Pennsylvania allows (some) Sunday hunting

[huntineveryday]

In order to recruit more hunters, whether young or old, we need less barriers to the sport. Not being able to hunt on Sundays is a barrier that undoubtedly limited access to hunting. Will opening Sunday hunting turn the tide and reverse the loss of hunter numbers? Probably not, but it will have to help a little.

 

[GingerWhiskey]

I would love to see the rifle season go back to the traditional Monday opener and the season to include the following two Sundays. Things at camp this year just seemed off. Many of the surrounding camps were empty. Things were quiet. The small communities that rely on the few big weekends had to have taken a hit. I'm also in favor of including a few Sunday's with restrictions. My 12 year old daughter whom loves to be in the woods and harvested her first buck last year as a mentored youth missed the entire rifle season due to Saturday basketball games. We missed out on quality time together. If we had Sundays to hunt things would have been different.

 

[Jethro]

Diesel, why not start new traditions? This year kids could have shown up at camp Friday evening, hunted Saturday, hung out at camp and seen camp life on Sunday. and then hunted on Monday. Open up that Sunday for hunting and their 1 or 2 days now becomes 3. I am old enough that I did grow up with the exact camp life opening day experience you described.

I agree that it is not going to cause a noticeable increase in license sales. But increased opportunity may keep a new hunter that is already hunting from dropping out in a year or 2.

Me personally, I look at it this way, who in their right mind says "I'm a hunter, I love to hunt, but I don't want the state to give me an extra day or 2 to the season."? Surprisingly, the number of people that say that is more than I would have ever guessed.

Some archery hunters in CO are upset about losing 1 day while some PA rifle hunters are upset about gaining a day. Just odd the way that works.

 

[PMcGee]

Diesel, why not start new traditions? This year kids could have shown up at camp Friday evening, hunted Saturday, hung out at camp and seen camp life on Sunday. and then hunted on Monday. Open up that Sunday for hunting and their 1 or 2 days now becomes 3. I am old enough that I did grow up with the exact camp life opening day experience you described.

I agree that it is not going to cause a noticeable increase in license sales. But increased opportunity may keep a new hunter that is already hunting from dropping out in a year or 2.

Me personally, I look at it this way, who in their right mind says "I'm a hunter, I love to hunt, but I don't want the state to give me an extra day or 2 to the season."? Surprisingly, the number of people that say that is more than I would have ever guessed.

Some archery hunters in CO are upset about losing 1 day while some PA rifle hunters are upset about gaining a day. Just odd the way that works.

Exactly


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[adamm88]

First i will say i am for Sunday hunting, but it was nice to not have to get up on sundays and it was my hunny to do list day and I wasn’t thinking if my harvest was walking by my stand because there waa no worry anyone else was hunting.

Hunter numbers are down, the doe tags in my area 5a were still left in October, iv never seen that, also I believe there was 1000 less tags in my area

Saturday opener was good, i was at wal mart getting things the Wednesday before thanksgiving Nd there was a college kids getting there license, not everyone is die hard and gets it the day its out a midnight, these are the next generation.

Overall its a good thing, there are too many hunters fighting against hunters, we all are in the same team, if you own land, don’t allow hunters on Sunday, very simple, I believe the law will help enforce trusspassers.


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[GHOSTofWENDELL]

The whole "camp life" line seems odd to me. Take your kids camping anytime during the year or season. Having an extra day to hunt does not prohibit that in any way. I grew up in Michigan hunting and now live in Montana. Being able to plan your hunts around what works for your work/life schedule seems to be far superior than having to take some days off due to outdated laws that cater to people's religious preferences.

 

[Poser]

Try imagining applying Sunday restrictions to any other pursuit and how that would fly. For example, imagine if there were no skiing allowed on Sundays

 

[npellegrene]

Lots of mixed feelings on these changes.

 

[squirrel]

The breakdown of the "mixed feelings" is largely upon people who are not from 'there" judging them to be "deliverance inbreds" that just need to see the light of how wonderful it is elsewhere.

And for those in PA the city wants more license to maraud over the land at will. They want it and they aint askin' they are tellin'.

If you polled the country land owners it would quickly become apparent where the maintaining of the "blue laws mentality" comes from. Less so the younger generation which is why this is all becoming a moot point as they take over and impose secularism upon the laws.

Unless and until you view the issue from a PA farmer's perspective you will never "get it", it must be seen to be believed actually. PA is a very unique place, culturally speaking.

I agree Diesel it's coming all you can do is roll with it. But the 70's in a big woods deer camp... PRICELESS.

 

[GHOSTofWENDELL]

Less so the younger generation which is why this is all becoming a moot point as they take over and impose secularism upon the laws.

The younger generation is not "imposing secularism". That would be apart of the first amendment. Do you really think only young people want to hunt Sundays?
As far as land owners/farmers who do not want hunting Sunday are concerned, the solution seems simple. Do not allow hunting on their land on that day.

 

[Diesel]

I see Pa. now has the purple paint law effective late January. And changes have been made the way no trespassing will be enforced. Now the Game Wardens can issue the fines instead of having to call police. These new regs may make some difference, time will tell.

It will be interesting to see how much paint will be spread with all the new regulations.

