By P.J. REILLY, Staff
As hot as it's been the past week, the cool days of the fall deer season seem impossibly far off.
The application process begins Aug. 4 to buy antlerless deer licenses for Pennsylvania's 2007-08 hunti
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That's why I eagerly look forward each summer to Pennsylvania's antlerless deer license application process.
For me, it gets the deer-hunting juices bubbling and it officially starts my countdown to the start of the new deer season.
Well, the process begins Monday, Aug. 4. That's the first day applications from Pennsylvania residents will be received by mail for antlerless licenses.
Statewide, the allocation is down this year from last year.
A total of 849,000 antlerless licenses are up for grabs this year. Last year, 865,000 were allocated.
Despite the statewide reduction in tags, allocations were not universally cut in all wildlife management units (WMU).
The Game Commission reduced allocations in six WMUs, increased them in two and kept them static in the remaining 14.
In WMU 5B, which includes Lancaster County, the allocation dropped from 53,000 tags last year to 51,000 this year.
In our neighboring WMU 5C, where a lot of local hunters pursue deer, the allocation jumped from 84,000 tags last year to 92,000 for this year — the largest allocation for any WMU in the state.
Nonresidents of Pennsylvania can apply for their first doe tag beginning Aug. 18.
Everyone can apply for their second tags beginning Aug. 25 and then the third round opens Sept. 8.
Outside WMUs 5C, 5D and 2B, hunters can get up to three doe tags per year.
Last year, the archery doe season in WMUs 5C, 5D and 2B opened Sept. 15 — two weeks earlier than the start of the general archery season statewide.
With the early start to the season, there were some problems getting doe tags sent back to hunters in time for the Sept. 15 opener.
Tags applied for via mail in the first two rounds typically are returned by the third Monday in September. Last year, that was Sept. 17 — two days after the season opened.
A change in the calendar and an early start to over-the-counter sales should eliminate those problems this year, according to Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser.
This year, the early archery doe season opens Sept. 20.
Doe tags applied for by hunters in the first two mail-in rounds are supposed to be returned no later than Sept. 15, Feaser said.
Remember, if you're applying by mail for tags in WMUs 5C, 5D and 2B, you can only apply for one tag in the first round, but you can apply for as many as you want in rounds two and three.
Hunters can buy as many tags in these units as they want until the allocations run out.
If you are concerned about not getting your tags through the mail by Sept. 20, then you can buy them at county courthouses in the three units beginning Sept. 8. Over-the-counter sales begin Nov. 3 in all other units.
I would advise against waiting to buy your tags over the counter. I've done this in years past and found that some county treasurers exhaust their allocations quicker than others in a given unit.
One year, my buddy and I went to the Chester County Courthouse in West Chester to get our tags for WMU 5C, but the treasurer there didn't have any more, even though the unit as a whole still had a couple thousand left.
We called the Montgomery County Treasurer's Office, but they were sold out, too.
We ended up driving to Reading to get our tags at the Berks County Treasurer's Office.
The mail-in system seems to work pretty well, so I'd recommend applying for your WMU 5C, 5D and 2B tags that way.
If you hunt the extreme southwest corner of Chester County, don't forget that area is now part of WMU 5C.
Through last year, the area in Chester County south of Route 371 and west of Route 10 had been part of WMU 5B.
The Game Commission this spring voted to add that area to WMU 5C — without any scientific study of the potential impact on wildlife populations, I might add — as part of a series of adjustments to the unit's boundaries.
The sliver of Chester County north of Route 371 and west of Route 10 remains in WMU 5B.
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The Game Commission's annual waterfowl symposium migrates to the southeast corner of the state this year.
Held each year to gather input from hunters on what they'd like to see in the way of duck and goose seasons, the symposium is scheduled for 1 p.m., Friday, Aug. 8, in the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area visitors center.
Besides hearing from waterfowl hunters, Game Commission staff also will offer updates on populations of ducks and geese that live in Pennsylvania year round and which migrate through the state each fall and winter.
Based on public comments, Game Commission staff will recommend to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) a slate of migratory bird hunting seasons and bag limits sought for Pennsylvania for the 2008-09 hunting year.
USFWS typically announces in mid August the state's official seasons and bag limits for the coming year.
E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com
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