PHOTO PROVIDED An elk is weighed at a weigh station in 2023 during this photo by Mercy Melo of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioner’s Wildlife Management Committee offered proposals recently for the 2025-26 hunting and trapping seasons. Those will be discussed further in January.

It was announced mid-December the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners’ Wildlife Management Committee would be holding a virtual meeting to discuss and recommend proposals for the 2025-2026 hunting and trapping seasons.

The committee was reactivated in fall 2024 to review and recommend proposals for a January board meeting, the committee is made up of five Commissioners Dennis Fredericks, Scott Foradora, Kristen Koppenhafer, Allen DiMarco and Bob Schwalm.

Also in attendance were Commissioners Haley Sankey, of State College, Michael Mitrick, of York, and Stanley Knick Jr., of Dupont. These individuals were not committee members and could not actively participate in the proposals.

“It has been a few years since the board last worked through the committee process,” said Fredericks, who explained the way the committee operates, “We serve as an intermediary for the full board of commissioners, reviewing proposals and determining which ones will move forward for broader consideration.”

During this meeting the committee proposed the following items to be added to the January agenda:

— Expanding “Ag Tag” seasons and making the application process easier.

— Increasing the number of antlerless licenses that an individual can be in possession of in Wildlife Management Units 5C and 5D.

— Limiting the number of elk licenses that can be drawn by nonresidents annually.

— Requiring hunters to purchase a qualifying Pennsylvania hunting license before applying for an elk license.

“A proposal is considered approved by the committee if it receives a super majority vote which is defined as a majority plus one. With all five members present today, this means that a proposal will need four votes in favor to (move forward),” said Fredericks.

“Thank you for implementing this committee process and creating this structure. For any proposal advanced by the committee today, our staff will then draft the language that amends the appropriate section of the regulations that would incorporate and advance that proposal… There’s still some details that will have to be flushed out… We’ll need decisions to be made by the board as far as the scope of those proposals so there’s still going to be some fine tuning to be done,” said Stephen Smith, Executive Director of the PA Game Commission, who tallied the results for each roll call vote.

He also noted that in the upcoming months, staff members may have recommendations as they relate to season structures. Data is still being collected on certain species, and the results from current seasons are to be taken into consideration later.

The proposals will be considered by the full Board of Commissioners, but no change will be adopted unless a majority votes in favor. The board will vote on these topics preliminarily in January and then finally in April.

The committee also discussed other topics that did not get proposed for the meeting agenda. Some of these topics included:

— Creating a general unit antlerless deer license that could be used in multiple Wildlife Management Units.

— Establishing an early archery season for antlerless deer.

— Allowing any muzzleloading firearm to be used on properties enrolled in the Deer Management Assistance Program during the flintlock deer season.

— Allowing fall turkey hunters to use single-projectile flintlock muzzleloaders.

— Removing the requirement for mentored youth under 7 years old to receive big-game tags by transfer.

“In no way, shape or form is this the final process. This is really just the beginning. (It is) the first step of evaluating different proposals for inclusion on the agenda and for ultimately being adopted as the seasons and bag limits for next license year,” said Smith.

The livestream for this meeting can be viewed on the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/@PAGameCommissionHDQTRS/streams

The full Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet Jan. 24 and 25 at the Game Commission’s headquarters, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg. The agenda will be posted online prior to the meeting.