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PA hunting license year ?

805 views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Woods walker 
#1 ·
why does the hunting license year run from July 1st to the end of June when the fishing licenses run from Jan to Dec. ?


why not just run the hunting licenses from Jan to Dec. we would still get all the seasons for the same price !!


split seasons like late flintlock, trapping, predators, etc...wouldnt really matter, buy your license on a Sunday. Fishing has split seasons too !!
 
#3 ·
You're really going to rile up the old folks home with this one!

One agency runs on a fiscal year end, the other calendar. To me it makes sense in both cases, ending their fiscal year when there is little overlap going on.The 437 guys that hunt woodchucks have to remember to re-up their license July 1, which seems better than the many thousands out enjoying the post Christmas deer and small game seasons. It's not often that governance makes logical sense, let's stop and smell the roses here.
 
#4 ·
put both agencies on the same schedule. Jan to Dec. easier to buy both licenses at the same time of year. as far as late season buck or rifle season, or archery, you still would get one tag, wouldnt matter when you fill it.
wood chuck hunters wouldnt have to remember to buy their licenses in July...Christmas would be the reminder and licenses make a great gift :)
 
#5 · (Edited)
Not sure that having a license year changeover in the middle of any season where you have a 1 per season limit is good idea.
For example, if the license year ran 1/1 to 12/31, you could take a buck on 12/31 and another on 1/1.. Sure, you'd be done on buck for that new license year, no big deal I guess... other than the potential for abuse by those dropping 2 on 12/30 or 31 and "tagging" one with the 1/1 valid tag...
But since we're talking hypothetical: suppose you shoot a buck on 12/31 in the late afternoon and don't recover it until the morning of 1/1. Did you just burn that new year's tag? Or would you be able to tag it with the tag that was valid when it was shot? Would this be abused or ignored? Let's remember, it's not just flintlock guys out after Christmas... got late archery going and extended firearms in the special regs areas too...
I suppose the issue could be eliminated by not starting the "late" seasons until 1/1 or later, but that first week is a lot easier for guys to hunt due to holidays off and leftover vacation time.

I guess I just don't see any advantage to changing the license year to match the calendar year.
Lest we forget, either doe tags would remain out of alignment, or they would need to follow a calendar year as well, and with the application schedule/rounds, no one (or very few) would realistically get a single doe tag until the first week of the season was gone, , if applications were accepted the day after licenses went on sale... (A new reason for e-tags perhaps?) If the doe tags were open for mail-in say 12/15, some could get them in hand during the not-yet-over license year, and potentially could be in violation for carrying invalid tags if they brought both sets along for a hunt that spanned license years.
Not to mention the seasonal postal slowdown around the holidays, doe tags making round trips in USPS would take a lot longer than in July/August/September...

Sounds like such a change to the license year would introduce more problems and confusion than it would seek to solve.
 
#6 ·
there is room for abuse in anything. but with a split season like you mentioned it could draw more people to the sport. Students on winter break would have the chance to harvest two bucks, more doe, etc...


maybe camps would be full and see more people spending money in the smaller communities too.
 
#7 ·
Woods seem awfully empty in the parts of 3C and 5C I hunt during winter bow/flintlock. Even with the special regs season, it's a ghost town. Not sure the ability to take 2 bucks in a single winter break would raise those numbers beyond the very low % that currently hunt during that time. The doe app process would need major revision to make it even feasible, and doing so could potentially having major impact on fawning, since there's the potential for a single hunter to take twice as many doe during 1 breeding year... That would level out the following, but it complicates the management plan by introducing more peaks and valleys to the harvest over time.

Can't believe I of all people am about to say it, but in this case, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (dang, that hurt.)
 
#8 ·
just regulate the late winter doe season like they do in the SRA's. only certain WMU's would have does harvested in Jan. and then the others would be available in the fall and rifle seasons.


it would take a little thinking but its very doable.
 
#9 ·
The PGC license is set on a fiscal year, the F&B license on a calendar year. The hunting license used to be on a calendar but it was changed quite a while back. If the hunting license was on a calendar year you would have to buy a new license before the hunting season was over. Better on a fiscal year.
 
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