Sunday Hunting: Not Really A Good Idea

2/27/2017

by Ed Lawrence, KTA Trail Care Chair

Outdoor recreational activities have never been more popular. Pennsylvanians are getting outside in record numbers to enjoy a wide variety of sports and hobbies. Families have discovered geo-caching and are day hiking our state parks, people are trail running, setting up tripods for nature photography, mountain biking, paddling kayaks, backpacking in our state forests, bird and wildlife watching and taking advantage of designated equestrian trails.

There is a notable exception to this trend however, the number of active hunters continues to show a slow, but steady decline, year after year across the state. I don't begrudge hunters their sport or their time in the woods, in fact we rent our acreage out to a local hunting club. However, at the same time, I think that hunters need to recognize and acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of outdoor recreationists are not hunting, and that these folks look forward to Sundays, during hunting seasons, as the one day of the week that they can pursue their chosen passion without having to worry about 'user conflicts' or accidently getting shot.

Up to this point, splitting the weekend between hunting on Saturdays and everyone else doing their favorite outdoor activities on Sunday has been a compromise that has generally worked. This year though, the NRA has decided to push Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania as a legislative priority. This comes on the heels of the Game Commission, under pressure from the NRA, giving initial approval for hunters to start using semi-automatic rifles, despite the reported lack of support among many hunters for such a change. This decision will be officially approved at the Commission's April meeting, unless there is sufficient pushback from Pennsylvania hunters who still believe that their sport has something to do with a sense of sportsmanship and not just an arms race to see how fast you can fire off 6 rounds at a fleeing buck. Public comments regarding this proposed change can be sent to the Game Commission at: pacomments@pa.gov .

Before our legislators embrace Sunday hunting at an NRA sponsored shotgun wedding, they should consider the impact it will have on the vast majority of their constituents. Consider, for example, Ricketts Glen State Park (my local go-to hiking destination), which comprises 13,050 acres and includes 26 miles of hiking trails, described in the park brochure as a 'prime attraction to the park'. Will visitors be surprised to learn that 10,144 of those park acres are open to hunting, meaning that there may be semi-automatic weapon fire across over half of these hiking trails? Will that make more than 75% of the park a seven days a week "no-go zone" for most families?

The unintended consequences of lifting the current ban on Sunday hunting may actually end up backfiring on hunters as well. If Sunday hunting becomes the new normal then that will open the flood gate for all the other outdoor recreationists to come out on Saturdays. Hunters may be surprised to see just how many other folks enjoy being out in the woods without a rifle, or they may end up hearing them first, once hikers and bikers and families start wearing jangling "hunter bells" for safety.

This is really an issue of fairness and the equitable sharing of the resources of time and terrain. If you think that Sunday hunting is not really such a good idea, let your state legislators in Harrisburg know. They've already heard from the NRA.

10 Comments

Richard Beck

3/1/2017 07:24:47 am

"[T]he number of active hunters continues to show a slow, but steady decline, year after year across the state."

I spoke with a ranger at Middle Creek who showed me statistics that the number of hunters has been cut in half since the mid-80's. I would expect the numbers to continue to decline. My concern is financial. Hunter fees support SGL's. As those fees decline will the PA legislature opt to sell off SGL's.

JR Minich

3/1/2017 08:59:03 am

While I respect the author's opinion, it is emotional grandstanding intended to provoke fear with disregard for facts and more importantly, compromise. Guns provoke fear, and I can certainly empathize with that. I was raised a hunter and it is completely engrained in my DNA. It is who I am. In my early adult years I became interested in recreational hiking and became a KTA member directly as a result of hunting, after my hunting pursuits led me to backpacking.

On a human level, I am disappointed that this issue is dividing two groups of recreationalists that share a lot in common when it comes to conserving our environment, outdoor traditions, and caring for public land. We should be striving to better understand each other and work toward common goals, not dividing into party lines over who gets what woods what days of the week. I would be glad to assist both hikers and hunters in steps we can take to avoid conflict and share the woods amicably all seven days of the week.

