Upcoming Hunting Sales and Season Dates
- The 2026/27 license year will begin at commercial agent locations on June 22, 2026.
- Landowner antlerless deer licenses are on sale at County Treasurer Offices on June 15, 2026.
Sales Changes for Issuing Agents
Harvest tags are provided to mentored hunters of all ages. Please be sure the spring turkey, fall turkey and antlered/flintlock harvest tags are included with mentored permits. Harvest tags can no longer be transferred to anyone.
Elk Application, Drawing and License
Elk application sales started May 1 at 8:00 AM. More elk brochures will be included in your new license year supplies in early June.
The Board of Commissioners (BOC) has approved several updates to this year’s elk application process. Please review the changes outlined below:
- HuntFishPA will require an applicant to have an active general hunting license to apply for the elk drawing. Two license years are active beginning June 15 (at County Treasurer Offices) through June 30. 2025-26 general hunting license acceptable (through June 30).
- 2026-27 general hunting license acceptable (beginning June 15 at County Treasurer Offices only).
- Mentored hunting permits are not considered “licenses” and are not acceptable.
The application will have 4 elk seasons the applicant can choose from:
- Archery Season
- Regular Firearms First Season
- Regular Firearms Second Season
- Regular Firearms Third Season
. Only 1 elk application will be offered in HuntFishPA and the elk seasons will now be included as a choice in the elk application.
- The fallback option has been removed.
- Applicants are strongly encouraged to use all five selections to improve their chances.
Elk zones have been updated to simplify boundaries and improve clarity for hunters.
You can View Map here - Elk Hunt Zone Map
Read the View Zone Descriptions here - Legal Elk Zone Descriptions
The below season and zones will offer an Antlerless selection in the choice, but there are no elk licenses issued for it. Seasons without antlerless are grayed out in selection area. Please offer the applicant another selection of elk type, zone or season.
- Elk Zones 305 and 307: No antlerless licenses during the Archery Season
- Elk Zone 305: No antlerless licenses during the First Regular Firearms Season
Note: System updates are planned for next year to help prevent selection of unavailable options.
Beginning in the 2026–27 license year, hunters may only be awarded one bull (antlered) elk license in their lifetime.
- Antlered Elk winners from previous years can apply for the 2026 elk application for antlered or antlerless elk (what about those w/in the 10-year prohibition?).
- Applicants drawn for a 2026 antlered elk license will be ineligible to apply for an antlered elk license in the future.
- Applicants may still apply for antlerless elk licenses in upcoming years.
Beginning in the 2026–27 license year no more than 10% of available elk licenses will be awarded to nonresidents by season and license type (antlered or antlerless). Residency status is determined at the time of application.
Previously, bonus points were divided into three separate elk seasons. To simplify the application process and accommodate the addition of a new season, all bonus points will now be consolidated into the Total Elk bonus points. No existing bonus points will be lost. Applicants who are drawn for an elk license will have their bonus points reset to zero. A bonus point is added to the Total Elk bonus points at time of the application purchase. Applicants can review their bonus points on their HuntFishPA customer dashboard.
DMAP (Deer Management Assistance Program)
- Farmers wanting to purchase DMAP on their properties must call the License Division during normal business hours for assistance.
- DMAP permits are available to all hunters with the appropriate base license/mentored permit.
- For public properties (DMAP no coupon) there is a personal limit of 2 permits per unit for each hunter. Hunters can purchase multiple units.
- For private properties, (DMAP with coupon) there is a personal limit of 4 permits per unit for each hunter. Hunters can purchase multiple units. Landowners provide coupons to hunters that gives them access to buying a DMAP permit.
- Note: For private properties (DMAP with coupon) the coupon has a control code that is entered during the sale. The control code must be entered in all CAPS, no spaces, and with zeroes (no O’s.)
- Each coupon from a landowner is valid for one DMAP permit.
- DMAP coupons do not have to be surrendered or retained by the agent.
- To view DMAP Permits available on State Game Lands, you may visit our Interactive Map and select "DMAP areas" from the Layer List.
- Hunters are responsible for acquiring the landowner information needed to participate in the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). View a list of Participating Landowners.
