Here's another good one. Lots of non res campers have been b!tching about not being able to get doe tags. Allocations are up all over this year 8000 in my wmu. Now you will hear them cry about killing all the deer!
Machs nichs to me. I don't bother hunting PA until end of first week or the second week anyway. Most of the PA guys I talked to were for it. They screwed up in not including Sundays in the new regulations, IMO.
One thing it will do for us in MD is yank the PA guys out of our woods that first Saturday, hopefully. Historically there's been a large crew of PA guys that swoop down to the Game Lands I hunt to score an extra day of hunting, and all the while blasting anything that moved and actually put on drives right through where others were hunting. (I mean, c'mon. Drives on opening day morning for pete's sake, on public not private land where it's acceptable?!)
I don't hunt on public land if I can help it, but I'm with you gnoahhh, this might keep all of those "Penntuckians" from comin down here a scarin all of our deer. Man, you drive past the parking areas for the public land on Saturday, and 3/4 of the vehicles are from PA. They can get here and be in the woods in about an hour or so. Them guys up there in Southern PA ain't goin to no deer camps because they know that they can come down here and shoot more in one day than they can in a whole season in PA.
I can see where this might upset the traditions of those guys that go to "Deer Camp" to hunt. But I bet the majority of the hunters in PA don't. I've talked to a handful of guys that I deal with from up around the Scranton area, and none of them go to a hunting camp. They all sleep in their beds at home, get up bright and early on opening day and drive down the road a few miles to where they hunt on private land and go wait for a buck to show himself. ALL of those guys are delighted with this news.
We've always had opening day on Saturday. I always thought that no hunting on Sunday gave the deer a "cool down day" so that we could catch them off guard on Monday. Now that we can hunt on Sunday, it hasn't made a hill of beans difference. We can still shoot the hell out of them for the next 2 weeks just like we used to.
If it's the tradition you guys are worried about, or the logistics of getting to where you need to be on a certain day, keep doing what you do. I'm sure you'll still kill just as many deer as you used to. For those of you that don't have any traditions of going somewhere special, go shoot a deer on Saturday and have fun doing it. All of the rest of those guys will be sitting around their deer camp getting drunk and waiting for Monday to roll around. If I was from there, I'd be having a celebration for the extra day of deer season. It's hard for me to comprehend people complaining about more hunting time, but I'm not from there.
"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
The amount of b!tching over this law change is upsetting.
This is the start, Sunday hunting legal by 2020 season. Great job PGC!
I don't understand why everyone there isn't thinking like that. But damnit!!! They don't want to hunt on Sunday. lol
They are thinking like that. I think there's probably more people in PA that want this, than don't. If they ever open on Sundays, I guarantee you that they'll change their ways. It's probably only the Amish and Mennonites that won't be out there on Sunday if they do change it.
"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
Them guys up there in Southern PA ain't goin to no deer camps because they know that they can come down here and shoot more in one day than they can in a whole season in PA.
Youre a phuggin idiot. 3 local townships around my camp are dominated by southern PA folks and their camps. Fulton, Franklin, Adams, York, Lancaster, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Chester.......generations of families from southern PA, where I live, made the drive north. And though members have passed on, those camps are still in use today. A few are just summer camps, but the majority still see at least a few for a day or 2. Usually after Tuesday theyre heading home.
Cross over 6, and the majority of non local owned farms in potato country are owned by southern PA folks, Jersey and New York. I lived there for 4 years. I worked and socialized with these folks. Maybe you outta get out of your small world and actually learn a little about a place you know not a damn thing about.
