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Game Commission To Begin Accepting DMAP Landowner Applications
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Landowners looking to enroll in the Game Commission's Deer Management Assistance Program, which is designed to help landowners manage deer on their properties, have until June 12 to mail an application to the appropriate Game Commission Region Office.
Applications will be accepted by U.S. mail only, as postmarks will be required to establish processing priorities.
In addition, a map delineating the property boundaries must be enclosed with the application. Landowners may obtain DMAP applications from the Game Commission's website.
Eligible lands for DMAP are: public lands; private lands where no fee is charged for hunting; and hunting club lands owned in fee title so long as the club was established prior to January 1, 2000, and it provides a club charter and list of current members to the agency.
Coupons for DMAP antlerless deer harvest permits are issued to landowners at a rate of one coupon for every five acres in agricultural operations or one coupon for every 50 acres for all other land uses. Management plans are required when an applicant for DMAP requests more than the standard rate for issuance of DMAP harvest permits, or when the property acreage falls below the minimum for the standard issuance rate.
Landowners must designate their boundaries in a manner approved by the Game Commission. Landowners will be allotted one coupon for each DMAP permit allocated for their property, and they may provide up to two DMAP coupons per DMAP area to a licensed hunter. Landowners may not charge or accept any remuneration for a DMAP coupon.
The cost of DMAP permits is $10 for residents and $35 for nonresidents.
Based on a regulatory change approved by the Board of Game Commissioners at its April meeting, each WMU antlerless allocation has been reduced by the number of DMAP antlerless deer permits issued in each WMU during the 2009-10 seasons. The Board's action also prohibits the issuance of more DMAP permits for the 2010-11 seasons than were issued for the 2009-10 seasons for each WMU.
The application process and deadline have been revised this year. There is an accelerated schedule, and applications will be accepted and processed in priority tiers on a first-come, first-served basis, and will be based on postmarks by the U.S. Postal Service.
Top priority will be given to properties enrolled in one the Game Commission's three public access programs (Forest-Game, Farm-Game or Safety Zone) allowing public deer hunting, followed by publicly-owned lands then private lands not in one of the Game Commission's public access programs.
Applications will be processed until quotas for each WMU are exhausted. Those applications remaining after quotas are exhausted will be denied DMAP permits.
A significant change that took effect last year for landowners and hunters participating in DMAP is that DMAP coupon redemption can be done at any license issuing agent or the Pennsylvania Automated License System website - rather than through the mail, thanks to the implementation of the agency's new point-of-sale electronic license system.
Landowners have the option of receiving DMAP coupons and directly distributing them to hunters of their choice, or they can choose the "no coupon" option and allow any hunter to directly purchase a DMAP permit from the license issuing agent to hunt on their property.
The first option on the landowner application is "Yes, I want to distribute coupons directly to hunters that I choose." With this option, the landowner will receive the coupons and distribute them to specific hunters. The hunters will then take coupons to any license issuing agent or go on the PALs website to acquire the antlerless deer harvest permits.
The second option on the landowner application is "No, any hunter can get a permit to hunt my property through the electronic licensing system without a coupon." With this option, no coupons will be sent to the landowner. Any hunter will be able to go to any license issuing agent or the PALS website to get an antlerless deer permit for this DMAP property. If landowners choose this second option, they also will be asked whether they want to advertise the location of the property on the Game Commission's website so that their DMAP information can be made available to the public.
Hunters with DMAP antlerless deer permits may use them only on the lands for which they were issued during any established deer season. Also, in WMUs 2C, 2D, 2E, 2G, 3C, 4B, 4D and 4E, which have a split season structure of November 29-December 3 for antlered deer only and December 4-11 for antlered and antlerless deer, hunters will continue to be permitted to harvest antlerless deer with DMAP permits on DMAP properties from November 29-December 11.
Hunters can purchase DMAP antlerless harvest permits as soon as coupons are available. Hunters without access to the Internet can obtain listings of eligible DMAP properties by mailing a self-addressed, stamped envelope along with a letter indicating their county of interest, to the Game Commission Region Office responsible for that particular county.
For more information, visit the DMAP webpage.
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5/17/2010 |
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