Saturday hunters
Change in deer season opener credited for reversing decline in hunting license sales
This year’s deer season opener is scheduled for Nov. 28, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. If the board had second thoughts about ending the Monday-afterThanksgiving tradition, those concerns were probably dashed by 2019-20 numbers showing an increase in hunting license sales after 30 years of decline.
At its Jan. 24-25 meeting, the board was presented with preliminary data showing license sales from July through December increased by 0.4%, which translates to 3,351 more licenses than in 2018. In total, 849,575 licenses were sold.
Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau said the reversal was minimal, but was good news considering that license sales dropped by 3.4% the previous year, reflecting a loss of more than 30,000 hunters. He attributed the shift to the Saturday firearm season opener.
“The sale of 2019-20 licenses will continue through June 30, so the final figure for the license year remains to be seen,” he said in an interview before the board meeting. ”But the fact that sales are positioned to increase and, to date, have increased, is positive news from the Game Commission’s perspective.”
Pennsylvania hunting license sales peaked at 1.38 million in 1982. Since then purchases have usually dropped, trending upward just 13 times in 36 years. Board members have been particularly concerned about a precipitous drop in hunting interest among young people.
The report showed sales among young adult hunters ages 18-34 had stopped dropping and, in fact, increased by 0.56% overall. In the week leading up to opening day, that group bought 20,242 licenses, an increase of more than 7% compared with 2018. Hunters ages 18-21 purchased 44,911 licenses, a 2.4% increase. In the seven days leading up to the opener, 5,311 licenses were purchased — an 18.4% increase compared with the previous year.
Coren Jagnow, Game Commission human dimensions scientist, said there was reason for optimism.
“It certainly seems a step in the right direction to reverse the long-term trend of hunter loss,” she said in her presentation to commissioners.
Two weeks ago, an independent report quoted business owners who said their shops suffered following the loss of the Monday opener last year. At the commission meeting, some hunters continued to speak against the Saturday start. Mr. Lau said they may be a vocal minority.
“One stat that gets thrown around claims 65% of the hunters opposed the change, but that’s simply not accurate,” he said.
The 2017 Deer Hunter Survey included an item that asked respondents to say whether they preferred to start the deer season on the
Saturday or Monday after Thanksgiving. “There was a 65 percent preference for Monday,” Mr. Lau said. “But that’s not a percentage of hunters opposed.
“In fact, I find the comment I hear most often from hunters is that it doesn’t matter to them whether the season starts on Saturday or Monday. There’s a good chance most of those surveyed have that opinion, too, yet those opinions don’t show up when they simply pick a preference.”
Tim Layton, president of the Board of Game Commissioners, acknowledged that the decision to move the 2019 opening day of deer season to Saturday had been difficult.
“Not everyone was in favor of the change, but most commissioners felt that after talking to the hunters in their districts, there generally was more support than opposition, and the change would enable more hunters — especially youth and young adults — to hunt on opening day,” he said in a statement.
“Now this idea seems to be backed up by increased license sales, which is extremely encouraging because, quite frankly, there hasn’t been a lot of positive news to report on that front in recent years.”
A final decision will be made at the next commission meeting in April.