[Freytown]

Remember that any old hunting license game tags will get you in HOT water. No wants the distinction of becoming the 1st one cited and fined for possessing an old tag. Nuff said.

Tagging Big Game

Hunters who harvest a deer, bear, elk or turkey must follow instructions printed on tags supplied with licenses. Big game must be tagged immediately after harvest and before carcass is moved. The tag must be attached to the ear of a deer or bear, or the body of an elk and remain attached until the animal is processed for consumption or prepared for mounting. Turkey tags must be attached to the bird’s leg.

When multiple harvests of deer per day are authorized,
only one deer at a time may be taken. Before attempting to take an additional deer, the first deer shall be lawfully tagged (This doesn’t apply in the Special Regulations Areas).

Tagging requirements for persons authorized to hunt
without a license are identical, except that a homemade
tag must be used listing the hunter’s name, address, game harvested and date, time, WMU, county and township where it was taken.

It is unlawful to possess an expired, fulfilled, revoked,suspended or invalid big-game harvest tag or hunting license while engaged in hunting or trapping activities.

 

[Freytown]

Seems like everyone is in compliance...good job.

 

[Birch812]

I never keep old and new license years together in the holder but did keep my old ones in a box with whatever tags I had for the accompanying year.
About 10 years ago I redid my family room and built a new bar. I took all my old licenses and laid them out on the top in chronological order and poured a 3/8 layer of UltraClear Bar and Table Top Epoxy.
Came out great, now I am certain they will never be mistaken as a current license, plus who wants to display those ugly yellow ones that all look alike anyhow

 

[Dan W York 5B]

I sent my unused tags from last year to a friend who lives in Iceland... no chance that i get mine mixed up! Also sent a buck call for his little girls so they can annoy the crap out of mom and dad.

 

[STRUT5A]

I keep/collect my licenses and put them in a separate spot.

 

[bob1961]

season ends they go in the trash, LOL....

 

[quackmaster4]

I save all my old licenses, but not stupid enough to keep them in the holder with my current ones. No legitimate reason to. Can't say you forgot; just pull them out when you put the new ones in. Memories? Surely there is another form of keepsake you could carry to remember former hunts or hunting partners. Anyone arguing this law sounds ridiculous.

 

[jimsdad]

I have not saved any since they went to the yellow plastic stuff. I actually saw an old metal tag at Jakes Flea Market on Rt 100 today. Did not buy it.

 

[Potter Co. Joe]

I posted about this topic not long ago and it got quite some attention.
Still think the Law is dumb but it is what it is.
I don't have to worry about having my old licenses with me cause they wouldn't fit in the holder.
I have every Hunting license I bought since the Jr. license I purchased back in 1972.
Who knows maybe they'll be worth something to my Grandkids someday.

 

[WOL]

I don't get why this is illegal. It's illegal to tag an animal with last year's tag. Why is that not enough?

 

[bohunr]

because some people carry the old ones around and some have not looked close enough when tagging the animal and have got fined.

this is just another law that had to be passed that removes personal responsibility and tries to fix stupid.

if you are carrying more than the current years license and use the wrong tag. to bad. pay the fine. that should be the lesson learned and then that person will remember not to do it again.

i forgot my orange hat ONCE as i already had a ball cap on but never took it off to see if it was orange when i left the house. just an early morning brain fart that cost me when i got fined. my fault, i learned, never did it since.

same thing should apply here.

 

[Q2XL12]

I never keep old and new license years together in the holder but did keep my old ones in a box with whatever tags I had for the accompanying year.
About 10 years ago I redid my family room and built a new bar. I took all my old licenses and laid them out on the top in chronological order and poured a 3/8 layer of UltraClear Bar and Table Top Epoxy.
Came out great, now I am certain they will never be mistaken as a current license, plus who wants to display those ugly yellow ones that all look alike anyhow

That sounds awesome. I love old hunting stuff. Any pics?

