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Deer Management Assistance Program - DMAP


For Hunters

  • DMAP permits become available to hunters during the third round of antlerless license sales (second Monday of August). 

Hunters can get up to two to four DMAP harvest permits per unit. If the landowner provides coupons to hunters, a hunter can purchase up to four permits. Otherwise, a hunter can purchase up to two permits. DMAP harvest permits must be purchased from a license-issuing agent or through www.huntfish.pa.gov. A DMAP harvest permit costs $10.97 for a resident, $35.97 for a nonresident. Each DMAP harvest permit is good for taking one antlerless deer on the property for which the DMAP harvest permit was issued.

Hunters can get DMAP harvest permits two ways.

  1. First, if a hunter receives a coupon from a landowner, the hunter will take the coupon to any license-issuing agent (or visit www.huntfish.pa.gov) to purchase a DMAP harvest permit. In this situation, a hunter can purchase up to four DMAP permits.
  2. Second, to obtain a DMAP harvest permit for properties where landowners choose not to hand out coupons, hunters can go to any license-issuing agent (or www.huntfish.pa.gov) to purchase a DMAP harvest permit. Hunters utilizing this second option will need to contact the landowner (or the Game Commission's website) to get the DMAP unit number for the area they want to hunt. In this situation, a hunter can purchase up to two DMAP permits.

CWD DMAP Units: Permits in these units are being offered to increase CWD samples and reduce the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). To learn more, please visit the CWD page.

Hunters must report whether or not they harvest a deer.  All DMAP antlerless deer permit holders are required to file a harvest, regardless of whether they kill a deer. To report your DMAP harvest or no harvest, visit www.huntfish.pa.gov.

Hunters are responsible for acquiring the landowner information needed to participate in the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). Neither the Game Commission, nor license-issuing agents, can provide additional landowner information other than the details available in the Participating Landowners Section.

FIND PARTICIPATING LANDOWNER PROPERTIES


For Landowners

DMAP provides an additional means for landowners to manage deer to meet their land-use goals. It also provides additional opportunities to the hunters who participate in the program.

Public landowners, political subdivisions, government agencies, defined hunting clubs, and private landowners or lessees, where no fee is charged for hunting, are eligible to enroll in DMAP. Qualified landowners are issued DMAP coupons at a standard rate of one coupon for every five acres of cultivated land, or one coupon for every 50 acres of non-cultivated land. Landowners requesting more than the standard rate of permits or with fewer than 5 acres of cultivated land or fewer than 50 acres of non-cultivated land can enroll by answering additional questions on the application. Landowners enrolled in DMAP are responsible for providing hunters with information about DMAP harvest permits for their property. 

Landowner Applications:

*If you provided an email on past applications or have previously re-enrolled online, you likely received an email with instructions on how to re-enroll online at the beginning of March. If you would like to use the online renewal option in the future, please provide a valid email address on your paper application this year.​

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where can I find information on landowners participating in DMAP?
Contact information for public lands and some private lands enrolled in DMAP will be posted in the Participating Landowners Section of the Game Commission's website. For more information on Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), bureaus of Forestry and State Parks, participation in the DMAP program visit the DMAP Section of DCNR's website.​

  • Contact information for private landowners enrolled in DMAP will be posted on the Game Commission website only with permission of the landowner.

2. How do I get coupon?
It depends on whether the landowner is handing out coupons, or if coupons for the specific property are available to any hunter. If the landowner is handing out coupons to individual hunters, then the hunter must contact the landowner directly. If the landowner is not handing out coupons (ex. PGC State Game Lands, DCNR State Forests, other public lands or large landholdings), the hunter will need to know the DMAP unit number, but will not need a coupon to get a permit.

3. For properties that do not hand out coupons, what if I don't know the DMAP unit number?
You must contact the landowner or visit the Participating Landowners Section of the Game Commission's DMAP website to get the DMAP unit number. You must know the DMAP unit number when you purchase your DMAP permit. The license issuing agent will not know this information. The Game Commission website will contain DMAP unit numbers only for property owners who choose to make their information available to the public.

4. How do I obtain a landowner's map when I am buying a DMAP permit from a license issuing agent or Game Commission website, but do not have a coupon from the landowner?
It is the hunter's responsibility to contact the landowner to obtain a property map. A hunter can check the Participating Landowners Section of the Game Commission's DMAP website Game Commission's website to see if the landowner has provided contact information. Otherwise, the hunter will need to contact the landowner by some other means.

5. For properties where the landowner issues coupons to hunters, do I need a physical coupon to present to a license vendor?

Landowners do not need to issue physical coupons to hunters. Landowners can give hunters a paper copy, digital copy, or even just the required information on the coupon (the DMAP Unit Number, the hunter's Coupon Number, and the associated Control Number). Those three numbers can then be presented to a license vendor to purchase a DMAP permit. This is still considered a DMAP permit purchase with a coupon to the vendor, as opposed to DMAP permits sold directly through the licensing system without a coupon.

6. How do I get a permit?
Hunters can purchase DMAP harvest permits at any license-issuing agent or www.huntfish.pa.gov. No DMAP harvest permits will be issued by mail. A hunter will need either a coupon (or the corresponding coupon information) from a landowner or know the DMAP unit number when he or she purchases a DMAP permit.

7. What happens if I mail my coupon to the Game Commission?
Your coupon will be returned to you. You will need to go to any license-issuing agent or www.huntfish.pa.gov, to purchase DMAP permits.

8. How do I report my DMAP hunting activity?
Reporting is mandatory for all DMAP harvest permits, regardless of harvest success. A hunter can report their DMAP activities using www.huntfish.pa.gov or by sending in a postage-paid report card that can be found in the Hunting and Trapping Digest.

9. If I lose my DMAP permit, can I get a reprint or replacement?
You can go to any license-issuing agent or www.huntfish.pa.gov, for a replacement. When you indicate you are doing a replacement, you will need to select the lost DMAP permit from the list of items that you already have been issued. The cost is $6.97 per permit replaced.

10. How can a landowner know if all of his coupons have been redeemed?
The best way for a landowner to know if coupons have been redeemed is for the landowner to communicate with the hunters he or she has provided coupons. For landowners who have made their property public and do not distribute coupons, they can visit the Participating Landowners page and see the availability of permits in their unit in nearly real-time.

11. Do landowners participating in DMAP have to allow public hunting?
No. DMAP participants, like landowners participating in Game Commission hunter access programs, have the right to limit the public’s access to their properties regardless of their participation in Game Commission programs.