PA No Sunday Hunting

[knale87]

Most people i know thoroughly dis like the whitetail opener move to Saturday. I thought it was great at first but I have to admit, I think it was better on Monday now that it has been in place a few years. There is a movement to move it back to Monday gaining steam from what I understand.

Yea I was being sarcastic, I don’t like the Saturday opener. Hopefully it does get changed back.

 

[MallardSX2]

When they moved the opener to Saturday back in 2019, the quality of bucks in my area went through the floor in the following years. We rarely have any quality bucks survive in my area of the state. Venango County.

Used to have a few sneak through but it's pretty rare to see anything over 125" anymore.

 

[PlumberED]

Maryland has a patch work of rules for Sunday hunting. You are allowed to deer hunt Sundays on private land. However, you have to check the regulations for each county to determine if Sunday hunting is permitted on public land.

 

[Desk Jockey]

PA resident. Eastern half of the state gets a lot of pressure from out of state hunters. The Sunday hunting ban was a bit of a deterrent for some, but also a pain in the ass. Great if you have a flexible schedule but it sucked if you could only get in the woods on saturdays.

I saw a study that estimated that PA was giving up $2 bn a year in economic activity because of the Sunday ban.

on balance, I prefer the ability to hunt sundays but there is a lot of hunting pressure on the most easily accessible hunting spots for sure. While i think there is probably some impact on buck quality, overall deer populations appear to be doing fine in my area.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I have heard of blue laws where liquor sales were prohibited on Sunday, but first time for hunting. Both laws are stupid.

 

[Michigander]

Used to be no Sunday hunting in my county here in Michigan. It was finally eliminated about 20 years ago.

 

[Yoder]

I live in North east PA. The "worst" deer hunting probably on the east coast. I don't care about what day rifle season opens. It doesn't matter to me. It also doesn't matter to me if we can hunt Sunday or not. My family has hunted public land in this area for at least 50 years or so. The only thing that we have seen that made an impact on deer hunting was antler restrictions and shooting more does. Before they changed the regulations you might see 25 doe and a spike buck opening day. If someone in your camp was lucky, you might shoot a monster 8pt with a 12in inside spread. People would actually stop and look at your deer if you had a couple small rack bucks. Since the changes the quality and quantity of bucks has increased dramatically. We all used to hate the wildlife biologist Gary Alt. Hunters of PA owe him a huge apology.

 

[elkyinzer]

Oh yes. The funniest part is most of the opposition and the reason we had to compromise on three Sundays for now, actually comes from hunters!? Riddle me that one?

It's primarily from a sect of PA hunters that are stuck in 1950 and don't think anything ever should change, ever, and we have a large but aging contingent of those buttcrusts.

As well as a large group of the purely jealous guys that can't be out there cause their wives make them go to church, and heaven forbid anyone else gets to be out there either, cause you know, humans suck and that's just how the world works. Us heathens shooting "their" deer, no, no, no. Me, me, me first.

Finally the chosen political entity to oppose progress is the PA Farm Bureau, which is firmly on the record wanting all the deer obliterated, just not on Sundays. I kid you not. Their primary red herring is that Sunday hunting would disrupt landowners.

Meanwhile, rest assured that a shit ton of illegal hunting happens on Sundays, mostly on private land, where it is more easily concealed.

All the hypocrisy and bullshit surrounding the issue is almost so surreal it borders on dystopian fantasy, if it wasn't just status quo bullshit politics in PA! We sure do have a lot of peculiar mindsets here, but don't none of yinz be talking shit, we're only allowed to do that amongst ourselves.

 

[RMM]

We all used to hate the wildlife biologist Gary Alt. Hunters of PA owe him a huge apology.

Absolutely, I remember growing up and the amount of hate thrown at him. He single handedly improved PA buck quality 10 fold.

 

[4090Sharps]

I think SC opened this year.

Sweet! I have a lifetime SC hunting license that will have to see some more use in the future. I hated being restricted to private land hunting on Sundays.

Unless I missed it, MD wasn't mentioned. There the Sunday hunting is done on a by county basis. Some are wide open, others are completely closed, others private land hunting only on Sundays, and there are some variations in between.

 

[nettereo16]

Sweet! I have a lifetime SC hunting license that will have to see some more use in the future. I hated being restricted to private land hunting on Sundays.

Unless I missed it, MD wasn't mentioned. There the Sunday hunting is done on a by county basis. Some are wide open, others are completely closed, others private land hunting only on Sundays, and there are some variations in between.

Ah yeah I forgot MD. They had a bill this year that failed.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I live in North east PA. The "worst" deer hunting probably on the east coast. I don't care about what day rifle season opens. It doesn't matter to me. It also doesn't matter to me if we can hunt Sunday or not. My family has hunted public land in this area for at least 50 years or so. The only thing that we have seen that made an impact on deer hunting was antler restrictions and shooting more does. Before they changed the regulations you might see 25 doe and a spike buck opening day. If someone in your camp was lucky, you might shoot a monster 8pt with a 12in inside spread. People would actually stop and look at your deer if you had a couple small rack bucks. Since the changes the quality and quantity of bucks has increased dramatically. We all used to hate the wildlife biologist Gary Alt. Hunters of PA owe him a huge apology.

I grew up in north central PA in the late 1970s through to the mid 1980s.

I remember learning to count and learning to do basic math by the dome light when we were out spotlighting deer and you would see hundreds of deer.

In 85, my dad shot the biggest buck of his life and it was, as you described, a small 'basket' 8 and people came from all over to see it.


What pennsylvania has done with herd management and deer quality has been amazing.

