Heading into January decisions, Sunday hunting, elk lottery and southeastern Pa. deer draw state attention

White-tailed deer are on alert in October 2024 in a field outside Benezette, a community in Elk County, Pennsylvania.Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.comBy Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.comThe Pennsylvania Game Commission resurrected its Wildlife Management Committee for a December meeting that set up several votes in January related to hunting regulations.Underpinning much of the discussion was the anticipation of legislative action being taken as early as 2025 on expanding Sunday hunting. The possibility of opening one more day a week for hunters to get out led to pushback against some of the proposals before the committee.State Board of Game Commissioners’ President Scott Foradora said during the committee meeting held virtually Dec. 19 that it’s possible Pennsylvania could add eight to 10 more Sundays for deer hunting alone.“I don’t want to confuse the general hunting force,” he said in the context of additional regulatory changes.The Pennsylvania Legislature during its 2023-24 session considered bills to remove the state’s prohibition on Sundays open for hunting and trapping and leave all wildlife management decisions to the Game Commission. The state Senate and House of Representatives aren’t scheduled to reconvene until Jan. 7, during the next legislative session.“At the time the last legislative session ended, there was a bill that had been approved by the Senate,” Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau told lehighvalleylive.com. “The House approved an amended version of the bill, but then the clock ran out. That bill has not yet been reintroduced, but it will be. The support the bill received previously provides reason for optimism that it will pass this time around.”The Game Commission has not determined what expanded Sunday hunting may look like if legislative action is taken as anticipated, Lau clarified.Comprising the Wildlife Management Committee are Foradora along with commissioners’ Vice President Dennis Fredericks, Secretary Allen DiMarco, and Commissioners Kristen Koppenhafer and Bob Schwalm.The Wildlife Management Committee was reactivated this fall, with the purpose of reviewing and recommending proposals to be included on the agenda for the full board of commissioners meeting that will take place Jan. 24-25 at the Game Commission’s headquarters, 2001 Elmerton Ave. in Harrisburg. It’s up to the board president whether committees meet, according to Fredericks.“It’s just been certain presidents decide to make that committee active, and some presidents don’t have that desire,” said Fredericks, who is chairman of the Wildlife Management Committee. “But I don’t need to tell you or anybody in the general public the current situation for our agency is we have an awful lot of plates in the air.”The committee in December advanced the following proposals to the January meeting agenda:Expanding “Ag Tag” seasons and making the application process easier. Pennsylvania’s Agricultural Deer Control program authorizes landowners or lessees to permit hunting of deer that are causing damage on agricultural lands, outside of the regular deer hunting seasons. Only about 2% of Pennsylvania’s agricultural land is enrolled in this hunting program, representing around 93,000 acres across 998 farms, officials said.Increasing the number of antlerless licenses that an individual can be in possession of in Wildlife Management Units 5C and 5D. These WMUs cover southeastern Pennsylvania, including urban areas and most of Lehigh and Northampton counties. Currently, the maximum number of unused antlerless licenses a hunter can hold is six, with one additional license available for purchase once those six are filled — provided some remain for those areas.Limiting the number of elk licenses that can be drawn by nonresidents annually to 10% of the total number of elk licenses, and requiring both resident and nonresident hunters to purchase a general Pennsylvania hunting license before applying for an elk license.Additional proposals that were discussed but not advanced by the committee to January’s meeting agenda were:Creating a general unit antlerless deer license that could be used in multiple Wildlife Management Units.Establishing an early archery season for antlerless deer.Allowing any muzzleloading firearm to be used on properties enrolled in the Deer Management Assistance Program during the flintlock deer season.Allowing fall turkey hunters to use single-projectile flintlock muzzleloaders.Removing the requirement for mentored youth under 7 years old to receive big-game tags by transfer from their adult mentor.December’s meeting is available to view on the Game Commission’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed through pa.gov.Facing climate change, monarch butterflies to be listed as threatened species in U.S.Wintry outside? Bring on the 2025 nursery catalogs | Lehigh Valley Nature WatchHow the Lehigh Valley helped Pennsylvania’s outdoor recreation economy grow to $19BHelp the hares: Pa. program aims to find where snowshoes live, and if they turn whiteA Delaware Water Gap park visit may cost more in ‘25: How you can weigh inOur journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.