PA GAME FUND & PITTMAN AND ROBERTSON FUNDING. WHO SHOULD WE TRUST? POLITICIANS OR USFWS?

 

      WHO KNOWS BETTER?  THE POLITICIANS OR THE PEOPLE WHO HANDLE AND DISTRIBUTE THE FUNDING? 

It's time that the politicians start providing proof of their narrative regarding HB1300 and the money grab from the Pennsylvania Game Fund.  Our proof has been provided by the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen and comes directly from the agency that manages, handles, and distributes Pittman and Robertson Funding; the United States Department of the Interior

"Income derived from a lease or fee to property acquired, constructed, managed, maintained or produced using license revenue is also considered license revenue (50 CFR § 80.20). License revenue must be controlled by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and used only for the administration of the PGC (50 CFR § 80.10(c)).  If PGC loses control of license revenue or license revenue is used for purposes other than the administration of the PGC, the Service may declare your agency to be in diversion and ineligible to receive PR-Wildlife Restoration Program funding (50 CFR § 80.21)."

PUBLIC AND EDUCATION SERVICE REMINDER.....

The PA Clean Streams Fund was formed to assist agriculture and has nothing to do with hunter-conservation.  Pennsylvania's Clean Streams Fund was created with $220 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, and funds conservation programs including ACAP, designed to share the costs to farmers for farm management practices that reduce sediment in waterways, keeping the nutrients out of waterways, and on the farm to build soil

LETTER TO PA LEGISLATORS - I DON'T WANT TO WAIT ANOTHER 20 YEARS

 Submitted by Randy Stevens

Had a great couple of days hunting with the kids, Derrick Stevens Lyndsey Marie, and Brett Rote. It's been 20 years since Derrick, Lyndsey, and I spent time together hunting in Penns Woods.

Thanks for rekindling memories of the past and look forward to more time with you hunting in 

Penns Woods.

Thank you to the legislature for the passage of Senate Bill 147 but now it is time to pass Senate Bill 607. It just so happened that one of my kids, my son, only has off two weekends a month and if the opening weekend for whitetail here in Pennsylvania would not have opened when it did and he would've had to work, the opportunity for me to hunt with my son would've never happened.

I do not want to have to wait another 20 years of my life to have the ability to hunt with my kids and extended family members. It is time to get rid of this archaic blue law that prohibits hunting on Sunday with just a few exemptions in Pennsylvania.  It’s time to stop placating to the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and start listening to hunters on this issue.  It is time for the legislature to pass Senate Bill 607 and let the Pennsylvania Game Commission manage all of the 480 wildlife species here in Pennsylvania seven days a week every week of the year.

The opening weekend of whitetail deer rifle season was the best weekend for me in the last 20 years. Without the season opener on a Saturday and the ability to hunt on Sunday, I would not have been able to hunt with two of my kids. One is a schoolteacher and the other one only has off work two weekends a month. The corporate and labor workplace schedules are not commonplace Monday through Friday schedules in today's world.

If the opener for whitetail still would've been on Monday two of my kids and my son-in-law would not have had the opportunity to hunt together.  It just so happened that the opening day and the one Sunday of rifle season fell on my son’s scheduled weekend off.  I also had the ability to hunt with my son-in-law who is an electrician and very rarely does he have the ability to get off work because of his company's scheduled jobs.

Needless to say, I myself am self-employed and am an Allied health provider so it is very difficult for me to get off work. I used to have to take off work to hunt on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which would mean three days of not seeing patients and creating more of a backlog where my patients would have to wait.  But this year because of me being able to go back to work on Tuesday I only had to take off one day of not scheduling patients.

It is difficult for guys like me to understand what the problem is with passing a simple law like SB607.  We live in a society that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week conducting and participating in everything from politics to mail service.  But for some reason having the ability and opportunity to hunt on Sunday is something that you as the legislature believe you must control.  I and many others just don’t get it.  It is time to move SB607 and get it passed into law for guys like me and the many others out there.

Randy Stevens

Find your legislator here

REMINDER OF WHY WE ARE DOING WHAT WE ARE.

While watching TV my neighbor calls and asks if I’m home; his son Matthew wants to talk. Matthew knocks on the door, excited and nervous he comes in dressed in all his hunting gear. He had just shot his first deer with a crossbow and couldn’t find it and wanted to know if I would help him recover the deer.  

I get dressed in some suitable tracking clothes, grab a flashlight and head out.  As we walked up the road Matthew eagerly and hesitantly tells me the story of the hunt all while worried that he did something wrong because he has never taken a deer with a crossbow and didn’t know what to expect. 

We get to his spot, walk in, he shines the light and there is his deer. He spent the next 30 minutes showing me where he was, where the deer was, how quick it happened, how nervous he was and how he couldn’t hold the bow steady, where it ran, last blood, etc.  All the things that you expect from a young hunter.  The next few hours were spent showing him proper gutting, skinning and butchering techniques.    

His dad tried to take his excitement away because of being a smaller deer.  My response to Matthew; ignore your dad's comments, you just shot your first deer with a bow and should be proud and so should your dad. 

Wanted to pass this first hand story along for a reminder of why we are doing what we are. So when politicians such as Representative Keith Gillispie tell us that we need to do “damage control” we know why we must double down - so they, the politicians, can’t take these memories away from a young hunter like this. 

Kevin B. Askew, Executive Director

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