Sunday hunting is already legal in Pennsylvania. Hunters are currently permitted to pursue coyotes, foxes, and crows on Sunday. I occasionally hunt foxes and coyotes on Sundays in an increasingly very busy State Forest in Centre County, and I take great care to avoid busy hiking areas out of respect and to not scare them. Nonetheless these hikers are sharing the woods with me whether the know it or not. This brings about an important aspect of this issue, visibility.

Since Sunday hunting is already legal in Pennsylvania, what are the real impacts? The traditional rifle deer season is easily the most visible impact from hiker’s perspective. With the current season structure, we are talking about one Sunday per year in early December that would be impacted by rifle deer season. What about the other seasons? I think we can all agree as adults that bowhunting is not a threat to your safety due to the extremely close proximity that limits the distance of shots. I consider myself first and foremost a bowhunter, and rarely hunt with a gun. So why should an archaic, potentially unconstitutional blue law prohibit me from bowhunting on Sunday? When my daughter grows up I anticipate that like all people in today’s day and age, we will be extremely busy with an array of activities. I have yet to hear a sound argument why I should not be allowed to take her bowhunting on Sundays.

Visibility is also a two-way street. Like I said, there are many hunting seasons that hikers know little about, beyond the traditional two week deer season. Coyotes can be hunted year-round, and there are deer and turkey seasons open at some point in PA during seven months of the year. Hikers should always consult the season dates and ensure that they are wearing the appropriate clothing to be visible. This especially relates to our furry four-legged friends. My dog always has a vest and a bright collar on when we head to the woods. The vast majority of hunters are extremely, religiously, careful about identifying our targets before shooting, but like anything else, there are bad apples, which makes visibility an important safety precaution. Think of dressing appropriately to go hiking in the same vain as defensive driving. As the author wrote, making noise with a bell or similar contraption is not a bad idea either. Hunters do not so much mind when hikers make noise in the woods because that is just as likely to help us out by chasing game in our direction as it is to hinder our hunt.

There are other potential compromises to ensure we can amicably share our public lands. It is important to note the different types of public land in Pennsylvania and how they are funded. Since State Parks and State Forests are not funded by hunting licenses, I believe it would be fair to continue to prohibit Sunday hunting on tracts of such land that are heavily used by hikers. That is a fair compromise. State Game Lands, on the other hand, are 100% funded by the PA Game Commission and hunting licenses. Yet, hunters share these lands with hikers and recreationalists 365 days per year who have zero dollars invested in these lands. Is that fair? No, it is not. If hiker groups continue to oppose Sunday hunting, I would expect to see them barred from entering State Game Lands. See how grandstanding works? I’ll take compromise any day. Let’s grow up, drop the elitist attitudes and fearmongering, and figure out how to work this out together.

Daniel Helmbrecht

3/1/2017 07:26:51 pm

Just need to comment on one previous post- there are absolutely no lands anywhere in Pennsylvania that are 100% funded by the PA Game Commission when tax burden is also taken into account. By my employment in a public school district business office I see firsthand the tiny amount of real estate taxes that are paid by the PA Game Commission on their lands. This is controlled by state law rather than normal tax assessment and the net result is that all taxpayers are in a sense subsidizing PA Game Lands.

Richard Ostheimer

3/12/2017 01:33:03 pm

The Pittman-Robertson Act created a funding mechanism for State Game Lands (SGLs), called Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in many other states, by imposing an excise tax on hunting equipment (rifles and archery equipment), handguns, and ammunition. This excise tax was imposed beginning in the 1930s. States are reimbursed 75% of the costs for both management and purchase of land for SGL's/WMA's from the proceeds of the excise tax with the balance raised from other sources, usually hunting license fees. It is estimated that there are some 300 million handguns in the US. Since handguns are largely useless for hunting, a great deal of the excise taxes on the handguns and their ammunition are paid not by hunters but by other citizens. It is incorrect to assert that hunters pay for SGLs.

