Pennsylvania’s schedule for doe tag sales to change

Harrisburg — Antlerless license sales presently follow a set schedule determined by the calendar.

First-round sales for residents begin on the fourth Monday in June; non-residents can first purchase licenses on the second Monday in July. Rounds two, three and four sales for all hunters begin the fourth Monday in July, the second Monday in August and the fourth Monday in August, respectively.

This schedule, however, results in varying round lengths, depending on the particular year’s calendar and how the dates fall. For instance, the first round was three weeks in 2025. It was two weeks in 2024.

To simplify the process by which hunters obtain their antlerless deer licenses and improve efficiency and convenience, the Game Commission has proposed removing the calendar-driven antlerless license sales schedule from regulation.

Licenses would still be sold through some sort of rounds system – hunters won’t be able to buy up all the licenses when sales open – though exactly what the system will look like has yet to be determined.

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Whatever shape it takes, the new sales structure will continue to make antlerless licenses available on a first-come, first-serve basis that’s fair and equitable.

Whether resident hunters can expect to be guaranteed an antlerless license for the wildlife management unit of their choice for the 2026-27 hunting year is still being determined, too.

The Game Commission is working to calculate the 2025-26 estimated deer harvest. When that information is compiled, it will be used to determine how many antlerless licenses are made available for 2026-27.

Whether resident hunters are guaranteed one will be based on that allocation, which will be announced at the Board of Commissioners’ April meeting.

The regulation change the commissioners preliminarily approved at their recent meeting would do one other thing, too: make it clear that resident agricultural landowners eligible for an antlerless license at no cost are limited to one antlerless deer per year under that exemption.

The measure will be brought back to the April meeting for a final vote.