Pa. hunting licenses up 7%, shooting range permits soar 93%, turkey permits up 20%

Bucking the long-run trend of declining hunting license and permit sales statewide, hunters purchased 7 % more for all hunting licenses and permits from last year. Sales of specialty licenses and permits are surging with permits for snow geese up 863%, river otters climbing 73%, and shooting range permits soaring 93%.

“The pandemic left people with time they didn’t typically have,” said Patrick Snickles, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. “And people have been looking for things to do where they aren’t around other people, so they have been hunting, fishing and kayaking.”

They are also looking for shooting ranges to use, he said.

Those using the ranges aren’t necessarily hunters, Snickles noted, as access to shooting ranges on state game lands is included in the general hunting license, which costs $20.90, while a hunting range permit costs $31.90, Snickles said.

Shooting range visitors for the only state game lands in Allegheny County, in Marshall and Franklin townships, have roughly doubled, said Zeb Campbell, game warden for Allegheny County. He used to change the shooting background for the range every two weeks, and now with more people target practicing, he is changing the background every two to three days.

There were also double-digit increases when compared to last year’s sales in hunting permits for snow geese, otters, elk and spring turkeys.

General hunting, which includes antlered buck tags and fall turkey tag is up 5%.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, where there isn’t an abundance of snow geese or river otters, the most profound boost in hunting license sales was for the spring turkey license, which are up 20% statewide, Snickles said.

“One of our most senior field officers has never checked more turkey hunters,” he noted.

Campbell said, “Turkeys, they are everywhere; the population is doing well.” He added, “My ongoing joke is every time I checking the woods, there’s turkey.”

While there’s been in increases in purchases of permits for fishers and bobcats, both largely nocturnal, their numbers are not large in the Allegheny County area, Campbell said.

Bobcats live in Allegheny County but only in the less populated areas. This is the first year hunters can trap bobcats. Fishers cannot be taken in Allegheny County, he said.

In the rest of the region, most of bobcats and fishers are found in Fayette, Somerset, Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong and some parts of Westmoreland County, Snickles said.

Much of the river otter trapping occurs in the northern half of the state, particularly in the northeast. Otters live along the Allegheny River, Tionesta Creek, Crooked Creek and other waterways.