Here's what happened during the other PA lottery - elk hunting
Most of the elk hunters in Pennsylvania shot an elk this past year, and there's good news on the horizon for next season.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission awarded 178 elk licenses for the three seasons - archery, general and the late season, and 131 of those hunters killed trophy animals.
“They definitely did well,” Jeremy Banfield, the agency’s elk biologist, said. “They did better in the late season than in the general season.” The late season ended Jan. 7.
One elk broke a state record. The agency created an archery-only season in 2019, and an Armstrong County hunter now has the record for a non-typical archery bull.
Dave Kammerdiener of Templeton, shot a 7-by-11 point bull in Zone 10 with his crossbow. Its antlers measured 446 inches. For perspective on the massive size of the rack, the largest elk ever killed in Pennsylvania is a 455-inch non-typical bull shot with a rifle in 2020 by Duane Kramer of Bellingham, Washington.
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In the archery season, 12 of the 14 bulls and seven of the 15 cow tags were filled. In the general season, 28 of the 31 bull hunters and 43 of the 70 cow hunters were successful, and in the late season all 15 of the bull hunters and 26 of the 33 cow hunters killed a trophy animal.
Banfield said it was a typical year as the elk all appeared to be healthy, and the commission hasn't received any positive tests for diseases. At the time of the interview, he was still waiting for some results from the late season harvests.
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Elk hunting in 2023-24
Banfield is working on a plan that would provide hunters more time to plan their hunts and scout for elk.
The elk licenses are awarded each year at the Elk Expo, organized by the Keystone Elk Country Alliance in mid-August. This year, the event is July 29-30, which should give the winners of the elk lottery a couple of additional weeks to scout and or secure a guide, he said. In 2022, it was held Aug. 20-21, less than a month before the elk archery season opened.
“We’re trying to give them more time,” he said about the lucky lottery winners being able to plan their potentially once-in-a-lifetime hunts.
In addition, he’s proposed to the Game Commission’s board of commissioners to move the two-week archery elk season back one week. This year it started on Sept. 10, and he’s proposing that it's held Sept. 16-30. The general season where rifles are permitted will be Oct. 30-Nov. 4, and the late season is scheduled for Dec. 30 to Jan. 6.
The agency’s board is set to vote on this year’s season recommendations at its Jan. 27-28 meeting in Harrisburg.
$1.25 million lottery
He’s planning to conduct an aerial survey soon to gauge the elk population that was estimated at 1,300 to 1,400 animals last year.
In November, there was a wildfire in the heart of Elk County in the area of Winslow Hill that consumed about 50 acres of plant life. Banfield said the damage from the fire should have little impact on elk and/or elk habitat. “In fact, fire would be beneficial for elk habitat as it resets the successional process promoting growth of herbaceous plants that are at the level where elk can forage on them,” he concluded.
The information from the aerial survey and other data will be used to determine how many hunting tags will be offered this year.
“I think it will be close to where we were,” he speculated about the number of tags being close to the 178 that were issued for the past year.
At the agency’s January board meeting, he expects the seasons to be set, then in April they will determine how many elk tags to offer in a lottery system.
The cost to apply for an elk tag is $11.97, and it can be purchased for all three seasons. Last year, the agency received 104,250 applications for the lottery of 178 elk tags.
The revenue from the applications, about $1.25 million this past year, goes into the Game Commission’s general fund and some of that money covers habitat improvements.
“The lottery is the main source of revenue from elk,” he said.
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Hunting for antlers
A different type of hunting will soon be happening in the elk range.
The general public will soon be scouring the 10-county elk region for antlers that begin to shed in late winter. Banfield has been seeing more people, over the last decade, hiking into the woods to search for these large souvenirs.
“It’s really taken off. People are coming with dogs (that scent for antlers), and people are coming from out of state,” he said.
For the bulls that are seen often in public areas, they're being watched closely by people waiting to see when these large animals drop their racks.
Middle of March is the prime time, but a small percentage of the bulls lose their antlers at the end of February.
“The bulk are starting in the middle of March, third week of March. Most of the big bulls drop first, and they will be done by April 1. Raghorns and spikes will continue to carry into April," he said.
The bulls start growing a new set of antlers each spring.
“I encourage people not to push the animals or disturb the animals as they are in their weakest nutritional condition at that time,” he said about the end of winter.
The public is permitted to pick up antler sheds they find on public ground and places where they have permission from the land owner.
If they discover a bull that died and the antlers are still connected to the skull, those antlers are only allowed to be kept by the finder if they pay the Game Commission $20 per point. For a whitetail deer antler it’s $10 a point.
"There is no good rhyme or reason to when or where sheds fall off. The best thing I can say is to find the bulls and shed hunt where they are in the time of year when they are falling," he said.
The elk are found in open foraging areas as well as bedding in areas with conifers and mountain laurel.
“Cover the ground, go slow and look at your feet more than looking up,” he said about the technique to find antlers.
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Why hunt elk?
Regarding the need for hunting from a management perspective, he said, “It’s our tool to alleviate conflicts. It’s very easy for people who don’t live in the area to come in and say they love the elk and aren’t they the best thing ever. That is a stark contrast from those who live in the area. They are large animals, and they eat a lot. They definitely can cause damage, particularly from an agriculture perspective. It’s one thing to have five little whitetails in a cornfield. It’s something totally different to have five elk in your cornfield."
Cow elk can weigh 400 pounds and bulls can exceed 800 pounds.
The second concern is having elk near highways. In 2022, the Game Commission is aware of 14 incidents where elk were killed by motorists.
“It’s one thing to hit a whitetail on the road, it’s something totally different to hit an elk,” he said. Each year there are about 20 or 30 incidents involving elk and vehicles.
Also, elk season balances the population with what the wilderness habitat can support, and it's a form of recreation.
“It’s a recreational opportunity we need to support,” he said.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Elk hunting in Pennsylvania, how to get an elk tag, where elk live
