BACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERS TESTIMONY SUBMITTED TO PA GAME & FISHERIES COMMITTEE, SEPT. 10, 2019 HEARING

Pennsylvania Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
www.backcountryhunters.org

September 10, 2019
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Game and Fisheries Committee






Dear Representatives,

The Pennsylvania Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a nonprofit group that seeks to ensure preservation of Pennsylvania’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting. One of our main tenets is to maintain and enhance public access and opportunity for hunters and anglers.

We understand that the Committee is discussing the issue of Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania. We urge you to support the hunters of our state and give the Pennsylvania Game Commission the authority to regulate hunting on Sundays as they do with the other days of the week.

Sunday hunting would provide increased opportunities for junior hunters and working age adult hunters to become engaged in hunting and conservation. Additional opportunities will lead to better recruitment and retention of hunters throughout the state. Children's schedules today are more rigid than in the past.  Sunday hunting would double the amount of time that junior hunters can spend in the field without interfering with school and team sports, many of which have Saturday activities. Likewise, the work and social demands of many adult hunters limit their time and Sunday may be the only time available to hunt.

Lack of time plays a major role in why many Pennsylvanians leave hunting. Over the past several years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) has identified a downward trend in hunting license sales over the last decade. In a survey of lapsed hunters conducted for the PGC, lack of time and work obligations were among the most frequently stated reasons for the decision to stop hunting. This was especially true in junior hunters and adult hunters under the age of 35. These are the groups that need to be recruited to maintain and grow Pennsylvania’s hunting population. Permitting Sunday hunting would work to alleviate the diminishing number of young hunters.

Increased hunting opportunities also would lead to increased profits for the rural communities and
businesses throughout the commonwealth. A National Shooting Sports Foundation study found that
Sunday hunting could create over 8,000 new jobs and pump $764 million into the state’s economy.
For these reasons the Pennsylvania Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers supports Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania and SB 147.

Sincerely,

Pennsylvania Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers

PA FARM BUREAUS OPPOSITION COST STATE $500 MILLION IN TAX REVENUE

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:

http://sundayhunting.org/PDF/PASundayHuntingSouthwickRpt.pdf

NSSF Study: https://d3aya7xwz8momx.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sunday-Hunting-PA.pdf

WHAT IS THE FISCAL IMPACT OF HUNTING ON SUNDAY IN PA

To Whom it may Concern;

Hunters United for Sunday Hunting is providing the following in order to assist in quantifying the economic impact of the ability to hunt seven-days-a-week, relative to Pa. Senate Bill 147.  Here is an overview of the 2011 report completed by Southwick Associates that was requested by the Pennsylvania General Assembly that same year.

The study conducted in 2011 by Southwick Associates, a Florida-based fish, and wildlife economics firm, predicted hunters would spend $460 million more annually if the ban on Sunday hunting was lifted in Pennsylvania.  The study also shows there would be a boost to the state economy of a total of $803.6 million and the ability to hunt on Sunday’s would bring in $56.8 million in state and local tax revenue annually.

Starting in 2010, the estimated total retail sales and multiplier effects that would have occurred if Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania were permitted found that overall hunting activity would increase by approximately 27% with increases in hunter expenditures.

Resulting in the Pennsylvania General Assembly letting on the table revenues of approximately 27% over the last eight years which shows a total lack of fiscal responsibility.

Another study that was published in 2018 by the National Shooting Sports Foundation estimated that there would be as much as a $972.6 million economic output to the economy here in Pennsylvania. This is probably the most credible figure on the amount that Pennsylvania

is losing annually.

It is time the Pennsylvania General Assembly recognizes the fiscal impact of Senate Bill 147 and what removing the barrier to hunting opportunities brings to the state of Pennsylvania. Click to Read Full Studies: Southwick Associates Economic Contributions of Sunday Hunting Alternatives in Pennsylvania The National Shooting Sports Foundation Economic Impact of Hunting 2016/2017 Data Pennsylvania Sunday Hunting Impact Sincerely, Kevin B. Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting