Game agency extends Sept. Elk Hunt

Photo courtesy of Pa. Game Commission

Pa. Game Commission members will wait until April to decide how many antlerless deer licenses and elk-hunting licenses to sell this year.

In the meantime, the agency this week set the stage for most of the 2007 hunting seasons with preliminary approval of a longer September elk hunt, a continuation of archery and extended black bear seasons and other actions.

The regular elk season will be held Nov. 5-10. A separate elk hunt in Zone 1, on the southwest border of Cameron County with Elk County, will be held Sept. 3-29 this year and Sept. 1-27 next year.

Last year's first-ever September elk hunt, designed to lessen the animals' damage to farm fields, was a failure. By the time the season arrived, some farmers had killed elk and the herd had migrated away from the hunting zone.

"Farmers have told us that elk do extensive damage to their crops," said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. "Only after farmers harvest their crops do the elk leave the area, which generally is before the regular elk season. This early season helps reduce the damage elk are doing to crops, and provides a unique hunting opportunity when bull elk are bugling."

Roe pointed out that the September elk hunt could require more scouting by hunters.

Both antlered and antlerless elk will be legal game in both seasons. Successful applicants will be determined through public drawings in September. Ten licensed hunters for the September 2007 season were selected during the drawing held in 2006.

Decisions on how many elk licenses to issue for the November hunt and how many antlerless deer licenses to sell will be reached at the agency's April 17-18 meeting in Harrisburg. There are an estimated 650 elk in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, the Game Commission decided this week that antler restrictions will continue unchanged for the 2007-08 deer seasons. In this part of the state, hunters will be required to abide by a three points on one side antler restriction. Statewide, all junior license holders, disabled hunters, mentored youth hunters and active duty U.S. Armed Services personnel may abide by the old antler restrictions of one antler of three or more inches in length, or one antler with at least two points.

A concurrent antlered/ antlerless rifle deer season will run from Nov. 26-Dec. 8; a firearms antlerless deer season from Oct. 18-20, for junior and senior license holders, disabled hunters and military personnel.

A muzzleloader season for antlerless deer has been set from Oct.13-20. The flintlock muzzleloader season, Dec. 26- Jan. 12, continues to be for antlered or antlerless deer.

The agency also agreed to extend shooting hours for most hunting seasons, including all deer seasons, to one-half hour after sunset.

A two-day archery bear season has been scheduled Nov. 14-15 for several wildlife management areas, including those in this region.