Antlerless Doe

Antlerless Deer Hunting Licenses

In 1951, the Game Commission started issuing antlerless licenses on a county by county allocation system. Philadelphia Co. was the only county that was not open to doe hunting. It wasn’t until 1988 that Philadelphia had its first antlerless license. All of the other 66 counties were open to doe hunting. From 1951 until 2002, there were two years where there was no antlerless hunting: 1954 and 1956. Believe it or not, I have had several collectors ask me for a 1954 or 1956 from their county!?? In 2003, the county allocation system was abandoned for the new 22 WMU’s.

From a collecting standpoint, not all antlerless are valued the same. Value is usually determined by how many licenses were issued per county for that year. Some counties issued less than three hundred licenses while others issued into the tens of thousands. Also, values can vary greatly from year to year for each county.

In 1993, all antlerless licenses were issued with tag and report card attached. Collectors want these licenses complete and still intact. I still need quite a few for my collection only because I abandoned the quest for completing a state set for ten years. It was about 2 years ago, at the urging from a friend, that I started again. Please check out my want page for the list of antlerless licenses I still need.