 

[Six-Gun]

I don't get why this is illegal. It's illegal to tag an animal with last year's tag. Why is that not enough?

Agreed. This seems hyper-regulatory to me. If a guy has an old tag that got loose in his hunt pack, but also has a valid tag for this year in it, as well, why is it a huge deal? As long as the valid tag for the current year is what's placed on the animal, it really makes no difference.

For the record, I go through my pack and check for any expired tags before the start of every season. It's never been an issue to have an old one turn up in the next season.

 

[tdd]

This stuff makes me chuckle when I hunt out of state. More than one state lets one buy online and print their hunting license at home, much like we can with our fishing licenses.

We can only get them at designated licensing agents, and then go to county treasurers for antlerless tags. And all license documents and tags are bar-coded and printed on thermal-printer plastic.

 

[Six-Gun]

tdd -

I agree completely. I have hunted all over the country and seen the run of the permit systems in the course of that time. The way most of them see it, you are either legal or you are not. Most whitetail states that I've hunted (Tennessee, Nebraska, Maryland, and Ohio, in particular) allow you to simply print your license and/or tag from your home computer and even save it as a .pdf file in case you need to reprint it. If you're going to willfully print a duplicate and tag a second deer illegally, they aren't going to waste a ton of admin time and money trying to implement ways to stop you ahead of time. They focus much more on making the punishment suck enough for violators to deter the thought of doing it.

Now, out West in states like Colorado/Wyoming/Montana, where game animals are less proliferated and you may wait 10 - 20 years to draw a highly coveted, limited draw mule deer/elk/bighorn/mountain goat tag, I understand why they carefully control tag allotments. I also understand why you have to wait and get a thermal plastic printed tag sent to you via snail mail. In fact, my Colorado muzzleloader bull elk tag for this season just arrived as such...

In those states, however, the odds of an old tag still being in your pack after several years between hunts for a given game species are pretty slim.

 

[tdd]

I hunted Nebraska last year. Now, this was not a draw situation, but was able to buy and print as well. Of course, the price was quite different than it is here....NE likes to make out of staters pay, lol.

I've hunted in NE, TX, IL, NJ, VA, NC, and SC. Jersey was a long time ago and I don't remember much about their licensing, but it was long enough ago to predate common use of the internet, lol.

The rest have been within the last 10 years and all were easier than PA to do this.

Call-in harvest reports required in NC, and I think in SC (the outfitter I used handled reporting there). That was a nice plus, although the online reporting in PALS isn't really an issue. I've done mine using my smart phone while sitting next to the freshly harvested animal in the field yet.

I bet someone could conjure up an app for PGC where you could use your smartphone cam to scan the tag barcode and do your report that way. Could make it seriously simple, a pic and a couple taps and it's done. What could be easier?

 

[Freytown]

I'm pretty sure the PGC implemented this new law because they experienced abuse. I doubt that they did this just to be annoying. Beside there is no need or reason to have expired or used tags in the field...unless you are planning to re-use it.

Good rule and very easy to comply.

FT

 

[tdd]

It's not hard to comply, and I do. I just get a kick out of how PA treats our license documents like the Secret Service treats paper money, but when you look outside PA, there isn't near this level of effort, scrutiny, or concern for securing the actual licensing documents themselves.

 

[dpms]

Agreed. This seems hyper-regulatory to me. .

Yep. Laws and regs already in place to address violations. LE is paid to investigate incidents and use judgement as part of their job duties.

It is what it is though. It passed and hunters are now responsible for knowing the regulations.

 

[Six-Gun]

I think an easier way to prevent abuse that would've avoided adding yet another regulation to the books (if PA insists on issuing state-printed tags) would be to simply rotate the color of the tags to something different each year like they do with registration and inspection stickers. A guy trying to put last year's green tag on a deer when this year's tag is red would stand out proud like a turd in a punchbowl. Problem solved.