Legislature should steer clear of managing deer
Recently, a group of so-called sportsmen has begun pushing for the legislature to do something to ensure that they have more deer to hunt. This is the same group that sued the Pennsylvania Game Commission last fall – and by the way, lost – costing taxpayers a bundle to defend against their lawsuit. The health of the forest ecosystem means little to these folks. What they want is to be able to go into the woods for an hour and kill a buck, any buck, with antler size not important. Our legislators, many who brought you the dead-of-night pay raise last session, have taken up the cause. No matter that they know little about wildlife management, nor for that matter about forest environs. Their constituents demand that they do something about the extinction of the deer herd by the Game Commission. To that end, here are a few of the bills they have introduced.
HB 1214: This ill-conceived piece of legismanipulation would reduce the terms of members of the Game Commission from eight years to four years. One of the reasons the terms were set at eight years was to keep the legislature from interfering in the necessary work of the commission, but it seems that they want to do just that. This bill was reported out of committee to the house by the vote of those serving on the House Game and Fisheries Committee.
HB 251: This would allow hunting within 150 yards of a feeding station- This is in the order of the greasing of wheels by some upstanding citizens who, while hunting at a property they lease in Lycoming County, were arrested for killing black bears over bait. It seems these poor misunderstood gentlemen didn’t know their club had placed the bait pile they were hunting close to. Sure, they didn’t. Of course, if one is not confident of his shooting skills, he might like HB 818, in which the minimum distance one must be from a baiting station would be reduced to 100 yards. This would have the effect of allowing hunters to hunt over bait, thus making it easier to kill that deer. These pieces of legislative trash needs to be sent to the place where the pay raise went.
State Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette) indicates that he will introduce legislation to repeal the entire deer management program, including antler restrictions. Apparently some of his constituents have not been as successful at shooting antlered bucks since the requirement was increased. Perhaps counting to three is the problem. No matter that the program has resulted in much-needed reduction in the overabundant deer herd that seriously damaged our forests. This would send us back to the policies that made Pennsylvania the leader in car/deer collisions and increased the population of deer so high they ate themselves out of house and home.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has had only two license increases in the past 20 years, unlike our legislators who get a pay raise every year. They are discussing limiting the terms of members of the Game Commission, when in my mind, they should be talking about term limits for themselves. If this is what their experience in Harrisburg gets us, I will take my chances with new and inexperienced legislators who don’t need to be campaigning for the next term the minute they get elected.
The true sportsmen of Pennsylvania support the Pennsylvania Game Commission in its quest for sound wildlife management. It is the responsibility of the commission to manage all of the wildlife of this state for the benefit of its citizens and to protect the environment. It is not their responsibility to make sure everyone has a deer to kill. It is, however, their responsibility to see that no game animal’s population becomes too large so as to stress the environment. Hunting is not supposed to be easy. Those of us that love hunting enjoy the challenge, and will adapt to a smaller but healthier deer herd. We don’t whine and complain. We go hunting instead.
George R. Naugle resides in Saint Thomas, Pa.