PHOTO PROVIDED An elk is shown in the bed of a truck as it's prepared to be weighed at a station.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission Board of Commissioners met in late January for their first meeting of 2025. While recent meetings have centered around deer, primarily whether opening day will remain on Saturday or revert back to Monday, this time the big news was all about elk.

Elk were once a staple of Penn’s Woods, roaming throughout the state when settlers first arrived. Unfortunately by the end of the Civil War, hunting pressure and loss of habitat lead to their extirpation. During the period between 1913-24 the Game Commission saw 177 elk and soon reintroduced hunting, with 98 animals being harvest by 1932. However by 1936 illegal hunting had reduced the population to a mere 14 animals and hunting had to be suspended.

In 1992 surveys placed the herd at 183. By 2001 the number had risen to 700 and a limited season was once again possible. Today the herd numbers just under 1,000 and continues to support a highly regulated and very limited season each fall. While many hunters have long considered the opportunity to harvest a Pennsylvania elk a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the proposed changes will make it exactly that.

Under current regulations hunters are required to apply for a permit and winners will be determined by a random drawing in late July. This will remain the same, however, should the regulations go into effect hunters will be required to possess a valid license prior to submitting and application and out-of-state hunters will be limited to no more than 10% of the available permits. Based on last year’s available permits, this mean only 14 permits would be issued to non-residents.

But the biggest change, and one that effects every potential hunter, is that permits to hunt bull elk will be limited to one per hunter — ever.

If you successfully draw a bull permit during any season, successful or not, you will never be eligible for a bull permit again. This is a major change from the current five-year waiting period between permits. Yes, elk hunting may truly become a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The current regulations are in the early stages and there is no guarantee they will pass final muster. It is also unlikely they will impact the 2025 season as applications are already being accepted and a valid license in not currently required.

For the resident hunter these proposed changes will mean very little. The majority of those wishing to harvest an elk already purchase an annual license and other than the once in a lifetime opportunity for a bull, will see little change.

Out of state hunters, on the other hand, will have some decisions to make. Will they be willing to spend the extra money purchasing both an annual license and permit application each year? Are they willing to do so when their chances have been reduced to less than 20 available permits?

There are undoubtedly some who will decide the answer is no. The big question is how many and how that will affect the overall number of applications?

I am sure that upcoming Board of Commissioners meeting will include plenty of comments from out of state hunters and maybe guides against these regulations. However, limiting the opportunities for out of state hunters and prohibiting multiply permits per hunter is not out of line with many other states. Given the extremely limited number of elk available for hunting they do not seem outrageous.

But all we can do is wait and see.