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An independent survey has found that most Pennsylvania hunters prefer the Saturday opening of firearm deer season.
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Pa. hunters prefer the Saturday deer hunting opener

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Pa. hunters prefer the Saturday deer hunting opener

The controversial shift from a Monday deer opener to a Saturday opening day in 2019 infuriated many deer camp members while making participation easier for hunters who couldn’t get off work or school on Mondays.

An independent survey commissioned by the state Game Commission has found that 67% of Pennsylvania deer hunters support the Saturday-after-Thanksgiving start to the firearms deer season.

The opening day had been linked to the Monday after Thanksgiving since the early 1960s, when it displaced the previous opening-day protocol. Plummeting hunting license sales in Pennsylvania and nationwide prompted game commissioners to create more opportunities to hunt, believing the move would boost the sale of licenses, which fund most of the state’s wildlife management expenses.

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License sales rose slightly after the change and the agency attributed upticks in 2019-2021 to the Saturday opener.

Walleye fillets are battered and breaded before the annual Santucci deer camp wild game cookout. From left are Robert Mooney of Coraopolis, Dan Santucci Jr. of Robinson and Randy Santucci of McKees Rocks.
John Hayes
Tradition of the hunt: Will Saturday deer opener harm camp camaraderie?

But hunter reaction remained unclear. License holder surveys issued by the Game Commission in 2014 and 2017 found hunters overwhelmingly opposed to a Saturday start. Opponents to the change argued that the sale of more licenses could have been caused by other factors including more free time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 2020 Game Commission study of “lapsed hunters” – those who stopped purchasing licenses for at least one year but bought a hunting license in 2020 – concluded that 53% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they started to hunt again in 2020 because the firearms deer season now opened on Saturday.

“Over the past three years we have heard from numerous hunters expressing good points on both sides of this issue,” Bryan Burhans, the Game Commission’s executive director, said in a statement. “Without hard data, it would be impossible to know the degree to which hunters might support or oppose the change.”

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Last year, the agency contracted with a Virginia-based survey research firm to find out how Pennsylvania hunters really feel about the Saturday opener. Responsive Management, which specializes in natural resource and outdoor recreation issues, compiled a report based on a telephone survey of Pennsylvania deer hunters to better understand their opinions about the opening day of deer season. The report is available at www.pgc.pa.gov.

To qualify for the survey, hunters had to have hunted at least once during the firearms deer season in 2017 and 2018, when the opening day was the Monday after Thanksgiving, and at least once during the 2019, 2020 or 2021 firearms deer seasons, all of which opened on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Responsive Management said 2,009 resident Pennsylvania deer hunters age 18 or older were surveyed. The survey’s margin of error was 2.18%.

According to the survey, 62% of hunters said the change had no impact on their hunting. Twenty-five percent said the Saturday start had a positive impact on their hunting and 11% said it had a negative impact.

In 2020, the Pennsylvania legislature broke centuries of tradition by approving limited Sunday hunting, including the day following the Saturday start of the firearm deer season. The Responsive Management survey found that a majority of Pennsylvania hunters – 60% – hunted on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the second day of the firearms deer season..

Camp culture is changing due to the Saturday deer opener.
John Hayes
Camp culture adapting to the Saturday opening of deer season

Commissioner Scott Foradora of northcentral Pennsylvania said the survey confirms that hunters appreciate the Saturday start as a valuable new hunting opportunity, just what the commission had been looking for.

“The Saturday opener has allowed for broad participation by Pennsylvania hunters, especially working people and college students,” he said. “And with the day of Sunday hunting that follows it, rifle hunters who work and have weekends off now can enjoy the season’s first two days without having to worry about taking vacation. Universities across the state hold classes, as well, on the Monday after Thanksgiving, so the Saturday opener and first Sunday gives increased opportunity to college students, too. And opportunity might be the most important factor in keeping hunters happy and coming back.”

Cyber fishing

A 2021 year-end collection of digital data found that participating Pittsburgh area anglers did most of their fishing at Canonsburg Lake (Washington County), North Park Lake (Allegheny) and Keystone Lake (Westmoreland). Their biggest catch was a 3-foot muskie pulled from Montour Run.

The data was compiled by Fishbrain, a Sweden-based app claiming 14 million subscribers worldwide. Participation by only 65,000 of Pennsylvania’s 911,575 license holders probably limits the reliability of its regional results, but the technology connects anglers like never before. For a fee, it logs and maps data from subscribers’ fishing reports, compares data from the previous year, posts fish photos, provides hydrographic maps, promotes sustainable fishing practices and links subscribers with product manufacturers who make the bait and tackle they prefer.

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First Published: February 25, 2022, 8:25 p.m.
Updated: February 26, 2022, 2:10 a.m.

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An independent survey has found that most Pennsylvania hunters prefer the Saturday opening of firearm deer season.  (www.publicdomainpictures.net)
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