Hunters break application records for Pennsylvania's wild elk license lottery
Hunters from every state applied for an elk tag in Pennsylvania, leading to record interest that could mean changes for nonresidents in coming years.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission reports 57,154 people applied for the 144 available elk tags. Hunters can for each of the three seasons ― archery, general and the late season ― and in total the agency received 111,595 applications. Each application costs $11.97.
Those are record numbers for applicants and applications according to Jeremy Banfield, elk biologist for the Game Commission. In 2022, the agency received 104,250 applications for 178 elk tags.
“We had at least one person from all 50 states apply,” he said during the Somerset County Sportsmen’s League Banquet Wednesday in Berlin. “At least that shows Pennsylvania’s elk are known nationwide.” Applications were also received from Canada and Australia.
Banfield said the agency growing interest may lead the commission to consider capping out-of-state tag winners to 10%. Nonresidents now have the same opportunity as resident hunters. Tags are awarded through a lottery held during the annual summer Elk Expo in Benezette.
“We have discussed for many years putting in a 10% cap, no more than 10% of the tags would go to nonresidents, Banfield said. "Every year we didn’t do anything because we never exceeded that, it was like 7 or 8% of the winners, not the applications. This year it did go up to 12%. I say this cautiously, but don’t be shocked if you see a 10% cap in the next two, maybe three years. It’s definitely going to be a discussion point."
Elk hunting seasons in Pennsylvania
Archery season started Sept. 16 and runs through Sept. 30. In the first week, hunters killed six bulls and four cows. The winners of the state’s two conservation licenses also harvested bulls. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Keystone Elk Country Alliance each offer one of the state’s elk tags through separate fundraisers. Banfield said the RMEF tag winner got a “beautiful animal” Sept. 1. The KECA tag winner was successful on Sept. 15. “It was an amazing bull, 400 inches-plus,” Banfield said about the preliminary score of its antlers. The official score can be done after the antlers dry for at least 60 days.
The general hunting season is Oct. 30-Nov. 4 and the late season is Dec. 30-Jan. 6.
Viewing elk in Pennsylvania
“The bulls are bugling. They are overtly active this time of year,” Banfield said about the fall breeding season for the estimated 1,300 to 1,400 free-roaming wild elk.
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The best times for people to view elk in open feeding areas are about two hours after dawn and about two hours before dusk. During the day, elk may be bedded back in heavily forested locations.
“Run the different roads around the town of Benezette,” Banfield said about finding the large animals in Elk County. “If you wait until the first week of October, maybe the second week of October, lots of bugling is still going on, but you are also getting the fall colors."
Volunteers make the difference
Banfield spoke to more than 200 people attending the banquet. “I want to give a solid appreciation to the sportsmen clubs around the state. These organizations do a lot for wildlife in terms of fundraising, habitat work that a lot of them do personally on the ground, volunteer days, things like that. All that stuff is valuable for wildlife,” he said.
Don Anderson, Fourth District commissioner for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in southcentral Pennsylvania, attended the meeting and echoed the importance of the elk and volunteerism. “I’ve been up to see the elk different times,” he said. “It’s a nice surprise."
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Anderson has been a volunteer deputy waterways conservation officer for 45 years in addition to his volunteer service as a commissioner.
He said the county’s sportsmen group does habitat work including for fish. For Somerset Lake, outdoorspeople and schoolchildren helped make and place 500 habitat structures. Students helped raise catfish in Shanksville-Stonycreek, Rockwood and Berlin Brothersvalley school districts.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors, X @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: PA elk hunting popularity could mean limits on nonresident applicants
