Camp culture for deer hunters suffered from new weekend season opener
On Nov. 28, at hunting camps across the state, hunters took advantage of the second opening of firearm deer season on a Saturday and the first-ever rifle hunt for deer on a Sunday. The full weekend of deer hunting marked a dramatic shift in hunting camp activities, routine and traditions, a culture that had been in place since the Pennsylvania deer opener was first scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving in 1963.
Camp culture has nothing to do with the biology of deer or their habits, and little to do with the actual hunt. It’s all about family time and social engagement in an outdoor environment, which together comprise much of hunting’s allure. Two seasons into the new schedule, hunting camp culture is still evolving.
“Well, I can tell you for most people it means less time at camp, less time with friends,” said Pete Kingsley of Strasburg, Lancaster County, who has hunted out of his Clinton County camp since 1969.
Prior to the first Saturday opener in 2019, Kingsley’s deer hunting routine began the day after Thanksgiving, when he’d open the camp and warm it for up to a dozen guests expected for the extended weekend. Friday evenings, the hunters settled in and got reacquainted over a camp dinner and a game of cards. Saturdays were spent in the Clinton County forest scouting for signs of deer and changes in habitat. Sundays included a drive into town. Some attended church services and everyone from the Kingsley camp participated in fire hall fundraising raffles and other events organized to attract opening-day hunters.
“On Monday everyone was excited. The kids were off school and we all knew our plans [for the hunt],” Kingsley said. “At some camps people went home Monday night, but at ours most of us stayed until Wednesday or Thursday unless we got our bucks.”
The new routine, he said, includes less time for camp camaraderie.
“We have [camp members] traveling 200 miles or more to get to camp, so now some are leaving home after Thanksgiving dinner. Others got there as early as they could Friday,” Kingsley said. “There wasn’t much time for scouting.”
Camp members were together Friday and Saturday evenings, he said, but hunting all day Saturday and Sunday squeezed out time in town.
“Those businesses that counted on hunters coming in on opening-day weekend are suffering,” he said. “The fundraising at fire halls and other places — no one’s coming in when they’re hunting all day Saturday and Sunday.”
Kingsley and a few others at his camp planned to remain throughout the first week, still hoping to get a shot, he said Tuesday, but many deer hunting camps statewide probably vacated after dusk Sunday.
Kingsley, vice president of Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, said resentment over the forced change to long-held traditions remains strong among many camp members. Martin Salinas, president of the Pennsylvania State Camp Lessee’s Association, said members of his group voiced concerns about social disruptions caused by the Saturday opener.
The decision to move opening day was all about the funding of wildlife management. In Pennsylvania, no state tax revenue is used to pay for research, manipulation and maintenance of wildlife populations, including nongame species. Wildlife management is financed by hunters.
Hunting license sales fund 40% of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s annual $100 million budget. The agency controlled a supplemental yearly reserve of about $50 million, which is decreasing. Most wildlife management funding comes from federal excise taxes on the purchase of guns and ammunition, a reapportionment of revenue based on hunting licenses sold per year, as well as leases on game commission properties.
In Pennsylvania, hunting license sales dropped from 969,692 in 1952 to 885,632 in 2017, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Commissioners have said they are concerned that without an increase in sales, the game commission may in time be unable to fulfill its charter requiring the agency to manage Pennsylvania’s wildlife.
Instituting a Saturday rifle deer opener was among several changes to increase hunting opportunities. Others are extended archery and muzzleloader seasons, expanded bear seasons and the September opening of squirrel season. Commissioners believe greater opportunity will attract and retain more hunters, increasing license sales.
The Saturday opener was always controversial. In license-holder surveys issued by the game commission in 2014 and 2017, responding hunters overwhelmingly opposed a Saturday start, most citing the loss of tradition. Prior to the change, commissioners said that in 2020 they would track hunter response through license sales, deer harvests and public comments. COVID-19 disrupted those plans.
“Outdoor activity is up and license sales are more than they were just a few years ago,” said Travis Lau, game commission spokesperson. “But we don’t really know where these sales are coming from because of COVID.”
From the start of the license year in July through December 2019, sales increased 0.4% to 849,575. Hunters scored the largest overall deer harvest in 15 years, a distinction the state game commission credited to hunting opportunities provided by the Saturday opening day. Kingsley said he’s not so sure.
“The [statewide] deer harvest was up last year because of extra opportunities, not just the Saturday opening but extended bow and muzzleloader seasons,” he said. “It could cut into the deer population to a degree.”
This year, despite early evidence that pandemic-related layoffs were providing more time to hunt, July-December sales held about steady at 850,820. Lau said the game commission will analyze the license sales and harvest, and suggested that COVID-conscious hunters may have reservations about traveling or sharing airborne particulates in a hunting camp.