A resolution to recognize 25 years of organized elk hunting in Pennsylvania has been met with an interest in more transparency to the elk hunting license lottery and changes to the program are underway.
The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee approved on Nov. 18 an amended version of House Resolution 356 to make Dec. 27 Pennsylvania Elk Hunt Day in Pennsylvania.
The resolution, by Rep. James Haddock, a Democrat serving parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, is designed to recognize the management of Pennsylvania’s wild elk herd.
“Every year, tens of thousands of hunters apply to hunt elk in Pennsylvania, but less than 200 are annually chosen for this opportunity,” Haddock wrote in the memo for his resolution.
The resolution was unanimously approved by the committee to move to the full house, but one member took the opportunity to look for more transparency on how the coveted licenses are awarded each year through a lottery system by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC).
Rep. David Maloney, a Republican from Berks County and minority chairman of the committee, said he supports elk hunting, but he has some concerns.
“I would be remiss If I didn’t take the opportunity to tell you that there have been tremendous concerns with the process,” he said.
He said the legislative language that was used when elk hunting was approved explained that the Game Commission will hold a random drawing of applications for the issuance of elk licenses at the Elk Country Visitor Center in Benezette.
“I probably don’t have to tell you that it’s not done. Shocker,” Maloney said.
The winners are announced at the annual Elk Expo each summer at the center, but the names are selected in advance in Harrisburg.
While the names of the winners are announced and broadcast on a live stream video, he said that list doesn’t stay available to the public from the agency.
He’s aware of a private entity publishing the names of winners they gather at the expo, but Maloney said there’s no guarantee of the list’s accuracy or for how long it will stay online.
“If the winners are unknown, entrants and the general public have little basis on which to be confident that the lottery has been conducted in an above-board manner,” he said.
“The PGC does not conduct the Elk Lottery drawing in public during the annual Elk Expo at the Elk Country Visitor Center, nor does it preserve a public record of the lottery,” he said.
In questioning the transparency, he said, “We have individuals with the Game Commission that are actually employed with multiple family members with (elk) tags. How do you think this sits with the public and the sportsmen of Pennsylvania when there’s zero transparency to the accuracy and what you can expect even with so-called preferred (bonus) points?”
Hunters who don’t get drawn for a tag gain bonus points toward future drawings and hunters can opt for a bonus point instead of applying for a license each year.
“Preferred points, my friends, means nothing. Twenty-five years, of pulling points means nothing. And I can tell you that my desire is that this will stop and that we will get to the bottom of it, and that there will be an investigation. And transparency is what we boast about many times, but we don’t do,” Maloney said.
“I certainly support this resolution. I appreciate the patience of the sportsmen in Pennsylvania. And I certainly hope that this is the beginning of a deep dive as to why this procedure is not right,” he concluded.
No one responded to Maloney’s concerns during the meeting.
After the committee meeting, the Game Commission responded to Maloney’s remarks through an email.
“The Game Commission earlier this year began an extensive review of elk hunting in Pennsylvania, including the elk license lottery,” Travis Lau, communications director for the Game Commission, said through email.
“That process is ongoing, but it’s clear we have not been compliant with the letter of the law in some areas, including the drawing, which has been conducted at our Harrisburg headquarters, mainly because of concerns that limited internet/cellular service on the elk range might leave us unable to conduct the drawing there. That issue has been brought to our attention, and we will be making adjustments where necessary to ensure our process is compliant with the law going forward,” he said.
The Game Commissions board of commissioners has already approved several changes to the elk license program that will impact hunters in 2026.
All hunters will be required to first have a hunting license before applying for an elk tag. Current regulations allow anyone, regardless of what state they reside, to submit an elk license application but only require applicants to buy a license if drawn. A general hunting license for Pennsylvania residents costs $20.97 and $101.97 for nonresidents.
The commissioners also capped Pennsylvania’s elk tag awards in 2026 going to no more than 10% nonresidents each year, like regulations in some western states. Under past regulations, there was no cap on out-of-state people winning elk tags.
Another change makes being drawn for a Pennsylvania elk bull tag a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Any hunter drawn for a bull elk license in 2026 will be ineligible in future bull drawings. Previously, a hunter who drew a Pennsylvania bull elk license could, after five years, enter that drawing again.
In 2020, the state started offering elk hunting licenses after a 69-year hiatus to grow the size of the herd. Now 25 years later, there are more than 1,400 elk in northcentral Pennsylvania.
The PGC reports 52,146 hunters purchased 104,992 applications for 140 licenses to hunt in one of three seasons this year.
The last season of the year, the late firearms season, opens Dec. 27 and continues until Jan. 3.
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.