Pa. deer hunters out to buy 2024 licenses face major change as sale date approaches (2024)

After long waits both online and at license issuing agents across the state on the first day of hunting license sales last year — a situation that left some hunters highly frustrated — the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has made a major change to its antlerless deer license sales process for 2024.

It’s one that will hopefully improve the license purchasing experience and ensure everyone who wants an antlerless deer permit gets one.

This year, general hunting license sales, as well as the start of the first round of antlerless deer license sales, will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, June 24.

While last year residents could try and purchase a doe permit to any of the state’s 22 Wildlife Management Units (WMU) on the first day of sales, this year only three units — WMUs 1B, 2G and 3A — will go on sale to residents the first day. The PGC notes those three units typically sell out the fastest and drive much of the customer demand at start of license sales.

Antlerless deer licenses for the state’s other 19 WMUs will then go on sale to residents at 8 a.m. Thursday, June 27.

According to PGC Director of Communications Travis Lau, last year WMU 2G sold out around lunchtime on the third day of license sales, and WMUs 1B and 3A sold out in the last days of the resident portion of the first round.

This year, there are 37,000 antlerless licenses available in 1B and 21,000 available in 3A, both the same as in 2023. In WMU 2G, a total of 37,000 permits will be available, 2,000 more than last year.

Although one might think that people buying licenses from their home computers and smartphones would make up the bulk of hunting license sales nowadays, the PGC’s numbers tell a different story. Last year, approximately 39% of licenses were purchased online, while 61% were purchased by people going into an official license issuing agent.

That figure was nearly identical for both general licenses and antlerless deer licenses.

Lau said the new change to the antlerless deer license sales process should benefit hunters.

“By guaranteeing an antlerless license to resident hunters in most WMUs, it largely eliminates the need for them to wait in line,” Lau said. “Hunters have 11 days to buy at a time and in a manner that’s convenient for them. Those hunters seeking licenses that aren’t guaranteed might need to line up early and wait, but they won’t be waiting alongside near as many people.”

With only three WMUs available at the start of antlerless deer license sales this year, it’s hard to predict if any of those units might sell out in the first day or two of sales.

“While that has not been the case, we will have to wait and see what happens this year,” Lau said. “It stands to reason that far fewer people will be lined up when licenses go on sale, since most hunters are guaranteed an antlerless license (that) they won’t have to wait for, and only 93,000 first-come, first-serve antlerless licenses will be available in the first three days of sales.

“Compare that to last year, when more than 164,000 hunters bought antlerless licenses on the opening day of sales, and another 105,000 bought antlerless licenses the second day. With lighter crowds, I’d expect the system to process sales more quickly. So maybe that opens the door for a faster sellout. Much like last year, there’s no existing data for sales in this format so hunters will have to decide what’s best for them in getting their licenses.”

Last year was the first year that the PGC used its automated license sales system to sell antlerless deer licenses after decades of a process where sportsmen needed to mail their doe permit applications into a county treasurer to get a tag. One of the major issues with license sales on the first day of 2023 sales was that heavy demand bogged down the license sales system at the start.

“We did have what amounted to a crash that severely slowed sales for a couple hours the opening morning,” Lau said. “After that was resolved, we consistently sold between 40,000 and 50,000 licenses per hour between noon and 10 p.m.”

Lau said the PGC did receive feedback from many sportsmen about the license-buying process last year.

“Many of those who waited in line for hours to get a license were unhappy, especially if the previous mail-in application process had worked just fine for them,” Lau said. “But there were far more hunters overall who had a positive experience with this new process. Look at that second day sales total for instance. For online sales, the waiting queue cleared late in the evening on the first day. So, all of the online sales on day two were from hunters who were just going on and buying their licenses.

“In-person sales are through the same system, and sales kept rolling along. And that was largely how license sales went. It didn’t take long at all until there were more people who had a positive experience with the new process than a negative one, and we heard many comments to that effect, too.”

The PGC’s first round of resident antlerless deer tag sales this year will run through early on July 8. Starting at 8 a.m. on July 8, non-resident hunters will then have the opportunity to purchase their first doe permit. The second round of antlerless deer license sales will begin 8 a.m. Monday, July 22, while the third round will start 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 12. A fourth round of sales, for any antlerless deer tags that still remain, will begin 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26.

In the first three rounds of license sales, a hunter may purchase only one antlerless deer license per round. During the fourth round of sales, hunters can purchase more than one license for any WMU that still has tags available. At no time may a person have more than six antlerless deer licenses in his or her possession.

For sportsmen who hunt the WMUs that cover the Lehigh valley, there’s little reason to fret about the changes for 2024.

In 2023, WMU 5C, which covers the majority of Lehigh and Northampton counties, didn’t sell out until Aug. 28, the start of the fourth round of sales. WMU 3D, which includes part of northern Northampton County, exhausted its license allocation on Aug. 14, while tags for WMU 4C, which includes the far northern part of Lehigh County, sold out July 22.

2024 Antlerless Deer License On-sale Dates

Monday, June 24, 8 a.m. Wildlife Management Units 1B, 2G and 3A on sale to residents

Thursday, June 27, 8 a.m. All other WMUs on sale to residents

Monday, July 8, 8 a.m. Antlerless deer licenses on sale to non-residents

Monday, July 22, 8 a.m. Second round open to all hunters

Monday, Aug. 12, 8 a.m. Third round open to all hunters

Monday, Aug. 26, 8 a.m. Fourth round open to all hunters