HARRISBURG, Pa. – Yesterday The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation began a five-day online auction to sell a Pennsylvania bull tag to benefit the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s elk conservation program.
The bull tag, which was awarded to RMEF by PGC Executive Director R. Matthew Hough was reauthorized by House Bill 2169, authored by state Rep. Matt Gabler, R-Clearfield and Elk counties. The legislation permits the continuation of the Special Conservation License Auction, which expired in 2013. The Game Commission awards the license annually to a wildlife conservation organization to auction and raise money for elk and wildlife conservation.
The auction will be run through Online Hunting Auctions.com and can be accessed through this link: http://www.onlinehuntingauctions.com/PENNSYLVANIA-SPECIAL-ELK-CONSERVATION-TAG_as33203.
It started yesterday, July 31, and will end at 5 p.m. EST on Aug. 5. The bull tag will be awarded in advance of the Sept. 1 to Nov. 8 elk season. It can be used in any Pennsylvania elk hunt zone with any legal sporting arm as per Pennsylvania hunting regulations. Hunters must purchase an elk hunting license ($25 for residents or $250 for nonresidents) and a general hunting license ($20.70 for residents or $101.70 nonresident) to use the special conservation license bull tag.
“The Game Commission has worked for decades with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to further elk conservation in the Commonwealth,” said Hough. “With RMEF’s help and support, and the benefit of some great fieldwork by our elk biologists, land managers and Food & Cover Corps, elk are back in a big way in the Pennsylvania Wilds. It’s important to keep that momentum going, and this bull tag auction should ensure that we do.”
Normally, RMEF would auction off this tag at its national convention. But HB 2169’s late passage precluded that possibility. To ensure its viability to raise funding for conservation, and with a short timeframe to do it in, RMEF chose to use an online auction.
“RMEF appreciates this opportunity to raise funds to benefit Pennsylvania elk and Pennsylvania elk country,” said Dave Ragantesi, RMEF senior regional director. “We want to thank our conservation partners at the Game Commission who will receive 100 percent of the proceeds from the auction to put back on the ground. RMEF will absorb any administrative fees associated with running the auction.”
RMEF auctioned off the same tag in 2010 and again in 2013, returning a total of $60,000 to the Game Commission. Since 1991, RMEF and its partners completed 301 conservation and hunting outreach projects in Pennsylvania with a combined value of more than $22.6 million that opened or secured public access to 8,465 acres. About 11,000 Pennsylvanians are RMEF members.
DEER HUNTER REMINDER
Unsold antlerless deer licenses available Monday Aug. 4.
Beginning Monday, Aug. 4, residents and nonresidents alike may apply for any unsold licenses that remain in this year’s WMU allocations. The second round of unsold license sales is set to begin on Monday, Aug. 18.
Currently, four Wildlife Management Units – WMUs 1B, 2G, 2H and 4C – have exhausted their antlerless license allocations and another, WMU 2F, has less than 300 antlerless licenses remaining. Hunters interested in obtaining an unsold license are urged to list second and third choices on the application, just in case their first WMU choice sells out.
Antlerless deer license applications must be mailed directly to a county treasurer’s office, with the exception of the Philadelphia and Lehigh county treasurer offices, which no longer issue antlerless deer licenses. Treasurers across the state will accept applications for antlerless licenses covering any wildlife-management unit (WMU), but hunters should note that only county treasurers issue tags. The Pennsylvania Game Commission does not accept applications.
A list of participating treasurers and their mailing addresses, appear on Page 47 of the 2014-15 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest, which hunters can pick up from a licensing agent. The digest also is available to view online at the Game Commission’s website, www.pgc.state.pa.us. A current tally of antlerless licenses remaining for each WMU is available through the Game Commission’s homepage. Select “Doe License Update” under “Quick Clicks” in the right column.
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