Please explain that better with actual dates as an example. did they shorten your season by a week by opening it the saturday before? I will be honest, I never understood how hunting was done on the east coast, even when I lived there. it was so screwed up as a whole I didn't even hunt. To me is seems like a soup sandwich that ya'll are trying to organize and rationalize. Where I live our season(s) run about the same every year. a few are the whole month of november (or october) regardless of when the 1st starts, and the regular rifle for west river runs so the last of the 3 weekends it's open is thanksgiving weekend. Now I get that people bank on these dates and expect them, but to whine about it opening the saturday before, or complaining that it's not closed on sundays seems absolutely retarded to me. I don't know the whole story, nor do I care except for what I see here when I scroll and it intrigues me enough to click. but as an outsider, it looks to me like the overall season hasn't changed aside from the saturday before the "normal" opener is the new one, so in effect you gained A day of hunting, on a weekend... and many are pissed about it. forget the whole "sunday hunting" which you still fight for keeping. I wonder what kind of stupid they put in the water there. You do realize the deer have no idea what day it is right? now if someone can explain it in a rational matter, I'm all ears, but this really seems like you all have been eating [bleep] for so long, that now when they offer you piss, you complain that it isn't more [bleep]. I honestly feel very sorry for you all to not know what it's like to live free, at least to the degree we are allowed out here. You have my prayers
You’ve obviously never been in the PA deer woods at dawn on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Holy schit...why would you want to with this many screaming children in the woods?
PA is "bitch baby central" as far as the Sportsman here go.
i think is long overdue. i love tradition but this makes the most sense. hunt saturday, celebrate saturday night and butcher on sunday or pack up and go home without blowing half a day of hunting or driving twisty mountain roads in pitch black winter conditions.
The Saturday opener hasn't helped in NY. No more visiting with neighboring camps back and forth. No more saloon hopping to buy gun raffles. Breakfasts and dinners at the fire halls is a thing of the past, as is the traditional game feast at camp and late hours card games. Local businesses are suffering, from sporting goods stores to restaurants to grocery stores.There used to be a pretty substantial amount of money pumped into these economies. Not anymore. And all in the name of getting more people involved in the sport. Guess what - I haven't seen a single new hunter in our camp or any of the many camps around us. And it's the same everywhere when I talk to guys in restaurants, bars and around town. Guys used to take a week vacation. They'd come up Friday night and stay till Wed. before Thanksgiving or the whole week. Now, they come up, hunt Saturday and Sunday morn then split for home. All the tradition and comradery is gone. I, for one, don't like it. Even guys that initially thought it was a good idea, have changed their minds.
My heart's in the mountains, my heart is not here. My heart's in the mountains, chasing the deer.
I don't care what day they open it. Lord willing I'll hunt it.
Now with regards Sunday hunting, here is the reason why it hasn't happened. Hunters want it, but the Farm Bureau, which has more than a little clout didn't....
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Testifies in Opposition to Expanding Sunday Hunting CONTACT: Mark O’Neill, Media and Strategic Communications Director 510 S. 31st Street , Camp Hill, PA 17001 • 717.761.2740 • Email • @pfbmediaone
For Immediate Release: May 18, 2016 (Harrisburg) – Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) restated its overwhelming opposition to any legislative effort that would directly or indirectly lead to the expansion of existing Sunday hunting laws in the Commonwealth, during testimony before the Senate Game & Fisheries Committee.
“Farm Bureau members have considered the issue of Sunday hunting on multiple occasions over the past two decades. Each time, farmers expressed their unequivocal opposition to any expansion efforts,” said Joel Rotz, PFB State Government Affairs Senior Director.
Although it opposes additional hunting on Sunday, PFB supports hunting and the role hunters play in managing wildlife in the state. In fact, Farm Bureau has worked for decades to build constructive relationships with the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and its staff to help keep privately-owned lands open and accessible to hunters. “Farmers and other private landowners, who account for about 80% of all land used for hunting in the state, voluntarily allow hunters on their property to pursue game. It would be unfortunate if efforts to force more hunting on Sundays damaged positive relationships developed between hunters and landowners,” added Rotz.
Farm Bureau notes that most Pennsylvanians support keeping the status quo on Sunday hunting, including many licensed hunters in the state. In addition, outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds support PFB’s position.