MJ Englert

3/13/2017 09:13:36 am

So you're saying that hunters don't own handguns? That's funny because I own a few and pretty much every other hunter that I know owns at least 1 or more. If there is 300 million handguns then how many hunting rifles and shotguns are there? 500Million? 800 million? 2 billion? Aren't those included in the tax as well?

I'm not saying that every last cent comes out of a hunter's pocket but the vast majority does.

Ed Lawrence

3/15/2017 04:42:42 pm

In his comment J R Minich makes the statement that Game Lands are "100% funded by the PA Game Commission and hunting licenses", and that non-hunters have "zero dollars invested in these lands". There are, however, some Game Lands and parts of Game Lands where the land was originally purchased by Land Conservancy organizations and then deeded over to the game Commission for their management. The Keystone Trails Association, in fact, led the campaign to keep the 1000 Steps portion of the Link Trail, now known as the Standing Stone Trail, in public ownership when it came up for sale. Thanks to the efforts and monetary contributions of the hiking community that tract of land is now part of SGL #112. No grandstanding there, but certainly a challenging climb with a great view that benefits everyone.

M.J. Englert

3/2/2017 06:03:15 pm

I would like to echo what JR has stated. I too love to both hike AND hunt. I have just recently became aware of this organization and you seem to do very good work. However, I cannot bring myself to join or support your organization(although I may like to) due to this stance against Sunday hunting. The authors attitude towards hunting is clearly negative (although he admittedly profits from it) and further tarnishes my impression of this organization. I reject the author's snarky assumptions that hunting is unsafe and that a "arms race" is taking place. As JR has stated, hunting for certain species is already permitted on Sunday, and many other popular hunting seasons take place throughout many months of the year with most hikers being none the wiser. The fact of the matter is that there is not, and has not been, any significant number of hunter/hiker conflicts at any time in recent history.

JN@KTA link

3/3/2017 09:20:36 am

FYI - a few examples of why some hikers are nervous:

http://www.tnonline.com/2015/nov/23/woman-shot-coyote-hunter
http://articles.mcall.com/2004-12-02/news/3569674_1_stray-bullet-deer-season-careless-hunter
http://ellwoodcity.org/2016/12/23/man-mistakenly-shoots-horse-instead-of-deer/
http://www.wpxi.com/news/local/man-accidentally-shot-hunter-flown-hospital/139447891
http://www.wtae.com/article/infant-in-icu-after-being-shot-at-home-while-in-his-father-s-arms/7468048

Pamela

3/18/2017 11:16:53 am

Hunters pay for the SGLs. They ought to have priority for use, and having only one day a week in hunting season (most people work weekdays), is one reason for the decline - many hunters just don't see it as worthwhile.
One way to solve this is for everyone who uses the SGLs to buy a "use permit," which would essentially be a hunting license, since they ARE State GAMELANDS. So, even if a user would never ever pick up a gun to hunt, they are in fact on gamelands, and should support using that land just like the hunters do. I am an avid hiker and geocacher, so I see this as a fair-and-square issue.

Ron Day

6/4/2019 01:04:39 pm

Been a lot of talk about fairness and access. Hunters have full access to state forests.

Everyone else, even with a Hunting License:

"Except on Sundays, to be present on State Game Lands from
Nov. 15 through Dec. 15 inclusive when not engaged in lawful
hunting or trapping"

So, there you go, even WITH a license, you are not allowed to be there unless you have a weapon or trap.

I used to hunt, don't mind hunters, but the idea that government owned property somehow only belongs to one segment of the population (900,000 vs 12.4 million) because of how the government collects the money to pay for it is like saying only people that buy gasoline in PA can drive on PA roads OR only people that pay school taxes can send their kids to school.

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Sunday Hunting: Not Really A Good Idea

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