18 YEA's REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA - HB1431 PASSES OUT OF COMMITTEE.

CONTACT: Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

TELEPHONE: 717-350-6741

EMAIL: huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com

WEBSITE: facebook.com/HuntersUnitedForSundayHunting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION 

YEA VOTE FOR REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA - HB1431 BY PA HOUSE GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE. 

  

The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee on June 3, 2025, advanced PA House Bill 1431, Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania, with a vote of 18YEA, 8NAY.

The vote was consistent with the Democratic majority voting favorably, along with four Republican minority members supporting.  

View the PA House Game and Fisheries Committee meeting and voting here. The advancement of this legislation is important in helping hunters and farmers.  Over the past years, hunter-conservation identified their number one issue as removing the prohibitive blue law restricting hunting on Sunday.  Agriculture identified its number one issue as being economic, locally and as a whole, through losses associated with crop damage.  

HB1431:

• Removes the blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday and provides the Pennsylvania Game Commission with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week. 

• Provides for a member of the Board of Pennsylvania Game Commissioners who represents the interest of agricultural commodities that pertain to normal agricultural operations and wildlife. That applicant will now have to meet the criteria of being knowledgeable in the area of wildlife management as well as actively engaged in a normal agricultural operation as defined in the Right-to-Farm Law.

• Directs the labeling of natural deer urine for the use of hunting.  The urine must have adequate labeling and testing to ensure they are free of Chronic Wasting Disease. 

• Guides the reporting of harvested animals for crop damage. 

• Strengthens private property trespass rules. 

Statement from Kevin Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting:

“ Hunter-citizens of Pennsylvania have been asking for an update to the blue law for over 50 years.  I would like to thank legislators for demonstrating their trust in the Pennsylvania Game Commission to do as they are charged and manage PA’s wildlife resources for generations now and future.  Your ongoing courage to change and remove the archaic blue law that prohibits hunting on Sundays will have a lasting effect for current and future hunters.”

“I want to also recognize the efforts of our partnerships with Hunter Nation-PA, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Representative Mandy Steele (D), Allegheny Co.  Without legislative cooperation, we would not be at the point of ending the 343-year-old blue law and the 50-year benign seven-day-a-week hunting issue.”   

HB1431 will now move to the Pennsylvania House for a full floor vote.  

For more information about this topic, please contact Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, Executive Director Kevin Askew at 717-350-6741 or email at huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com.  View our Blog - https://huntersforsundayhunting.blogspot.com/ 

HUSH Mission Statement - Remove the prohibition of Sunday hunting in PA Title 34 Game Law through education, and influence legislatures to change the law accordingly.

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YEA VOTE FOR THE STEELE DEAL - REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION PASSES OUT OF COMMITTEE

 

CONTACT: Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

TELEPHONE: 717-350-6741

EMAIL: huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com

WEBSITE: facebook.com/HuntersUnitedForSundayHunting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION

YEA VOTE FOR REPEALING SUNDAY HUNTING PROHIBITION IN PENNSYLVANIA - THE STEELE DEAL HB2106, HB2107, HB2108  BY PA HOUSE GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE.

The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee on May 22, 2024, advanced THE STEELE DEAL HB2106, HB2107, HB2108  Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania. with a vote of 13 YEA, 11 NAY, and 1 NO VOTE on HB2106;  14 YEA and 11 NAY on HB2107; and 13 YEA, 11 NAY, and 1 NO VOTE  on HB2108.

The vote was consistent down party lines with the Democrat majority supporting all three bills and the Republican minority opposing all three bills.

How did we get here?  Simple, by Representative Mandy Steele doing her due diligence for eight months listening, learning, and having conversations on how to help grow the booming outdoor industry in PA while also assisting agriculture in its goals.  Hunter-conservation identified their number one issue as removing the prohibitive blue law restricting hunting on Sunday.  Agriculture identified its number one issue as being economic locally and as a whole through losses associated with crop damage.

HB2106 removes the blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday and provides the Pennsylvania Game Commission with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week. HB 2106 also strengthens trespass laws by outlining the requirements and responsibilities for landowners and hunters alike.

HB2107 merely finishes what has been started.  It is known the PGC has been working towards a revision and updates to the hunter agriculture crop damage system.  Be it that all legalities and mechanics for implementation can be worked out.  HB2107 finishes the puzzle of connecting hunters, agriculturalists, and farmers by creating an online network to streamline the process for better interaction and results for those farmers seeking help with crop damage.

HB2108 is a hunter-conservation and agriculture mission multiplier when viewed and interpreted correctly.  There are currently two sitting agriculturalists on the PGC Board of Commissioners.  HB2108 updates and provides the needed defining criteria for the best selection possible for the most qualified candidate.  That applicant will now have to meet the criteria of being knowledgeable in the area of wildlife management as well as actively engaged in a normal agricultural operation as defined in the Right-to-Farm Law.

Statement from Kevin Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting;

“The Steele Deal is a good deal; it provides for everything needed, not everything wanted.  I would like to thank Representative Mandy Steele for her dedication in bringing this package of needed bills that helps hunters, conservationists, agriculturalists, and farmers.  I would also like to extend a thank you to all the Democrats who worked on and supported the Steele Deal.  Far too often democrats are painted, portrayed, and stigmatized as not supporting hunting conservation and agriculture.  Your bold party line YEA vote today has demonstrated what has historically been recorded in the voting record on conservation issues. That is as a whole, Democrats have voted YEA on conservation issues much more than your Republican counterparts.  Today’s vote could be the first step in breaking that stigma.”

For more information about this topic, please contact Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, Executive Director Kevin Askew at 717-350-6741 or email at huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com.  View our Blog - https://huntersforsundayhunting.blogspot.com/ 

View the PA House Game and Fisheries Committee meeting and voting here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Tc-oR-aF1No

View the PA House Game and Fisheries Committee vote here: 

HB2106 https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_votes.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=2106

HB2107 https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_votes.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=2107

HB2108 https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2023&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=2108

HUSH Mission Statement - Remove the prohibition of Sunday hunting in PA Title 34 Game Law through education, and influence legislatures to change the law accordingly.

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THE STEELE DEAL TESTIMONY - HB2106, HB2107, HB2108

 

April 9, 2024. 

Testimony to Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee for Informational Meeting on HB2106, HB2107, HB2108.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members

My name is Kevin Askew, I am the executive director for Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, the lead organization working to end the archaic blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday.  Our mission:  Remove the prohibition of Sunday Hunting in PA Title 34 Game Law through education, and influence legislatures to change the law accordingly.  This educational effort has brought us to this meeting today regarding Pennsylvania House Bills 2106, 2107, and 2108; the Steele Deal as it is now being called.

How did we get here?  Simple, by Representative Mandy Steele doing her due diligence for eight months listening, learning, and having conversations on how to help grow the booming outdoor industry in PA while also assisting agriculture in its goals.  Hunter-conservation identified their number one issue as removing the prohibitive blue law restricting hunting on Sunday.  Agriculture identified its number one issue as being economic locally and as a whole through losses associated with crop damage.

As you are aware there is much crossover between the hunter-conservation community and the agriculture community.  That is why the inclusiveness of the Steele Deal is a solid piece of legislation. 

HB2106 removes the blue law prohibiting hunting on Sunday and provides the Pennsylvania Game Commission with full regulatory authority to set seasons and bag limits seven days a week. HB 2106 also strengthens trespass laws by outlining the requirements and responsibilities for landowners and hunters alike.

HB2107 merely finishes what has been started.  It is known the PGC has been working towards a revision and updates to the hunter agriculture crop damage system.  Be it that all legalities and mechanics for implementation can be worked out.  HB2107 finishes the puzzle of connecting hunters, agriculturalists, and farmers by creating an online network to streamline the process for better interaction and results for those farmers seeking help with crop damage.

HB2108 is a hunter-conservation and agriculture mission multiplier when viewed and interpreted correctly.  There are currently two sitting agriculturalists on the PGC Board of Commissioners.  HB2108 updates and provides the needed defining criteria for the best selection possible for the most qualified candidate.  That applicant will now have to meet the criteria of being knowledgeable in the area of wildlife management as well as actively engaged in a normal agricultural operation as defined in the Right-to-Farm Law.

During my tenure, one of the common suggestions that myself and my team have received from legislators is ‘that the hunter community and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau need to work together. Bring us a deal that you all can agree to.’  We thank Representative Steele for getting us to this point.  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.”

Together the Steele Deal legislative sponsors, hunter-conservation, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau have risen to the occasion, thought anew, and acted anew.   The expectation is that you and your colleagues will do the same.  This is not a partisan political issue of Democrat versus Republican.  It’s a Commonwealth issue of doing the right thing and ending the 342-year-old blue law and the 50-year benign seven-day-a-week hunting issue. 

