Hunters United For Sunday Hunting
huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com
717-350-6741
Executive Director Burhans, Commission President Mitrick, Vice President Schnepp-Giger, District Commissioners, and Staff:
As the executive director of Hunters United for Sunday Hunting thanks for the opportunity to submit this letter as part of the Pennsylvania Game Commission April 2023 public meeting.
As Pa. Game Commissioners you and your agency have a very tough job. The mission of managing and protecting wildlife and their habitats while promoting hunting and trapping for current and future generations. You have to balance as much opportunity as the wildlife resource can support while also looking to the future of the species and the sport of hunting.
Hunters United for Sunday Hunting would like to recognize the nine of you for what you and the agency have and are doing for the future of hunters and the Commonwealth as a whole. It is because of the decisions, dedication, commitment, and fortitude you have as commissioners that the outdoor industry including hunting, shooting, and trapping added more value to our commonwealth’s gross domestic product than all of Pennsylvania’s farms, all of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas wells, and even all of Pennsylvania’s lawyers as recently reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, United States Department of Commerce.
As commissioners, your support and efforts to bring more hunting opportunities not only on Sunday but all days of the week are positively affecting the state economically and with hunter participation. The 21st-century lifestyle is very busy. Businesses are no longer closed on Sunday as they once were under the blue law. All forms of recreation are allowed on Sunday; camping, fishing, all-terrain vehicle riding, horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, etc. There has been nothing lost by having Saturdays and Sundays available for hunting. Just as with any other activity or daily function in people's lives, if they don't like it, they don't have to participate regardless of the day of the week.
As Abraham Lincoln said; “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”
Please stand firm to the agency's mission as the work continues to get Senate Bill 67 through the legislative process and into law for the full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits that include Sunday.
Sincerely;
Kevin B. Askew
Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting
