With Spring Comes Renewal
The Pennsylvania Game Commission comes under scrutiny for many decisions. The simple truth is its Board of Commissioners are unpaid political appointees devoting their time to managing hunting and wildlife resources.
The decisions they make can be thankless, and not without scrutiny by all parties. Certainly, some of their decisions are right, some arguable and, yes, some are wrong. But like most things, you hear little when things go right, and a lot when things go wrong. They have had recent questionable expenditures and hired and later fired a lobbying firm due to legislative scrutiny.
The agency certainly does good in many instances, but it seems to “circle their wagons” when controversy arises with an “us vs. them” culture — and that must end. A controversial topic requires input from outside the agency, and it is never too late for post-assessment of a decision to determine its success or failure.
One of those failed decisions was changing the Monday rifle deer opener in 2019. There is a YouTube video addressing the issue — find it by searching PGC Public Comment 2024.
Arbitrarily moving the deer opener from the Monday after Thanksgiving to two days earlier to the Saturday after Thanksgiving has not proven beneficial over the last five years. That weekend can be deeply personal for many hunters, as it impacts their favorite hunting weekend with family and friends.
The first problem is called Thanksgiving. What happens the day after Thanksgiving? Family home visiting, resting from Thanksgiving travel or activities, shopping on that Black Friday. The Saturday opener has major negative family impacts baked in, due to the proximity of the Thanksgiving holiday. Hunters now have only one day between the most travelled family holiday of the year and Pennsylvania’s biggest deer hunting season opening day of the year — 9 1/2 hours of daylight between Thanksgiving dinner with family and being in the woods Saturday morning just doesn’t cut it.
Many hunters travel hours, which consumes additional Friday time, creating more of a rush for final scouting and preparations. Businesses, restaurants and a variety of stores that hunters previously patronized along travel routes when the Monday opener existed were hurt. One of their biggest annual retail sales weekends disappeared.
Non-profits and first responders suffered. Many held fundraising events in their little towns bulging full of hunters that weekend. Not all … but enough.
This social change by the PGC, had nothing to do with deer management or biology. It has been such a mistake. Additionally, bipartisan legislation is sponsored in the Pennsylvania House and Senate to return the opener to Monday. More legislators are coming on board to reinstate the Monday opener, influenced from business and constituent contacts within their district.
Hunters who want a Monday opener are pushing to have it reinstated in commissioner meetings, emails, town halls, and basically by every means possible. Spot surveys across the commonwealth continue to reveal an overwhelming majority wanting the Monday opener reinstated. Presumptive license sales benefits from the PGC have not materialized. Resident adult sales and resident junior sales continue to decline.
The many traditions lost linked to the Monday opener weekend, although mentioned here last, is possibly the most damaging aspect of all. Fellowship and family time that unfolded within that Monday opener weekend are cherished. It’s now reduced to just filling a tag. With support to return to the Monday opener continuing to grow, let’s hope the PGC board’s final vote on the opener issue for 2024, which is happening on April 13th for the upcoming season, brings back the Monday opener for all the reasons stated. Throw the Saturday opener in the scrap heap of failed experiments, and bring back what wasn’t broken.
Randy Santucci
Dan Davila
Founders of the Facebook Group: Pennsylvania Hunters Against the Saturday Deer Opener
Coalition: Hunters to Reinstate the Monday Deer Opener
