Deer hunters can start the mailing process for the 2021-22 antlerless licenses this weekend.

The County Treasurers Office will be processing doe licenses effective Monday. There is a change in the license application this year with increases in fees which are now $6.97 for each resident antlerless license and $26.97 for non-resident licenses.

The PGC has increased the allocation of licenses for WMU 2-D to 74,000, which generally sells out by the third week of August. The successful license holders will receive their antlerless licenses around the second Monday in September.

Buck hunters should note that WMU 2-D and 1-A continue to have the point restrictions of 3 points up rule on the main beam, which does not count the brow tines.

All elk hunters should also keep in mind that the 2021-22 elk license drawing is now accepting applications for their lottery by July 31. There are three seasons for the PA Elk Hunt which are the Archery Season from Sept. 11-25, the Firearms Season from Nov. 1-6 and the Late Season from Jan. 1-8, 2022.

The application fee is $11.97 per season or $35.91 for all three seasons. You can only hunt in one season if you would draw a license for more than one season, however you can choose which season that you would prefer to hunt.

There are 14 elk zones to hunt in and you will need to pick your preference based on the elk populations and geographic preferences. The elk license drawing will be held at the Elk Country Visitor Center on Aug. 21, 2021.

All elk hunters who have applied for out of state elk hunt licenses should have been notified by now. My brother has been itching to go on an elk hunt for the past year or two ever since he accompanied me on my Pennsylvania elk hunt a few years back. He has been applying for a non-resident elk license for a while now and his visits to Benezette in Elk County have only made him more determined to go.

This year he asked me to make an application with him to hunt in Colorado, my friend Howard Nicklas hooked me up with a Colorado trip a few years back and we decided to take a chance on a first rifle application hunt. I had no idea how difficult it can be to obtain a tag as it is a draw and in Colorado, they make you buy a small game license to even apply for the draw. As a non-resident that set us back about $100 each and then we waited.

In the meantime, my old friend Beaver Boy, who hunts out west every year, informed me that our chances of both drawing a license were not good for first rifle season.

Surprisingly, a few days later I received an email congratulating both my brother and I on drawing a tag for their elk hunt in Colorado. We will be hunting in October in zone 70 with an either sex tag on private property of a ranch owner that we met through Howard. The downside of the report is that my friend Howard and his son did not draw a license for the first season.

Seeking better shots

I purchased a new scope with a custom dial system for longer range shots. Beaver Boy is trying to find me a really good handload that is accurate, flat shooting and has a lot of energy.

We talked about which rifles we thought would be best for the hunt and still be useful for deer hunting in Pa. We have a nice range of rifles to consider from the .270 Winchester, the .280 Remington, the 30-06 and the 7mm magnum.

Factory loaded ammunition is still very scarce and we want to have one of these rifles dialed in to perform at both close and longer ranges. What happens next is anybody’s guess, but I hope that we come up with a successful combination.

Happy ending

I came across a note from a dear friend and neighbor who has had some serious medical conditions that have her house bound.

Her eldest son Andrew, along with his siblings, have been awesome supports to the family and unfortunately have missed most of the fishing season which was one of their favorite past times.

In her note, she wanted to organize a fishing day with the kids and have a cookout, but her illness just didn’t let that happen. I decided to break Andrew out of the house, away from his worries for a day of fishing on Lake Erie with a walleye charter on the Trophy out of Ashtabula.

Andrew didn’t have much confidence in catching any fish because he claims he has bad luck in fishing. Well, his luck changed as he was able to boat a nice steelhead trout and a pile of walleyes. He was happy to have the adventure and I was happy to have kept a promise to a friend.

God bless them all. Until we meet again, do something good for someone that doesn’t expect it!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle