Sunday hunting debate to start anew

Posted on: November 24, 2015 | Bob Frye | Comments

Blog--Sunday huntingSunday hunting advocates say adding that day to the sporting calendar will aid in efforts to recruit and retain hunters.

Will this time do it?

For years now, sportsmen’s organizations have been pushing lawmakers to remove Pennsylvania’s prohibition on Sunday hunting. Other groups, like the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, have opposed the notion.

That debate will come to a head again soon.

On Dec. 15 the state House of Representatives game and fisheries committee will hold a hearing on House Bill 1374 at the Capitol in Harrisburg.

That bill, of course, would remove the Sunday hunting ban. It wouldn’t mandate hunting on any Sunday, let alone all of them. It would allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission to decide what Sundays to include in what seasons for what species.

That might mean small game, at least at first. No decisions have been made, but Game Commissioners – who support Sunday hunting – have suggested they would start conservatively, and not, with, say, deer hunting seasons.

House Bill 1374 is sponsored by Representatives Frank Farina, a Lackawanna County Democrat, and Bob Godshall, a Montgomery County Republican. It’s got 35 co-sponsors, two-thirds Democrats, one third Republicans.

Interestingly, at the same time, state Sen. Jim Brewster, an Allegheny County Democrat, has introduced Senate Bill 1070. It, too, would remove the prohibition on Sunday hunting.

“This bill is a companion bill” to the House version, he said in a memo to lawmakers.

“Currently, this prohibition is the only game management decision that the legislature has put into statute. This bill would change that, and would leave all hunting management decisions to the (Pennsylvania) Game Commission,” Brewster wrote.

“This will provide an economic benefit to both the state and municipalities and hunters would be able to exercise their rights to one more day per week.”

Why all the attention now?

Sunday hunting advocates have seen progress in a number of other states.

As recently as 2013, there were 11 that prohibited hunting on Sundays almost entirely. The number is shrinking, however.

North Carolina and Virginia have within the past two years changed their laws to allow at least limited Sunday hunting, such as on private property with written permission of a landowner, for example. Sunday hunting has expanded to additional counties in West Virginia during that time, too.

Pennsylvania has long been viewed by advocates as the biggest, most important domino among the holdouts, which includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

So they’re taking aim here. Let the debate begin.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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