Joel Rotz, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Government Affairs and Communications spokesman, in comments made to the York Dispatch, encouraged [Pa.] hunters to maximize their economic contributions on Sundays by ‘eating and drinking at bars and restaurants in their communities.’
This suggestion is truly offensive to sportsmen and sportswomen across the commonwealth and it makes a person wonder if Mr. Rotz and the Pa. Farm Bureau is in touch with the modern-day hunter and conservationist. Instead of degrading hunters, wouldn’t it be better for the PFB to understand current hunting culture and stand with countless passionate hunters and conservationists disinterested in spending our Sundays in bars?
The residents of Pennsylvania deserve to understand the loss to the economy, tax revenue, and wages that the PFB has continued to perpetuate in the state of Pennsylvania year-after-year.
A 2010 study commissioned by the Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and completed by Southwick Associates, looked at the potential impact of Sunday hunting on our state [Pa.] and local economies. The study forecast a 27 percent increase in overall hunting activity along with a net increase in retail sales of associated merchandise of over $460 million dollars per year if Sunday hunting were allowed. Considering multiplier effects, the total output to the economy would be over $800 million dollars per year. This equated to over $56 million in state and local tax revenue that has not been realized by local communities because of the PFB current stance on Sunday hunting.
Interestingly this study was calculated using hunting license numbers for the fiscal year 2009-2010, which happened to be in the top three for lowest hunting license sales since 1990, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Another study completed by John Dunham and Associates in 2018 for The National Shooting Sports Foundation lists total economic output at over $972 million. This would have put state [Pa.] and local tax opportunity at $68 million per year.
This data begs the following: What would the total economic impact have been if Pa. allowed Sunday hunting years ago? What would our participation numbers currently look like had we not limited hunters from enjoying their recreation? The results of these missed opportunities are staggering with over $500 million in state and local tax revenues forgone in the last nine years alone. Should this trend continue we will quickly reach $1 billion in lost tax revenue from increased hunting opportunities.
These numbers are far too large to be ignored by the Pennsylvania legislature. Pa. House of Representatives, Pa. Senators and specifically both Appropriations Committees need to take a hard look at the data and get on with removing this 337-year-old archaic and discriminatory law that continues to cost Pa. hunters and the commonwealth as a whole.
The time has come for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to view hunters as partners in conservation and wildlife management and to stop their discriminatory policy recommendations, which are detrimental to conservation and our economy.
Written by: Carl Machamer, Research Analyst, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting
Southwick Study:
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