Agricultural Deer Permit and Snow Goose Permit (updates)
Following preliminary approval in April, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners officially adopted a measure allowing mentored hunters aged 7 and older to obtain an unlimited number of Agricultural Deer (Ag) Tags, provided they are available, as well as snow goose permits. These changes took effect on Saturday, September 13, 2025.
- A hunter must have a valid Pennsylvania hunting license or mentored permit to purchase an Ag Tag permit. Ag Tags cannot be transferred. A hunter seeking an Ag Tag permit first must get a coupon from a landowner and redeem the coupon at a license issuing agent to obtain the permit and deer harvest tag.
- An Ag Tag permit can be used only on the specified Ag Tag property. Each Ag Tag permit costs $1.97. There is no limit on the number of permits an individual hunter can purchase or possess, but for each Ag Tag property, there is a finite number of permits available.
- A list of Ag Tag properties can be obtained by visiting the Game Commission region office serving the county where a hunter is interested in hunting or by mailing a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the region office with your request. Region office contact information can be found in the Hunting & Trapping Digest.
- The Ag Tag season now runs from August 1 to April 15.
During the conservation goose season, hunters must have the following licenses and permits:
- General hunting license or mentored permit (for hunters age 7 and older)
- Migratory game bird license (required for all migratory bird hunting)
- Federal Duck Stamp (required for hunters age 16 and older; must be signed and carried or presented in its electronic version, the E-Duck Stamp)
In addition, hunters are required to keep records of their hunting activity and harvest and must submit an annual report to the Game Commission within 30 days after the close of the conservation season.
Customer Identification (CID) Number Lookup
When assisting customers, if you cannot locate their HuntFishPA account using the Driver’s License or CID lookup options, there are two methods available to locate it.
- Click “Customer Number Lookup” button at the top of the page.
- Enter the email address associated with the customer’s HuntFishPA account.
- Click Continue. The system will email the customer's nine-digit CID to the email associated with their HuntFishPA account. Email addresses can be used on multiple profiles including youth. If the customer does not have an email address in HuntFishPA and you have time during the sale, please ask customer if they would like to enter their email address while in HuntFishPA.
If you are unable to locate the customer’s nine digit Customer Number using Method 1, direct the customer to call the HuntFishPA Customer Support line at 1-800-8384431. Call Center associates are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Additional Updates
- All commercial issuing agents must return their voided licenses and tags to the respective commission within 15 days to retain the credit for the transaction.
- Please return voided hunting and furtaker licenses and harvest tags promptly in an envelope to: PGC – License Voids, PA Game Commission License Division, 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.
- The Void Log is not required but can be used by issuing agents to track and report voided privileges.
- Issuing agents will be charged for voids not returned and will be swept from your bank account 45 days after the date of void.
- If voids are received after that time period, credit may be applied to future EFT sweeps, depending on the time received.
- Please review the outstanding voids in the Void Report located in the Agent Corner.
Materials for the new license year will be sent to your business location in early June. The Hunter-Trapper Digest will be delivered directly to you from the printer and in a separate shipment. Additional supplies can be ordered and tracked through your Agent Corner. Please be sure you are not duplicating your orders.
To be sure customers are aware of your availability to sell hunting and/or fishing licenses, please review and update your business hours located under Agent Corner on your HuntFishPA sales homepage.
With the exception of County Treasurer offices, all agents must submit their voided licenses to PGC for credit for that sale. Agents can void a transaction for up to 6 hours after the sale. Voids needed after the 6-hour timeframe will require the transaction to be voided by either the Customer Support line or the PGC License Division. The need to void licenses can be reduced by confirming selected license products with the customer before completing the sale.
- Cleaning your printer is important to printer functionality. Printers should be cleaned after each license paper roll is completed using cleaning pads. Cleaning pads are shipped each season with your initial supply order in early June and can be ordered by selecting Agent Corner from your sales homepage then selecting Supply Orders.
- Test printing quality in your Agent Corner. If you experience reoccurring issues with your printer, please contact the Customer Support line at 1-800-833-4431.
Tip: For easier tearing, hold license paper firmly and tear with the tear bar at the perforations. Also, for a better tear you can press the play/pause button to print a blank panel then tear with both hands.
White license paper is currently being shipped with new paper supply orders. Both green and white paper may be used during the year. Continue to print licenses with the license paper you currently have. New license paper orders can be submitted in the HuntFishPA agent corner.
