Need an antlerless deer tag? Management program adds hundreds in the Lehigh Valley.

When it comes to white-tailed deer hunting in the Lehigh Valley, there's no shortage of antlerless deer tag opportunities — the three Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) that lie, at least in part, within our two-county area offer 173,000 permits combined.

However, at this stage of the game, with hunting seasons in full swing, all of those permits in WMUs 5C, 3D and 4C are long gone, with 5C selling the last of its 79,000 tags on Sept. 3.

If you find yourself somehow still looking for an antlerless deer tag, believe it or not, there are still options under the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) .

This year, the Pennsylvania Game Commission expanded the program to include State Game Lands (SGL) 168 in northern Northampton County and State Game Lands 217 in northern Lehigh County.

As of Monday, there were still 111 out of 156 DMAP permits available for SGL 168 (Unit 7108) , and 122 of 172 permits left for SGL 217 (Unit 7109). SGL 168 includes 7,800 acres of public hunting land along the Blue Mountain in Northampton, Carbon and Monroe counties, while SGL 217 comprises 8,614 acres in Lehigh, Carbon and Schuylkill counties.

The DMAP is designed to focus deer-hunting efforts on parcels where the owners have specific objectives for management of wildlife and/or land. The program was actually started in 2003, but last year was the first year DMAP permits were issued for State Game Lands, with 24 SGLs enrolled in the program in 2023. This year, the number of SGLs in the program was expanded to 41, with these parcels located across the Game Commission's Northwest, Northcentral, Northeast and Southeast regions of the state. All told, approximately 7,000 DMAP permits were made available for hunting on 360,014 acres of State Game Lands in the 2024-25 deer hunting seasons.

Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau said SGLs 168 and 217 were added to DMAP this year due to the increasing impact that deer overbrowsing has had on the landscape on those parcels.

"That (overbrowsing) degrades habitat not only for deer, but other wildlife, especially those species that rely on young forest," Lau said. "When deer impacts are too high, forest can't adequately regenerate."

The Game Commission reports the SGLs added to DMAP this year were chosen after a thorough review, with all efforts to promote forest regeneration exhausted before the parcels were added to the program.

"One of the most critical aspects of managing forested habitats for wildlife — as the Game Commission does — is the ability to establish and grow a new, young forest to replace the mature forests in an area," Lau said. "Aside from its benefits, young forest habitat is critical to many species, including ruffed grouse, cottontails, golden-winged warblers, deer and bears, to name a few.

"But as deer numbers rise, deer impacts on forest do, as well. And if deer overbrowse young forest, it can't become the mature forest of the future. DMAP helps to address that problem, providing the opportunity for increased harvest in the areas where it's needed most."

In addition to State Game Lands, DMAP permits are available for a variety of other public and private properties. For example, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has enrolled a number of state parks and state forests in the program, while the Game Commission also issues DMAP permits for its Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) management units. Hunters who harvest antlerless deer via a CWD DMAP permit are required to submit their deer for testing to assist the Game Commission in efforts to learn more about the deadly disease affecting animals like deer and elk and its spread.

The cost for a DMAP permit is $10.97 for a resident and $35.97 for a nonresident, with a hunter permitted to purchase up to two permits. Each SGL DMAP harvest permit is good for taking one antlerless deer on the property for which the DMAP permit is issued. When purchasing a DMAP permit, it's important to know the unit number as it's needed to complete the purchase. DMAP State Game Lands permits are available from any license issuing agent or at huntfish.pa.gov .

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