I had two phone calls this week about the 2019-20 PA Hunting License sale.

One was to remind me to get my new hunting license and the other was a question about when the doe license applications were being accepted.

First of all, I think that I can recall that the new licenses start in July every year. It’s been that way since I can remember ... and the PGC starts to take antlerless deer applications earlier than ever, which for 2019 will be mailed in on Monday, July 8th. Non-residents can mail their’s in on July 15th and the first round of unsold licenses can be accepted by mail on Monday Aug. 5.

I can remember when it really was a big deal to pull a doe tag back in the day. Now it is likely you will be able to draw two tags without great effort.

Butler County falls in three different Wildlife Management Units and between the three units we have a total of 169,000 licenses. I’m not kidding … WMU 1A has 49,000, WMU 2D has 66,000 and WMU 2B has 54,000 licenses available this hunting season. That is a lot of deer hunting to be done to fill all those tags.

When I went to a sports shop to pick up my hunting license, I was pleasantly surprised to receive the booklet for the 2019-20 Hunting Digest free of charge. Two versions of this change of heart by the PGC has been shared with me. One was that the PGC wanted to inform PA hunters about the expansion of the CWD infection in the commonwealth and the other was that advertisers were not pleased with the less than enthusiastic sales of the booklets in the past year.

I don’t know many hunters who purchased the $6 rule book, but nevertheless I am glad to see it distributed freely once again with each license sale.

I did like the early muzzleloader-season change that’s including both bear and antlerless deer. It kind of reminds me of the old-time days of hunting! I also think that there should be a standardized buck-hunting rule across the state. Let the hunter decide what he/she wants to harvest.

It really puts older hunters at a disadvantage when they are trying to determine the three-up rule. I see no issues with a hunter making a choice to harvest a younger buck for table fare. Trophy hunters will pass up on many bucks that other hunters would like to tag out on.

There hasn’t been much feedback on the three distinct elk hunts on the books for the 2019-20 license year. I put in for a regular season bull/cow tag and I am willing to take a chance on drawing a bull tag or donating my entry fee to the habitat management.

I visited Benezette last year and really enjoyed the Elk Visitor Center and the area in general. It makes a great day trip from Butler County.

The Chronic Waste Disease area has expanded in Pennsylvania. There have been 250 deer tested positive for CWD since the testing program started. That’s an increase of 123 deer since the 2018 season was completed.

Nearly 8,000 square miles have been determined to be under watch as active areas where CWD has been found. There is no cure for this disease and it is being closely monitored by the PGC.

No elk have tested positive for the disease and the critical range area for CWD continues to be south of the I-80 corridor. There have been no positive tests for CWD in Butler County and let’s hope it stays that way. Bringing infected game into our region from other hunting zones or states is perhaps the greatest danger to introduce the disease in our area.

Switching things up with fishing, the action for walleye on Lake Erie has really heated up. Many anglers are experiencing limit catches of walleye in the 25-40 foot depth not far off shore.

Many anglers are drift fishing and trolling for the walleyes with Erie Dearie Spinners hooked up with a night crawler. The fish are stacked up and generally are ranging from 18-22 inches in length with a few hogs mixed in for good measure.

As far as I am concerned, these size fish are prime fillets for the dinner platter. Many anglers that I know are fishing the Ohio stretch from Ashtabula to Conneaut and doing well.

Try the Drift Boat, the P.C. Queen for some inexpensive off-shore fishing. The cost is around $35 and the one-day Ohio license is $11. The head boat as it’s known holds about 22 anglers and will take groups out if there are at least eight anglers aboard with a six-hour trip.

Bring your own tackle, rod and reel with plenty of crawlers; or you can rent equipment from the charter service.

Until we meet again, have a festive 4th of July and God Bless America!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle