Staff at the county Treasurer’s office started processing antlerless deer license applications Monday. Treasurer Denny Munksgard expects his team to process about 7,000 licenses.

Hunting season may be a few months down the line but the first of an estimated 7,000 antlerless license applications were allocated.

Monday marked the first day that staff at the county Treasurer’s office could start to process the applications. Each one cost $6.97 and had to be mailed to the courthouse in the infamous pink envelope.

Treasurer Denny Munksgard said his office will handle the applications on a first-come, first-served basis.

For licensing sake, Warren County is split into two wildlife management units — the western part of the county in 1B and the eastern in 2F.

The number of licenses, or tags, available in both is set to increase this season. Each saw 32,000 allocated in 2022 but Munksgard said 1B will increase to 34,000 and 2F will increase to 37,000.

He said the 2F increase is attributed to an increase in the harvest by one antlerless deer per square mile due to concerns over chronic wasting disease.

Munksgard said the two management units will sell out among the top five units in the state but that tags from other units can be secured through his office.

State residents get a one-week advantage on the application process with processing starting Monday. Non-resident, as well as additional resident tags, can be processed starting next Monday.

The tags themselves won’t be sent back to hunters until late August, Munksgard said.

In the meantime, he said that people can check the status of their application online at the Game Commission website. Others will get a hint into their status when the charge hits their bank account.

To those who haven’t yet sent in their application, Munksgard encouraged them to include their email and phone number on the application. He also recommended everyone open their licenses when they get them to make sure they’re correct.

He stressed that they want to ensure that everyone gets the license that they should have.

“That’s where we go above and beyond,” he said.

It’s likely that bonus, or unsold tags, will be available next month, as well.

“I expect because of the increase in allocations there will be bonus tags in August,” he said, advising that those applications can be mailed in late July for processing starting August 1.