those documents at the time of purchase.
This year, most things about the hunting license situation remain the same, but some have changed. The price is the same as last year. A resident adult license costs $20.90, and the junior resident price is $6.90, as they were in 2016. The price of all other licenses, permits (except a new pheasant permit) and tags remain as they have been.
The Game Commission cannot raise the cost of hunting licenses. Hunting license fees must be raised (or lowered) by the State Legislature, with the governor蘑菇视频 signature. The cost hasn鈥檛 risen since 1999. A number of legislative proposals have tried to increase the cost recently, or even allow the Game Commission to set its own fees (with legislative oversight) but none of these bills have won enough support to reach the governor蘑菇视频 desk.
One of the things that蘑菇视频 different this year is that you will not receive the comprehensive and familiar Hunting Digest with your license. The Game Commission is no longer providing those to license buyers for free because of the cost of printing and distribution. An earlier press release from the Commission stated that you could request a copy of the Digest by mail at a cost of $6.00. But when I bought my license at a local retailer earlier this week, they did have copies. But they鈥檙e still required to charge you the $6.00 fee.
You can still access the Digest online at www.pgc.pa.gov.
In place of the traditional Digest, expect to receive a condensed (greatly) 鈥減ocket guide.鈥� The guide is exactly like a fold-out brochure you鈥檇 pick up at a tourist kiosk, but it does provide contact information for Game Commission regional offices, legal hunting hours, a summary of fluorescent orange display requirements, hunting seasons and bag limits and a map of Wildlife Management Units. And, yes, they still had enough space to sell an ad.
Another more controversial change is that this year the general hunting license does not convey the privilege to hunt ring-necked pheasants. Since the inception of the hunting license in about 1905, or since ringnecks were first introduced from Asia鈥搘hichever came first鈥揾unting privileges of the general license included pheasants. But wild pheasants are all but gone from Pennsylvania and pheasant hunting is now provided almost entirely by birds raised at Game Commission facilities, then stocked for hunters鈥� recreation.
The cost of that artificial propagation program is now about $4 million per year. To defray the cost of raising and releasing 200,000 pheasants, the Game Commission is now requiring pheasant hunters to buy a special pheasant permit. The permit costs $25.00 ($26.90 with agent蘑菇视频 issuing fee) and is expected to raise approximately $1.5 million to keep the pheasant program going.
Even though the Game Commission cannot raise hunting license fees, it can establish required new permits, and charge for them.
Some holders of senior lifetime licenses balked at the new permit, believing they鈥檇 bought lifetime pheasant privileges when they purchased their lifetime license. The Game Commission, however, notes that Pennsylvania蘑菇视频 hunting population has such a high proportion of seniors that the permit would be meaningless as a fundraiser without seniors鈥� participation. Junior hunters, though, 16 and under, may still hunt pheasants without the new permit.
Many citizens aren鈥檛 aware that the Game Commission receives no revenue from general state taxes. All its income derives from the sale of hunting licenses, the sale or leasing of natural resources on game lands, such as timber, coal and natural gas, and from reimbursements from the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration program, money collected as a federal surcharge on firearm and ammunition purchases.