Pennsylvania Game Commission says decrease could have been far worse and is due to a number of factors.

Hunting license sales for the end of November are down about 1.5 percent compared to last year, and it could’ve been a lot worse. While the decrease equates to a loss of $683,555 in revenue to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the drop is far less than the 37 percent decline when licenses went on sale in July.
According to figures recently released by the game commission, general hunting license sales for the end of November totaled 870,342, down from last November’s tally of 883,325.
When license sales figures were first released last September and showed a 37 percent decrease for the July sales period, Commission officials delayed concern on the slide, noting that the agency didn’t begin accepting antlerless license applications until Aug. 7, a week later than last year. Many hunters purchase their license just before they submit their antlerless license application, and they had one extra week to do so in 2006.
The license sales gap narrowed in the following months, from a 9 percent decrease at the end of August to a 4 percent shortfall in October.
Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said critics of the agency attributed the early decrease to hunters leaving the sport because of a lack of deer. He said the claim isn’t true.
“Despite our statements that there were a number of factors involved, there are those who continued to cite deer as the only reason and our statements were nothing more than spin. There are those who argued that hunters were leaving in droves in protest,” Feaser said.
“While a decrease of 1 percent still is nothing to celebrate, as it still is a decline, I would argue that this should put to rest the claims of some that the sky is falling.”
The gap could narrow even further, according to Feaser. Sales figures could receive a boost from issuing agents who file their reports late, and hunters who purchase licenses strictly to hunt the spring gobbler season next April.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll see more license sales coming in,” he said.
State Rep. Ed Staback (D-Lackawanna/Wayne), who serves as the minority chairman of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, said the small decrease was encouraging, but there shouldn’t have been a drop at all.
“With the effort going in to entice young people into the sport, we hoped to see an increase,” he said.
The decrease wasn’t a surprise to Paul Scavone, owner of J&S Sporting Goods in Wilkes-Barre Township. He said sales of hunting licenses at his shop were up this year, but it might be because there are fewer issuing agents in the area.
Scavone cautioned that if the Commission doesn’t do something to address hunters’ concerns over a lack of deer, larger decreases could occur in the future.
“Guys are only going to do this for so many years before they give up,” he said.
While there were decreases in the resident adult licenses (1 percent), archery (1 percent) and junior licenses (6 percent), the sale of furtaker licenses showed the largest increase at 10 percent.
Scavone said his sales of furtaker licenses are also up and he began stocking traps and trapping supplies in his store for the first time in years.
“Trapping has picked up again and more guys are going on coyote hunts, that’s why the furtaker license sales have picked up,” he said. “Trapping has been dead for a long time, but we’re getting calls for equipment now.”

License sales comparison for November 2005 and November 2006
Resident Adult: 639,717 in Nov. 2005; 630,597 in Nov. 2006
Total general hunting license sales: 883,325 in Nov. 2005; 870,342 in Nov. 2006
Archery: 260,898 in Nov. 2005; 257,915 in Nov. 2006
Muzzleloader: 182,328 in Nov. 2005; 175,595 in Nov. 2006
Furtaker: 20,670 in Nov. 2005; 22,672 in Nov. 2006
Bear: 125,262 in Nov. 2005; 126,495 in Nov. 2006
Migratory Bird: 100,481 in Nov. 2005; 100,478 in Nov. 2006

Total licenses sold: 2,429,452 in Nov. 2005; 2,365,108 in Nov. 2006

Total money generated: $32,431,159 in Nov. 2005; $31,747,604 in Nov. 2006