HARRISBURG, Pa., April 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Landowners have until June 1 to enroll or renew their applications in the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), which is designed to help landowners manage deer on their properties through hunting.  This year, the deadline for receiving applications has been moved up to June 1 to ensure applications are processed in a timely manner.  

Applications will be accepted by U.S. mail only, must be postmarked by June 1, and mailed to the Game Commission Region Office that serves the county in which their property is situated.

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 (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by clicking on "DMAP" in the "Quick Clicks" box in the right-hand column of the homepage.  Applications also can be obtained from any Game Commission Region Office or the Harrisburg headquarters.

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 Jan. 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 of all public land applicants, for applications enrolling two or more areas within one air mile of each other, for applications that request more than the standard rate for issuance of DMAP harvest permits, and for applications where 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.  

Once landowners are approved for enrollment in DMAP, hunters can purchase DMAP permits for $10.70 for residents and $35.70 for nonresidents at any license issuing agent or through the Pennsylvania Automated License System (PALS), which is the agency's 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 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.  

Region Office contact information, and a listing of counties in its jurisdiction, is as follows:

Northwest Region Office, P.O. Box 31, Franklin, PA 16323.  814-432-3188.  Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties.

Southwest Region Office, 4820 Route 711, Bolivar, PA 15923.  724-238-9523.  Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Northcentral Region Office, P.O. Box 5038, Jersey Shore, PA 17740.  570-398-4744.  Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga, and Union counties.

Southcentral Region Office, 8627 William Penn Highway, Huntingdon, PA 16652.  814-643-1831.  Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder and York counties.

Northeast Region Office, P.O. Box 220, Dallas, PA 18612.  570-675-1143.  Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

Southeast Region Office, 448 Snyder Rd., Reading, PA 19605.  610-926-3136.  Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties.

Note to Editors: If you would like to receive Game Commission news releases via e-mail, please send a note with your name, address, telephone number and the name of the organization you represent to: PGCNews@state.pa.us.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Game Commission