I say more let the PGC manage the deer and keep the politicians out of it

 

[Jpsmith1]

Oh yes. The funniest part is most of the opposition and the reason we had to compromise on three Sundays for now, actually comes from hunters!? Riddle me that one?

It's primarily from a sect of PA hunters that are stuck in 1950 and don't think anything ever should change, ever, and we have a large but aging contingent of those buttcrusts.

As well as a large group of the purely jealous guys that can't be out there cause their wives make them go to church, and heaven forbid anyone else gets to be out there either, cause you know, humans suck and that's just how the world works. Us heathens shooting "their" deer, no, no, no. Me, me, me first.

Finally the chosen political entity to oppose progress is the PA Farm Bureau, which is firmly on the record wanting all the deer obliterated, just not on Sundays. I kid you not. Their primary red herring is that Sunday hunting would disrupt landowners.

Meanwhile, rest assured that a shit ton of illegal hunting happens on Sundays, mostly on private land, where it is more easily concealed.

All the hypocrisy and bullshit surrounding the issue is almost so surreal it borders on dystopian fantasy, if it wasn't just status quo bullshit politics in PA! We sure do have a lot of peculiar mindsets here, but don't none of yinz be talking shit, we're only allowed to do that amongst ourselves.

I think the same group of, how did you so eloquently put it, "buttcrusts" are the same ones who want to go back to the awful Monday opener and reduce youth participation

 

[Charlie-NY]

“Sunday hunting had been prohibited in Pennsylvania since the 19th century—though crows, foxes and coyotes are an exception to the rule. The commonwealth was one of only 11 states with statutes that either ban or restrict hunting on Sundays.”

Sunday hunting was banned over what is termed “blue laws.” A holdover from Colonial America, blue laws were designed to encourage Christian worship on Sundays. Stores and taverns, for example, were closed on Sundays throughout much of Colonial New England. Work, various leisure activities and hunting also were banned or frowned upon by the larger society. When Colonial America became the United States, many of the states included the blue laws in their legal statutes.

Pennsylvania to Expand Sunday Hunting in 2021

The state game commission plans to include additional species this fall.

www.nrahlf.org

I can remember the "Blue Laws" in NY when I was a kid. Virtually nothing was open except the local deli and the movie theater. Things were certainly better back then. Virtually everyone spent time with their families and had time to relax because only the Police had to work. I didn't hunt back then and don't know what the regs were but family life was certainly better.

 

[Yoder]

I think the same group of, how did you so eloquently put it, "buttcrusts" are the same ones who want to go back to the awful Monday opener and reduce youth participation

We used to have a camp growing up. Everybody would meet up the Friday after Thanksgiving, some of the guys would scout all weekend, setup stands then hunt Monday. It was a huge tradition. We had some guys from out of state and others that only came up for opening day. With the Saturday opener people can't do that anymore. I can understand why they are complaining. Maybe they will just have to put in a little effort and scout ahead of time. I'll bet these are the same people that are complaining that PA has no deer.

 

[Traveler]

VA had a ban on Sunday hunting on public until this year. Seemed silly, glad it’s over

 

[txjustin]

Blue laws (included those in Texas) are insanity


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[Jmort1754]

When they moved the opener to Saturday back in 2019, the quality of bucks in my area went through the floor in the following years. We rarely have any quality bucks survive in my area of the state. Venango County.

Used to have a few sneak through but it's pretty rare to see anything over 125" anymore.

I live in Crawford right on the venango line, I see some decent bucks but my question is what is your thoughts on this? More hunters afield on opening day?

 

[MallardSX2]

I live in Crawford right on the venango line, I see some decent bucks but my question is what is your thoughts on this? More hunters afield on opening day?

That’s my take on it. Too many hunters in the field on that first day.

I used to know the stats, but on the first day of the season, several hundred thousand deer die.
There is simply too many hunters hunting in PA to open buck season on Saturday.

Also, I think they should move doe season back to the Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday after Thanksgiving but I fear there is no putting that genie back in the bottle….

I lived up near Springboro/Albion for several years.

 

[MallardSX2]

Absolutely, I remember growing up and the amount of hate thrown at him. He single handedly improved PA buck quality 10 fold.

He single handedly annihilated the deer population statewide for 8-10 years with the stroke of a pen.

Turned landowners against each other, and inadvertently sold more yellow posted signs than anyone in the world.

After the deer got wiped out, he went into hiding like a damn coward and it was a huge finger pointing game and everyone posted their freaking land statewide and stopped allowing people to hunt. Basically every landowner who gave a shit about the struggling deer population fully posted their land forever and created sanctuary properties to save what was left of the decimated deer population due to his shitty policies.

You know it’s pretty bad when there are game dinners where you’re unfilled doe tag is your entry pass.

Ya, the guy was very successful in unrooting 2 centuries of tradition in favor of “big” racks.

Personally, I wish the man had stuck with bears.

That’s my take on it as I’m one of the few on this site that actually knows what the he’ll happened in PA from Gary Alts decisions . This is coming from a boots on the ground, live in the country )not in the city) and own more than 400 acres perspective…..we chose not to be a part of the slaughter and burned our doe tags yearly in the fire at camp. Literally dozens of them. Our neighbors slaughtered does by the damn truckloads. It was sickening. Then, everyone FOR YEARS complained about the lack of deer. Lol

He ruined what deer hunting in PA was always supposed to be imho. Did some does need to be killed? Yes. But he didn’t have to do a mass e exodus on them.

I cringe looking back on what hunters allowed to happen to a once great thing.