Game Commission considering new change to Mentored Youth Hunting program
After hearing from a lot of families that support the state’s youth hunting program, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners preliminarily approved changes to the Mentored Youth Hunting program that are much less dramatic than the original proposal.
Commissioners unanimously approved rule changes requiring bucks and turkeys harvested by youth younger than 7 year old who are enrolled in the program to be taken with a harvest tag provided by his or her adult mentor. The rule would apply to gobblers harvested during the spring season and requires final approval at the commissioner’s next meeting from April 9-10 in Harrisburg.
Buck and spring gobbler harvest tags would continue to be issued as part of the Mentored Youth Hunting permits to youth 7 through 11 years old and all Mentored Youth hunters would have to use harvest tags from their mentors to take doe and fall turkeys.
The original proposal that was before the commissioners at their Jan. 27 meeting would have prohibited youth in the program who are younger than 9 from taking deer and turkeys and limiting them to hunting groundhogs, squirrels and coyotes.
It was amended because the commissioners received a lot of emails and calls from parents and other adult mentors objecting to the change prior to the meeting and many parents voiced their opposition during the public comment session on Jan. 25, said Travis Lau, game commission spokesman.
“In some cases, entire families going up to the podium talking about their experiences and harvesting deer and how hunting has led their kids to becoming more responsible,” Lau said.
Many of the parents who have children under 9 told the commissioners that they have already taken them hunting and didn’t want that opportunity taken away, Lau said.
The amended proposal still addresses the primary reason the original proposal was drafted.
Wildlife conservation officers have encountered evidence and some hunters have complained about adults using Mentored Youth harvest tags as additional tags to take deer and turkeys for themselves, and the commissioners acknowledged those concerns, he said.
“This helps address that. There was enough of a concern to change the program” Lau said. “People out there who are doing it right won’t have an issue with the change.”
The commissioners do not believe there are safety issues involved with allowing children to use rifles and staff provided them with accident statistics proving that, he said.
In addition to the amendment, the commissioners directed staff to study adding rabbits to the game that youth in the program can hunt, he said.
In addition to deer and turkeys, youth can currently hunt squirrels, woodchucks and coyotes.
The Mentored Youth program began in 2009.
Mentored Youth and the adult mentor can possess only one sporting arm between them while hunting.
The adult mentor also must carry the sporting arm at all times while moving. Permits cost $2.70.