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First day of deer season to change
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HARRISBURG – In the 150 years since the state’s first regulated deer season was created in 1869, opening day of the firearms season has been held every day of the week except Sunday, according to Pennsylvania Game Commission information specialist Travis Lau.
Since 1963, the opening of deer season has been observed the first Monday following Thanksgiving.
This year, however, firearms hunters will be permitted to begin hunting deer the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
At the Board of Game Commissioners quarterly meeting at agency headquarters, the Saturday opener was adopted by a 5-3 vote. It was supported unanimously at January’s preliminary meeting.
The 13-day season, including three Saturdays, opens Nov. 30.
Commissioner Brian Hoover, who represents the Southeast Region, said the majority of hunters he met with either wanted the Saturday opener because of the additional opportunity or had no strong feeling either way.
Opponents of the change cited hunting camp traditions as the reason to stick with the Monday opener.
“For the commissioners it’s all about creating more opportunity, not just for young hunters, but young adults as well,” Hoover said. “Fewer schools are closing the Monday after Thanksgiving, and young adults in the workforce often lack seniority to take Monday as a vacation day.”
Chip Sorber, president of the North Mountain Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association, said surveys his group has completed at events showed about three-fourths of hunters in favor of opening the firearms season on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The remainder were mostly indifferent.
Longtime hunters who are already dedicated to the pursuit are more likely to take time off work to hunt, so starting the season on a weekend allows new hunters a chance to catch the bug.
Sorber has participated in hunting camps where the organizers started setting up on Saturday or Sunday to prepare for a Monday opener. For people who still want the camp experience ahead of an opener, they will have to begin on Thursday or Friday.
Thanksgiving dinner at the cabin, perhaps?
“The tradition is just going to have to change a little bit I guess,” Sorber said, “but I think that’s been changing anyway to a certain degree.”
The board of commissioners also approved a statewide allocation of 903,000 antlerless permits, which is an increase of 65,000 from last year.