 

[Rs3003]

I am for the Sunday hunting. It gives me more opportunity to go out hunting with my children more often. The Saturday opening day gives me more opportunity to go to my camp with out missing work. Being able to hunt on Sunday doesn’t mean you have to. Stay home. I’ll enjoy the empty woods more.

 

[Incahoots]

Based on numbers I see out hunting it's all a day late and dollar short

 

[Diesel]

Lots of proposals on trying to control CWD from spreading. I think we are now in the second big heyday of deer hunting in my lifetime. Plenty of deer, bigger bucks and lots of seasons. That can change quickly if CWD is unchecked.

I have heard rumors of a new drug added to feed that counters CWD ,but I can find no publications that backs that up.

Some proposals to slow the advance are a second buck tag in special control areas, higher numbers of doe tags in these control areas, and sharpshooters if not enough hunters. The idea is not to eliminate deer in these hot spots, just contain the disease.

The Game Commission is searching for answers to low license sales and CWD.

Like it has been said, nothing good lasts forever.

 

[Diesel]

The big woods were pretty empty this past season. On the first Saturday of doe season, there were only two trucks in 10 miles of national forest road. And almost no shooting. Incredible for the first day of antlerless season.

 

[Crowmangler]

I have mixed feelings as well. In NC Sunday hunting is allowed with some minor restrictions but If I'm at home I go to church & spend time with my family. It just doesn't feel right ya know? (When you figure we have about 4 months total to deer hunt it doesn't seem as urgent to go Sundays either).
But if I go out of state specifically to hunt then it really doesn't bother me that much. Especially since I only have a few days. Maybe that's a little hypocritical of me but I'm just being honest.

 

[squirrel]

The younger generation is not "imposing secularism". That would be apart of the first amendment. Do you really think only young people want to hunt Sundays?
As far as land owners/farmers who do not want hunting Sunday are concerned, the solution seems simple. Do not allow hunting on their land on that day.

Damn you just fixed it all why has nobody else figured this out? Kinda like putting up "no trespassing" sign will eliminate trespassing right?

Now purple paint is a great idea, much harder to strip off the bark of a tree than to tear off a sign and stomp it into the mud on your way through (or my favorite where it is in their game pouch when you tell them to leave)

 

[GHOSTofWENDELL]

Damn you just fixed it all why has nobody else figured this out? Kinda like putting up "no trespassing" sign will eliminate trespassing right?

Now purple paint is a great idea, much harder to strip off the bark of a tree than to tear off a sign and stomp it into the mud on your way through (or my favorite where it is in their game pouch when you tell them to leave)

Regardless of your sarcasm, I never said I could fix poaching. I would love an explanation of how not hunting on Sundays prevents it though. If that is now the point you're trying to make?

 

[Bmoore]

Pa hunter here. I am so tired of hearing all these PA hunters complaining about the Sunday hunting and the rifle opening date change. PA has some of the worst hunting laws in the county. The walking dogs or the woods need a day of rest is probably the worst argument ever constructed. Also the rifle date change is a good thing. Do you really think people are not going to the bar or buying hunting goods because the date moved a day back one day? I don’t even want to get into the corruption in the doe tag system, where I can only get one doe tag for my property before they sell out. Or the worst of it all, THEY CLOSE HUNTING SEASON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NOVEMBER RUT. I’m a hunter in my late thirties with a family that works 6 days a week, I’ll take the three extra Sunday’s. People like this idiot hunter above is the reason PA has declining numbers. The numbers aren’t declining, people are hunting different states. I can’t tell you how many people at my gun club live in PA and don’t have a hunting license here but hunt NJ, DE, NY and Ohio. I can’t wait until this older generation of hunters moves on to nursing homes and stops harassing the younger generation.

This may be a bit harsher than how I would have worded it, but I agree 100% with what you said. I live in PA but close enough to Maryland that I actually spend 75% of my time hunting there because it allows more options for harvesting game than PA. The idea that Sunday hunting could possibly be a negative is so wild I can not understand how anyone could hold that opinion. To me, it seems like a lot of the complaints about tradition and hunting camps are not about Sunday hunting or a Saturday gun opener as much as a complaint that the some younger generations are not participating with the older generation in these traditions. Essentially it sounds like the elder generation of hunters is just upset that the camp they used to enjoy isn’t enjoyed by their grandkids like they would hope. This is a lack of new hunters to blame. It’s mind boggling to think that some people see a lack of participation in tradition and the solution they come up with is to keep the activity restricted as opposed to loosening restrictions.

I’m glad the seasons will begin to allow Sunday hunting. I hope they continue as it would essentially double my available hunting time. I wish people would stop using the excuse that they don’t like something as a justification to legally restrict others from enjoying it. If you don’t like beer, don’t drink. If you don’t like Sunday hunting, don’t hunt on Sunday’s. But don’t use personal distaste for something to justify restricting my opportunity to enjoy it.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Landowners who live in the country love the no hunting on Sunday past because it gave them 5 days a week to hunt unpressured deer.

The restriction on Sunday hunting was horrible for recruiting and retaining new hunters, especially as Saturdays became increasingly occupied by work, school, and sport obligations for many young families. In true pa hunting tradition though, the new 3 Sunday policy is still weird as heck and makes no sense.

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