For landowners who want to see fewer deer on their property, time is running out for those who qualify to file an application with the Pennsylvania Game Commission to participate in the agency's Deer Management Assistance Program.

In order for the PGC to have time to issue the permits in time for the first of Pennsylvania's antlerless seasons - which opens Saturday, Sept. 17, in Wildlife Management Units 2B, 5C snd 5D - landowners must have their DMAP applications postmarked no later than Wednesday, June 1. Applications will be accepted by U.S. mail only and mailed to the PGC region office that serves the county in which their property is located.DMAP is designed to help landowners manage deer on their properties through hunting, and the deadline for landowners to submit applications was moved up to June 1 this year to ensure applications are processed in a timely manner. In addition to the application, a map delineating the property boundaries must be enclosed with the application. Landowners may obtain DMAP applications from the PGC website at

www.pgc.state.pa.us

http://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 agency 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 PGC. 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 PGC.One coupon will be allotted landowners 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, which is the PGC'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.On each DMAP landowner application the first option states: "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, who will then take coupons to any license issuing agent or go on the PALS website to acquire the antlerless deer harvest permits.Landowners may also choose the second option on DMAP application, which states: "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 PGC 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 agency region office responsible for that particular county.Hunters with DMAP antlerless deer permits may use them on the lands for which they were issued during any established deer season. This includes the statewide firearms deer season, which opens Monday, Nov. 28, and continues through Saturday, Dec. 10, where antlerless hunting is otherwise closed in WMUs 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3B, 3C, 4B, 4D and 4E.Landowners in Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties should mail their DMAP applications to: Northeast Region Office, Box 220, Dallas 18612. Landowners in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties should mail their DMAP applications to: Southeast Region Office, 448 Snyder Road, Reading 19605.