HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania hunters and trappers are reminded that the deadline for submitting online applications for one of the 720 bobcat permits to be awarded during a public drawing at the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters is Sept. 5. Online applications can be submitted through “The Outdoor Shop” on the Game Commission’s Web site by clicking on “Licenses,” the selecting “Bobcat” in the banner at the top of the page and then completing the application.
The deadline for paper was Aug. 15, and those delivered or postmarked after Aug. 15 will be returned to applicants.
The bobcat season will be open only in Wildlife Management Units 2C, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D, which are in Southwestern, Northcentral and Northeastern Pennsylvania. In order to participate in this restricted opportunity, an individual must have a resident furtaker license or a resident junior or senior combination license, and a bobcat hunting-trapping permit.
Those who received a bobcat permit last year are not eligible for this year’s drawing. Only one application per person will be accepted. Multiple applications will result in the rejection of all of an individual’s applications.
The 720 permits will be selected during a computerized drawing, which will be open to the public, on Friday, Sept. 8, at the agency’s headquarters, 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg. Those selected will receive their bobcat permit by U.S. mail in early October.
The bobcat hunting season will take place Oct. 21 through Feb. 17. The bobcat trapping season will be held from Oct. 22 through Feb. 17.
Created in 1895 as an independent state agency, the Game Commission is responsible for conserving and managing all wild birds and mammals in the Commonwealth, establishing hunting seasons and bag limits, enforcing hunting and trapping laws, and managing habitat on the 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands it has purchased over the years with hunting and furtaking license dollars to safeguard wildlife habitat. The agency also conducts numerous wildlife conservation programs for schools, civic organizations and sportsmen’s clubs.
The Game Commission does not receive any general state taxpayer dollars for its annual operating budget. The agency is funded by license sales revenues; the state’s share of the federal Pittman-Robertson program, which is an excise tax collected through the sale of sporting arms and ammunition; and monies from the sale of oil, gas, coal, timber and minerals derived from State Game Lands.