Pennsylvania Game Commission will reveal elk hunting license winners live online

Lacking a 2020 Pennsylvania Great Outdoors Elk Expo as a venue, the Pennsylvania Game Commission plans to reveal the names of the hunters being drawn to receive 2020-21 elk hunting licenses in a Facebook Live online event on Saturday.

The elk expo has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, so the commission will opt for live online coverage of the awarding of elk licenses beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday on its Facebook page.

While elk-license applicants often are eager to see if they’ve been selected for the Pennsylvania elk hunt, there’s no requirement for applicants to watch the presentation live. The commission said within an hour of the presentation ending it will notify by phone all applicants who were selected for elk licenses.

Additionally, all applicants can go online to the Pennsylvania Automated Licensing System to check the status of their application, which will be updated sometime on Aug. 17. If selected for a license, the application will be marked, “Awarded.”

The elk-license drawing has been conducted at the elk expo since 2014. Prior to that, it was held at the Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters.

This year, with the elk expo canceled, the drawing was in Harrisburg a few days prior to the live-streamed announcement at the Elk Country Visitor Center.

The name of each winner will be confidential and not released until the livestreamed announcement on Saturday.

The commission arranged for a third-party witness to observe the drawing prior to the release of the names.