Jan 23, 2026 By Ben Moyer 4 min read

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is scheduled to meet at Commission headquarters in Harrisburg on Saturday, Jan. 24 to consider significant changes to the hunting season framework for the 2026-27 hunting year.

Foremost among potential changes is shifting the opening of firearms deer season one week earlier, to begin on Nov. 21, 2026, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

For the past six years, that “regular” deer season opener has occurred on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And prior to that, the Commission had followed a long tradition of beginning the deer season on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The Commission made the change from a Monday to a Saturday opener in 2019 to allow more people with work and school obligations to participate in the first day of deer season.

In an agency podcast titled “Call of the Outdoors,” Game Commission executive director Steve Smith said the proposed one-week shift to the Saturday before Thanksgiving would still allow for maximum participation while also avoiding some of the conflict resulting from the current season opener being only two days after Thanksgiving.

That conflict has sparked objections from many hunters who contend that it is difficult to share Thanksgiving with family and then travel, hurriedly, on Friday to be at their hunting camps in time for the current Saturday opener.

The potential change, however, is just that-potential. In an exclusive interview, Game Commissioner Dennis Fredericks of Washington County, who represents the state’s southwestern counties said the board of commissioners and agency staff would “follow the process” before any changes are made.

“Nothing has been decided either way, and if we (the board of game commissioners) do vote to approve this change, it would still need final approval in April,” Fredericks said. “We’re going to follow the process and listen to what our public wants before we decide when the 2026 deer season will open.”

That process is often misunderstood. To enact any such change, the Commission must first grant a proposal “preliminary approval.” That preliminary approval is the subject of Saturday’s vote in Harrisburg. If the Commission votes on Saturday to make the change, it still does not go into effect. The idea must win “final approval” at the Commission’s later meeting in April. During that interval between meetings, the Commission welcomes public comments from anyone in support or opposition to the change.

If the Commission votes down the earlier shift of the deer season on Saturday, the framework will most likely revert to the same schedule of recent years, with the deer season opening on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. In fact, commissioners will consider two different season frameworks on Saturday: one with the earlier shift of deer season, and one proposal following the current structure.

If the Commission does grant preliminary and final (not until April) approval to shifting the deer season earlier, that would require adjustments to other hunting seasons to avoid conflict.

The firearms bear season would be moved earlier to Nov. 14-17, and the late fall turkey season which has run for three days around Thanksgiving in some Wildlife Management Units would be eliminated.

Also, if the bear season runs a week earlier, Smith acknowledged some concern for a higher harvest of female bears, because females would be less likely to have “denned up” for the winter before an earlier hunt. To compensate for a possible higher take of females, the suite of changes would also reduce the earlier archery and muzzleloader bear seasons to two days.

The Saturday Commission meeting will be live-streamed on the agency’s YouTube channel beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Depending on the outcome of Saturday’s preliminary vote, the state’s deer hunters are expected to have strong, but diverse, reactions to the proposed change. Anyone can send comments directly to the board of game commissioners through the Game Commission’s website. Clicking on the box “Contact the Board of Commissioners” will take you directly to an email screen for submitting your opinion.

The Game Commission Board comprises nine members from across the state, appointed by the Governor and approved by the State Senate. Commissioners are volunteers who serve without pay. Their role is to formulate the agency’s over-arching policies toward hunting, wildlife conservation, and land conservation (state game lands). Paid staff carry out policy decided by the Board of Commissioners. The Pennsylvania Game Commission was created by an act of law in 1895.