The Steele Deal is a good deal; it provides for everything needed, not everything wanted. The question is do you have the insight to see this bipartisan issue as it is and get it to the Governor's desk for signature into law?  History indicates that you do. 

Thank you for your time. 

///Kevin B. Askew///

Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

Reference:

The outdoor industry [including hunting/shooting/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.  2021 Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Department of Commerce.

PA House Bill 2106 

PA House Bill 2107

PA House Bill 2108

THERE WAS NO DEAL LIMITING SUNDAY HUNTING TO JUST 3 SUNDAYS

..... THIS IS AN IMPORTANT READ AND MESSAGE TO GET TO ALL POLITICIANS .....

MANY BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A "DEAL" TO HAVE 3 SUNDAYS AND NOTHING ELSE.

The following correspondence was printed in Pennsylvania Outdoor News.  This should help clear the air and address some of the concerns and rumors that are going about.  This issue is very important to sportsmen/women across the state.  There is no need for any of us to start the legislative process for SB607 with incorrect and inadequate information or preconceived notions.

Commentary Published July 2, 2021; Kevin Askew, Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting  
Read the full article here: 

THERE WAS NO DEAL LIMITING SUNDAY HUNTING TO JUST 3 SUNDAYS. 

Published May 21, 2021; Deborah Weisburg, Southwest Correspondent.
Read the full article here: MORE SUNDAY HUNTING COMING? 

Published July 2, 2021, PA Outdoor News Staff Report
Read the full article here:  SENATE PANEL OKS SUNDAY HUNTING BILL

HUNTERS UNITED FOR SUNDAY HUNTING COMMENT TO PA GAME COMMISSION, April 10, 2021

The memo reads: 

From: Senator Daniel Laughlin

To: All Senate members

Subject: Repealing Sunday Hunting Prohibition in Pennsylvania

Statement to PA Game Commissioners, April 10, 2021, Public Meeting

Executive Director Burhans, Deputy Executive Directors Grohol and Palmer, 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 PA Game Commission April 2021 public meeting.  

It is refreshing and rewarding to watch the March 3, 2021, Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee testimony and hear Mr. Burhans relay information from the commissioners by saying,  “We would also like to build upon the success of Act 107 of 2019 which provided for three days of hunting on Sundays.  This change was implemented in 2020 and was met with great enthusiasm by hunters who have sought the chance to hunt on Sundays for several decades. The game commission supports opening additional Sundays to hunting and welcomes the opportunity to work with the committee to craft legislation giving full authority to the board of commissioners to offer additional Sunday hunting opportunities.  This year's Sunday hunting opportunities were extremely popular with our hunters and we did not see any, any substantial issues occur on these Sundays.” 

Though mentioned often, it deserves repeating.  The fight to bring hunting on Sunday has never been about a particular species or season. It is not about deer, it is not about specific seasons, it is not about this firearm or the other. It is about the increased opportunity based on your agency's resource first model and the North American Model of Wildlife Management.

It is also good to know that as commissioners you understand the inclusiveness of seasons and species on the Sundays as stated to the House G&F Committee by Mr. Burhans, “this year which is being proposed is where the Sundays overlapping the existing small game seasons is going to be allowed this year.  We got a lot of complaints from hunters, I want to hunt small game but you can only shoot a deer or harvest a bear so we heard a lot of hunters who said they would like small game.”

As we work to get full regulatory authority legislation introduced in this legislative session it is encouraging to hear and see that there is now an understanding in the legislative body of what Sunday hunting can provide and what it means to people.  Hence why Representative Ed Neilson, House G&F Chair spoke and asked directly about Sunday hunting and any type of expansion being considered. Rep. Neilson summed it up very well “the workforce is almost six days a week now, people have to do what they have to do to survive.  Families when the covid hit, everybody is struggling and they are trying to get as many [hunting] days as they can in.” 

In closing, please know that Hunters United for Sunday Hunting appreciates all that you do.  We understand that you are working diligently under the rules placed upon you by the legislature and by the constraints of scientific wildlife management to provide as much hunting opportunity as possible. 

The ask is this. Help us help you.  There are 25 conservation organizations that support full regulatory authority to be given to the PGC.  Please continue to relay and populate the message ‘that the PGC commission supports opening additional Sundays to hunting and welcomes the opportunity for legislation giving full authority to the board of commissioners to offer additional Sunday hunting opportunities.’

Sincerely;

Kevin B. Askew

Executive Director, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting