Pa. House Bill To Permit Hunting On Sundays Gets Hearing

Thursday, October 27, 2011

By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG -- Perhaps lost among hot-button issues such as taxing gas pulled from the Marcellus Shale and vouchers for public schools is a matter that generates as much if not more controversy for some Pennsylvanians: whether the state should permit hunting on Sundays.

State Rep. Dan Moul, R-Adams, said when in June he voted for a $27 billion state budget, he "heard from maybe half a dozen people about it. But Sunday hunting is making my phone ring off the hook -- hundreds and hundreds of phone calls and emails, and they're split 50-50. It's a very contentious issue in my district."

His district is largely rural but includes Gettysburg. He is a member of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, which held a hearing today on House Bill 1760. The bill would empower the state Game Commission to decide how many Sundays a year hunting was permitted both on state-owned lands and on private property, including farms.

Allowed now is the killing on Sundays only of predators such as coyotes and foxes.

The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, with 50,000 members, is the major opponent of Sunday hunting, saying farmers need one day a week to relax with their families and not worry about bullets zinging across their property or trespassers encroaching.

Groups such as the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, the Quality Deer Management Association and Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation testified in favor of Sunday hunting. They said the bill would still permit an individual landowner or farmer to post his land saying hunting wasn't allowed on Sundays.

Supporters said the number of hunters in Pennsylvania has dropped from 1 million to closer to 900,000 over the past 30 years because many hunters are aging and in poor health and more needs to be done to attract youths to hunting. Supporters also said Sunday hunting would cause more out-of-staters to come here, buy hunting licenses and spend money in rural towns on food and lodging, which will help the economy.

Democrats on the committee generally support Sunday hunting, including Rep. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, an avid hunter. Some Republicans are divided, however, because farmers are a major political group in many GOP districts.

Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Armstrong, said a pro-Sunday hunting group recently distributed pamphlets in his district, urging people to contact him and urge support for Sunday hunting. "There were 220 in favor and 180 against," he said, resulting in the fact that "I am on the fence" on the issue.

The House committee may vote in early November to decide whether to send the bill on to the full House.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11300/1185457-100.stm