Harrisburg – While Pennsylvania’s elk always attract a crowd each fall during the rut, the herd is also garnering the interest of more hunters as well.
Sales of every elk license offered by the Pennsylvania Game Commission have increased this year, as have raffle tickets sold by the Keystone Elk Country Alliance for a bull tag.
The sales of archery, regular and late season elk license applications by the Game Commission this year totaled 73,155, a 23% increase over last year’s total of 59,394. The agency issued 164 elk licenses (36 antlered, 128 antlerless) for the upcoming seasons, and they were issued through an Aug. 15 online drawing after the Elk Expo was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The biggest gains were in archery elk applications, which totaled 20,607 and saw a 35% increase over last year’s sales. Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau attributed the hike to the fact that more people are aware of archery hunting opportunities for elk.
The agency held the first archery season for elk last year in five of the 14 Elk Hunt Zones, and a total of 10 elk – five bulls and five antlerless – were harvested. The hunt ran from Sept. 14-28 and 15 hunters were selected by a lottery. This year’s elk archery season will be held Sept. 12-26 and the agency allotted 10 antlered and 16 antlerless tags for early hunt.
Applications for elk tags for the regular season also increased significantly over last year. The PGC received 17,307 applications for an antlered tag – a 16.8% jump from last year. Either-sex elk tag applications increased by more than 13% to 22,684.
The regular season will be held Nov. 2-7 and 26 antlered and 78 antlerless tags have been allocated. Last year, 98 hunters participated in the regular season and 89 harvested an elk.
There were 34 licenses issued for a late antlerless-only elk season to run from Jan. 2-9, and applications totaled 11,909 – a 35.9% increase over last year.
Each application costs $11.90, meaning a hunter can enter all three drawings for $35.70. Individuals can be drawn for a maximum of one elk license per license year.
Raffle tickets for a bull elk tag sold by KECA set a record this year, with total sales of 11,969, according to CEO Rawley Cogan. The tag was awarded on Aug. 16 and the tickets generated $215,375 in revenue used for conservation, education and habitat improvement, which was approximately $20,000 more than last year’s total.
Cogan said the spike in sales was welcome after the loss of revenue from the canceled Elk Expo.
“It will help us make up lost revenue from the expo and 25% of our banquets which were cancelled this year,” he said.
- This story originally appeared in PA Outdoor News.
- Photo credit: Keystone Elk Country Alliance
