During yesterday’s meeting of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, a 6-2 vote is what resulted in a 2.2% reduction in the number of antlerless deer permits to be issued for next season. Some hunters voiced opposition saying the reduction is not big enough to bring back dwindling deer populations. At the same time, foresters and farmers were saying more permits should be issued. The 2.2% cut follows a 15% reduction last year. The fewer permits issued is an overall picture. In some wildlife regions, the number of permits to be issued has actually risen and in others they have gone down. This of course falls in line with deer populations and management plans.
The commission also opted to put off any vote on allowing the pre-historic weapon atlatl for use in deer hunting. They stated they wanted more time to study the issue and would like to send the matter to the law enforcement division for further study. The commission meets again in June.

It was also decided to approve the new measure to allow youth hunters of any age to hunt with a supervised adult and in what some had concerns about, it was voted to allow the youths to hunt deer beginning in 2007. There was some discussion a while back that the commission was not going to allow any big game hunting as part of the family hunting package approved by the Legislature.

Tom Remington

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