The dominos are starting to fall.
Six of the state’s 23 wildlife management units have sold out of antlerless deer licenses. They are 1B, which takes in all of Erie County and parts of a few others; 2C, which takes in all of Somerset and parts of others; as well as 2F, 2G and 2H in the “big woods” of northcentral Pennsylvania; and 4C in the east.
Some others are likely to sell out soon.
As of Wednesday morning, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, seven other units had 7,000 or fewer tags left. Some had as few as 1,500.
Many of the units that began with the largest allocations still have lots of licenses, though. Unit 5C in the southeast, just west of Philadelphia, had more than 62,000, while unit 2B, surrounding Pittsburgh, had nearly 60,000.
Even some more rural units – with more land to hunt – had plenty of tags remaining.
Unit 2A, in Greene and surrounding counties, had more than 36,000, while 1A in Mercer and surrounding counties had 25,000-plus.
Hunters can apply for those tags again soon. What the commission refers to as “first-round unsold licenses” go on sale Monday, Aug. 3. State residents and non-residents can apply then, using the pink envelopes that came with their regular backtag and the application in the hunting digest.
Any licenses that remain available after that go on sale on Aug. 17.
And don’t forget about elk licenses. The deadline to apply for one of those being offered by the commission is July31.
Tickets raffling off an elk license by the Elk Country Alliance remain on sale until Aug. 14. Details are here.
