Senator to Push Resolution for Deer Season Reform

A Democratic state senator is asking his colleagues to pressure the Pennsylvania Game Commission into revising its deer management plan. The issue of the whitetail management program has been contentious among hunters around the state.

Here is the press release touting the Senate resolution:

State Senator Richard A. Kasunic (D-Fayette/Somerset) today proposed Senate Resolution 300, calling for the Pennsylvania Game Commission to return to its past practice of holding separate doe and buck seasons.

“Over the last few years, many hunters approached me with one complaint, all of them are seeing fewer deer during season,” Kasunic said. “These hunters are deeply concerned with the Game Commission’s deer management plan and the decreasing population of deer throughout the Commonwealth.”

Kasunic said, a recent report showed that the state’s white tailed deer population dropped by 25 percent between 2005 and 2007. He said continuing the current management plan would only further reduce the herd.

“It is time for the Game Commission to listen to sportsmen in the field and ensure our wildlife resources — not only for this generation, but for future generations as well.”

“Hunting is a great Pennsylvania tradition,” Kasunic said. “The sport has a $4.8 billion annual economic impact. We need to take steps to protect the integrity of the sport by strengthening the deer herd.”

Kasunic said he hopes the resolution will send a message to the Game Commission members, ahead of their scheduled meeting next week, to put the knowledge and interests of sportsmen over the failed management theories currently in place.

The crossroads of politics and wildlife management is often one the provokes debate from many shareholders – biologists, hunters, wildlife watchers, and politicians eager to serve their constituents. Given that this is a resolution and has only recently been introduced, NRA has not published an opinion on the move at this time.

Senator Kasunic has previously been rated A+ by NRA and faces re-election this year.