“Several years ago, hikers, bikers, horseback riders, naturalists, bird watchers, fall foliage fans and others joined Pennsylvania Farm Bureau in opposing legislation that would have opened the door to expanded Sunday hunting,”### continued Rotz.
Farm Bureau has a history of actively embracing efforts to increase opportunities for youth hunters in Pennsylvania and has worked in conjunction with the PGC, sportsmen’s groups and others to provide youngsters more chances to hunt.
“Farmers have suggested that the state Game Commission allow youth hunting during the rifled deer season on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, when schools are closed. It is a rule change that the Commission can implement without action from the state General Assembly,” concluded Rotz.
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is the state’s largest farm organization with a volunteer membership of nearly 61,400 farm and rural families, representing farms of every size and commodity across Pennsylvania. ### Category: News Releases
Now the last sentence tells a little hidden secret. Farms of all sizes, and you can have a little farmette and be a member. And many of them are against hunting, so when the farm bureau takes a vote on Sunday hunting, there are enough of the little anti-hunting farmeette owners to sway the vote to against. Then there is this: “Several years ago, hikers, bikers, horseback riders, naturalists, bird watchers, fall foliage fans and others joined Pennsylvania Farm Bureau in opposing legislation that would have opened the door to expanded Sunday hunting,” continued Rotz. Between the farm bureau and the leaf peepers they backed the legislature into a corner. The leaf peepers are for the most part anti-hunting and will side with anything that limits days afield.
I say forget about Sunday hunting on the farms, but there is no reason not to Sunday hunt on the 1,000,000 plus acres of Game Lands bought and paid for by hunters. Most farmers today don't let the majority hunt when asked anyway. Deer especially. "No we like to keep the Deer hunting for family and friends." Forget them, with the exception of a few farmers, and most of them want Does wiped out on their grounds, it has been a long time since the Pa hunters and farmers have been a coalition working together for the benefit of each other.
The GC wants Sunday hunting along with the hunters, but they don't always get to make the rules.... But those who know little about the reason, jump all over the GC. Nor can you just blame the out of staters. Most of the in staters are just as clueless. Sunday hunting in 2020. Wave the flag, but don’t hold your breath and at least know the why not you are up against.
The people that weren’t born and raised on this tradition won’t understand why no one likes it and apparently never heard the jerry reed song about the preacher and the bear. That said if you think we are whinny bitches you can swing by my place and let me know personally what a whinny bitch looks like Pat Mcpeak 121 Borden road Towanda Pa 18848 Sunday’s are for drinking and cutting up the deer you killed that week
Oh boy, now the BAMF are coming out against Sunday hunting. Now we are not only up against the Farm bureau and leaf peepers, but ourselves. Nobody said you can’t drink and cut up Deer on Sunday. You want to do that instead of hunt fine with us. Some would like to hunt. Why the problem?
BTW, I was born to the tradition and most likely before you.
PFB has welcomed the support of those "hikers, bikers, equestrians and others", because those groups also oppose more SH. That's because they want to continue to have use of State Game Lands on Sundays, as they have for decades and no hunters around. While the hunters that helped pay for those SGLs, can't hunt on them. Unless they're hunting foxes and crows in season, or coyotes?
While PFB likes to boast about those membership numbers, only those actively farming on a commercial basis, are entitled to a vote..
Over the years, PGC, often with urging from Legislators, has given PFB just about everything they've asked for, when it comes to dealing with crop damages from wildlife. DMAPs, Red Tags, higher doe tag allocations, longer deer and bear seasons and so on. Ask them for one more day of hunting on a weekend, when most have time to hunt and it's 'Oh, hell no".
I don't favor more SH only on SGLs and other public lands. I would favor being able to hunt on my own land, too. From conversations with my kin and camp neighbors that are farmers, so would they.
If three or more people think you're a dimwit, chances are at least one of them is right.
