Missed Doe License Deadline
Well, so far I am holding up to the pressure. The date passed for sending in for Doe tags, and I still haven’t purchased my license.
It will get much harder to stay the course come October. Spring Gobbler will be the toughest season to forego.
Fuzzie,
Have you gone mad? Completely mad?
Fuzzie, you are not alone. Today’s Harrisburg Patriot News (8/27/06) reports antlerless license sales down 11% from last year. At this point in 2005, 572,830 sold; this year 507,876. Also, general hunting license sales have dropped. The decline is attributed to “evidence of huge numbers of hunters disgruntled over the agency’s deer management program and voting with their feet by deciding to quit hunting in Pennsylvania.”
“Today’s Harrisburg Patriot News (8/27/06) reports antlerless license sales down 11% from last year.”
Gene,
License sales are probably down due in some part to a decline in hunter interest from the reduced deer herd. But, the PGC also reduced the number of licenses to be issued by a certain percentage.
There’s a week difference in the reporting rate of license sales comparing last years to this years. Also, 78+% of anterless licenses have been sold.
Last year antlerless sales began on August 1st. This year August 7th. For license sale data that’s very significant.
First, many hunters wait until the last minute (the week before) to buy their licenses. This year, those sales would have been in August NOT July. Second, issuing agents need to send us their reports to the PGC by the first of the month. Let’s assume you’re our biggest vendor Wal-Mart. They would probably close out their books during the week prior to Tuesday August 1st. That means sales on July 29-31 are also not counted in this years sales figures.