Grading the Vote - Sunday Hunting & Purple Paint

CONTACT: Hunters United for Sunday Hunting
TELEPHONE: 717-350-6741
EMAIL: huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com
WEBSITE: facebook.com/HuntersUnitedForSundayHunting


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE & DISTRIBUTION - MAY 20, 2020

Hunters United for Sunday Hunting is issuing the following score cards regarding Senate Bill 147 (Sunday Hunting) and House bill 1772 (Purple Paint.)

Our goal with the scorecard is simple: Drive accountability for politicians regarding wildlife management & conservation legislation in Pennsylvania.

"The truth is in the vote.  The only true system of measurement and accountability is how a politician voted on a particular bill, Yes or No.  What we do as wildlife management conservationists with that data is up to us.  We can either use it to educate and affect legislative change or not."

Scores with detailed information can be found via the link below:

SB147 & HB1772 Grading

For more information about this topic, please contact

Hunters United for Sunday Hunting at 717-350-6741 or

email at huntersforsundayhunting@gmail.com. 

View our Blog - https://huntersforsundayhunting.blogspot.com/

Executive Director Kevin B. Askew

SB147 IS NOW LAW - GOV. WOLF SIGNS

Message from the Executive Director, Kevin Askew, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

Governor Tom Wolf has officially signed Senate Bill 147 into law.  Amending Title 34 Game Law to allow for additional Sunday hunting opportunity as follows:

• One day of Sunday hunting shall be instituted by the commission during the deer rifle season.
• One day of Sunday hunting shall be instituted by the commission during the Statewide deer archery season.
• One day of Sunday hunting as determined by the commission shall be instituted by the commission.

Many of you will understand the historic significance and what an incredible leap in the right direction this is for hunter-conservation in Pennsylvania.  Though this is not perfect and more work is needed it is definitely a step forward to correct a 337-year-old antiquated blue law.

Thank you Governor Wolf for signing Senate Bill 147 into law. Your signature helps bring Pa. wildlife management into the 21st Century standards.  

For all of you who have been involved with this Hunters United for Sunday Hunting.  It is your dedication and tenacity that has made this happen.  Please take pride in that.  Many have failed before us.  In March of 2018 we set out on a new course to bring Sunday hunting to Pa. You all have participated in history.  You all have been a tremendous influence that affected Governor Wolf’s signature.  For that be proud and start telling the story of how Sunday hunting prohibition came to an end in Pa.

We are just getting started. This fight to bring Sunday hunting opportunity is much larger than any person or organization. It is based on our principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.   

You have my commitment that Hunters United for Sunday Hunting will continue in our mission to bring full regulatory authority to the Pa. Game Commission.   I ask that everyone stay engaged, involved and continue the journey with us.  Most of all, take time to reflect, understand and think about what November 21, 2019 means for the future of hunting in Pennsylvania.

Sincerely; 

Kevin B. Askew

Hunters United for Sunday Hunting

LETTER TO PA POLITICIANS - I HAVE HAD MY FILL

Thanks Joe for providing us a copy of the letter you sent to Pa. politicians.  Your frustration is not lost on any of us.  We need more of these letter being sent to politicians in this state.   

Letter from Joe - Disgruntled Veteran & Hunter
To the politicians of Pennsylvania: 

I am an army combat vet who served in Baghdad from 2003-2004. I now own a home, land and have three kids. I want to pass on the family hunting tradition. My daughter is three and even at this young age, she knows daddy loves deer. It is not uncommon for me to work six days a week with Sunday being the day I have off. Being on commission based salary, Saturday is the day I make my money. 

I find it both ironic and pathetic that I can't use the very freedom I served to protect to hunt the land I own on the only day I have off [Sunday] with my children.  Especially since the Pennsylvania Game Commission supports hunting on Sunday as a game management option. 

I want to teach my kids how to hunt, but I also want to instill ethics and morals into their lives. With Senate Bill 147 not passing this year I decided to purchase a New York state hunting license. On Sundays, I will be spending my time there.   When my children turn 12 years old, I will be taking them there as that's the age they can legally hunt in NY. 

My plan for next year if SB147 does not go through is to purchase an acre or two in NY close to the state lands that I will be hunting. This will also allow me to take advantage of lower license prices for me and my family. 

I can assure all of you politicians if we do not have full inclusion of all Sundays by the time my kids are 12 years-of-age. I will refuse to spend a dime of my money in this state [PA] when it comes to hunting. 

I have also decided to not support dairy farms in Pennsylvania.  I will make sure any money spent on dairy products for my family will be on products that come from elsewhere. I understand how that sounds but I don't care, the Pa Farm Bureau claims to represent all these farmers that are dictating what I can and can't do with my children on my private land. I know that may not make much difference but I can't in good conscience support them [farmers] knowing that a portion of that money benefits the PFB in some way.  

Please understand I am not an unreasonable person but I have had my fill. To us, hunting is very important as a family and we should not have to make a choice between hunting or summer vacations or choose a different career path to get my kids hunting. 

Thank you for your time.

Joe - Disgruntled Veteran & Hunter

PA FARM BUREAU SUNDAY HUNTING STANCE - RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION

Josh First, Jewish Faith, Saturday is a day of worship

Letter sent to Mr. Luke Brubaker, Chair of Lancaster County Farm Bureau’s Local Affairs Committee

From: Josh First

June 20, 2019

Mr. Luke Brubaker, District 8

PA Farm Bureau

680 Musser Rd

Mount Joy PA 17552

Dear Mr. Brubaker,

It is difficult to express the full amount of frustration my son and I feel due to the PA Farm Bureau's position against Sunday hunting. Like you we are religious people, but we observe Saturday as our day of rest, which prohibits us from hunting, driving cars, using phones or computers or doing much else other than attending services, Bible study, and relaxing with friends and family. That leaves us Sunday as our one weekend day to hunt, and as Isaac has gotten older we are seeing the end of his youthful outdoor opportunities before he goes off to college and moves out of our home. Maryland has Sunday hunting, so last November we went to Maryland, over three hours from our home, so Isaac could hunt deer without missing school. So it was on a Sunday morning in Maryland that my son killed his first deer, not in Pennsylvania, where he was born and has lived his entire fifteen years. Not at his family's hunting camp, where he has grown up shooting off the porch. Instead it was in Maryland, a serious inconvenience and a disconnect from what is an important rite of passage.

We own active crop land in Dauphin County and a tree farm in Lycoming County, and we would like to hunt on Sundays on our own land. We do not ask anyone for permission to hunt on their land, we are just fine with what we have. Our Dauphin County land is open to hunters we have approved. The PA Farm Bureau's opposition is the only reason Pennsylvania has not adopted Sunday hunting like the rest of the states surrounding us, and at this point, we believe the PA Farm Bureau is stealing our family's private property rights and persecuting us for our religion. I dislike saying these things, but the PA Farm Bureau's actions have put us in this position. You need to hear about the consequences of your actions.

How would you feel if you were in our shoes? I can answer for you.

You would feel terrible. You would feel like your fellow Pennsylvanians were oppressing you out of close-minded zeal, instead of making room for everyone to live happily here according to their conscience and free choices, as our state was originally founded. If you believe that the role of religion is to oppress, coerce, and deprive people, then you can guess why I eldered out of the Quaker faith decades ago. As I experienced then and now, too many Christians believe it is their duty to force others to live a certain way, instead of  demonstrating the correctness of their values and beliefs through their simple, gentle deeds and good living. That coercive behavior drives people away instead of bringing them closer, and the behavior of the PA Farm Bureau is driving me and many others far, far away from what you say your represent. If you are against other people enjoying Sunday hunting out of your own religious conviction about what is right for you, then you are shooting yourself in the foot, because you are setting a bad example by proving you believe in force, not love. Sorry to say. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,                                                            

Josh First

**As of publication. Josh has not received a response to his letter**

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

WHY SUNDAY HUNTING IS IMPORTANT

Derek's story - In a country where we are supposed to free. Hunting opportunities are held back.

Sorry, it took me a few days to respond but work keeps me very busy during the week. I will try and keep this short but informative. When I posted on your page I was actually enjoying a great morning archery hunting with my wife, whom I got into hunting about four years ago. Because of our busy schedules, we don’t get a lot of quiet time together. During the week she doesn’t get off work at 6 pm and has an hour commute. She gets home just after 7 pm, by the time we shower and have our dinner we are laying our heads down to start the next day over again. 

Come Saturday’s in the fall we are sitting next to one another in a tree stand hoping one of us gets a shot but never upset if we don’t. It’s just nice to spend time together in the woods. As many people know Pennsylvania weather is often unpredictable in the fall. So many times over the last year we have lost one or both of the hunts we are able to enjoy together during the one day [Saturday] we have an opportunity to hunt. I have found it extremely difficult to get a deer in range for my wife on one of the seven days we get to hunt together during the season. She was actually becoming somewhat discouraged until last year when she was able to harvest her first deer. 

My wife isn’t a gun nut so she only hunts archery. It’s disappointing to us both that we only got to spend one day a week in 2018 in the woods together hunting. In a country where we are supposed to be so free, we are having opportunities held back by people, many of them that don’t even hunt or understand it. 

Most of our hunting takes place at our cabin that is two hours away. To think we drive two hours every weekend to only get two hunts is very upsetting. How can we expect to get more kids and more people in general interested in hunting when our legislators are holding back opportunities. I hope this helps although I have all but given up hope for Sunday hunting in my lifetime. 

Derek
A disgruntled sportsmen