FINAL APPROVAL GIVEN TO EXPAND PA ELK HUNTING OPPORTUNTIES
The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners today gave final approval to a regulatory change to allow any unfilled antlered or antlerless elk license awarded for an annual elk season to be valid for taking either an antlered or antlerless elk anywhere within this Commonwealth outside of the elk management area during any designated extended elk season following the regular elk season.
“From time to time, elk wander outside the boundaries of the area in which the Game Commission is attempting to contain them in,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “Because of elk-human conflicts, we do not want to have elk establish populations in areas outside a certain area.
“For this reason, we want to allow elk license holders who have not taken an elk during the regular season to be able to participate in an extended season to target elk that have gone outside the elk management area.”
The Board also approved the 2010 elk season to be held on Nov. 1-6, and to an extended elk hunting period for those with unfilled elk licenses to be Nov. 8-13.
In addition to the Special Conservation Tag, which will auctioned at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation annual banquet, the Board approved an elk allocation of 17 antlered and 33 antlerless elk licenses to be awarded at a public drawing in September. Applications for the elk drawing will be accepted from June 15 through Aug. 27, which is when licenses for the 2010-11 licenses go on sale, for $10.
The Special Conservation Tag was created by Act 101 of 2008. Under the law, the Game Commission is authorized to provide one antlered elk license to a wildlife conservation organization to auction. Of the auction proceeds, up to 20 percent may be retained by the wildlife conservation organization and the rest is turned over to the Game Commission for elk management. The new law sunsets on July 1, 2013, and requires the General Assembly to re-authorize the authority to allow for the auction of one antlered elk license per license year.
In related action, with the agency continuing to work to update and implement the elk management plan, the Board gave final approval to regulatory changes to address a somewhat confusing aspect of elk management policy. Under the proposal, terms such as “elk management area” and “elk hunt zones” will be clarified in the management plan and regulations.
Under the regulatory change, “elk management area” will be defined as that portion of Wildlife Management Unit 2G in McKean, Potter, Tioga, Elk, Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, Clearfield and Centre counties, bounded on the north by Rt. 6, on the east by Rt. 287, on the south by Rt. 220 and I-80 and on the west by Rt. 219.
Also, “elk hunt zones” will be comprised of areas as established by the Executive Director on an annual basis prior to the opening of elk season. The divisional line between two or more elk hunt zones shall be the center of the highway, natural watercourse, other natural boundary or marked boundary.
