Is transparency too much to ask for?

November 18, 2025

Maloney Calls Out PGC’s Illegal Procedures of PA Elk Tag Drawings

HARRISBURG – At today’s House Game and Fisheries Committee voting meeting, Chairman David Maloney (R-Berks) blasted the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s (PGC) annual elk tag drawing process, raising further concerns about transparency and adherence to the law.

Section 2706.2 of 2024 Pennsylvania Consolidated and Unconsolidated Statutes states:

“The commissionshall hold a random drawing of applications for the issuance of elk licenses under this subsection at the Elk Country Visitor Center in the Township of Benezette.”

“It has come to my attention as chairman of the House Game and Fisheries Committee that Pennsylvanians concerned about the lack of transparency have found it reasonable to question the integrity of past drawings,” Maloney said. “In light of the high profile of the elk hunt in Pennsylvania and the low odds of success for entrants in the lottery, utmost transparency in the drawing process is paramount.”

Even as he shined light of their severe conflicts of interest, Maloney ticked off other ways the PGC is failing the trust and transparency test of Pennsylvania’s sportsmen:

    •   The PGC does not conduct the elk lottery drawing in public during the annual Elk Expo at the Elk Country Visitor Center, nor does it preserve a public record of the lottery.

    •   The PGC does not publish the names of tag winners.

    •   The PGC does not publish lottery statistics.

Maloney’s full comments can be viewed here.