We intend to introduce legislation which will again set the first day of firearms deer season in Pennsylvania as the first Monday after Thanksgiving.
 
Currently, the first day of this season is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Recent activity of the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) suggested changing the opening day to the Saturday before Thanksgiving. What that proposal did was rekindle the absolute rejection of the current opening day among our constituents and throughout rural Pennsylvania in general.
 
The Saturday after Thanksgiving start date has had a devastating economic effect on rural businesses such as taverns, restaurants, small local grocery stores, gun shops, and volunteer fire departments. The traditions associated with going to hunting camps in anticipation of opening day created a concentration of economic activity unique to rural Pennsylvania. Rural businesses flourished and benefited from the economic bump needed to survive the winter. Virtually every volunteer fire department in rural Pennsylvania held special fundraising events oriented towards hunters. This concentration of economic activity has been diluted simply based on the choice which must be made between hunting time or Thanksgiving time.      
 
The PGC is charged with managing and protecting Pennsylvania’s wildlife resources. When decisions of that organization impact the livelihood of constituents, the issue is no longer simply wildlife management, it becomes an issue of economic activity which is a legislative concern.

It is time to move the first day of firearms deer season in Pennsylvania back to the first Monday after Thanksgiving to revive traditions long held by our sportsmen and women and invest, once again, in rural Pennsylvania. 
 
Please join us in co-sponsoring this important measure.