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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 26, 2013 11:06 AM |
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| From: | Representative David M. Maloney, Sr. |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Redesignating Wildlife Management Units and issuing antlerless deer permits on a county basis. |
| In the near future, I will introduce legislation that will designate each county as a separate Wildlife Management Unit (WMU), and issue antlerless deer-hunting permits according to each county-based WMU. For decades, this traditional county-based deer management system was successfully used toward making Pennsylvania one of the top deer-hunting states in the nation. The abolishment of this system for larger, multi-county WMUs little more than a decade ago was paralleled by reductions in the statewide deer herd as well as license-buying hunters. Returning to a traditional county-based system of WMUs and related allocation of antlerless permits will serve at least two important purposes. First, it will serve the interest of sportsmen by providing them with a readily understandable geographic designation of huntable areas. Many hunters have expressed confusion in understanding Game Commission regulations as they relate to large, multi-county areas with boundaries that follow roadways, waterways, and portions of county boundaries for intermittent distances. This change is important toward retaining hunters and returning as many of the over 170,000 hunters who have left our ranks during the past decade. Secondly, returning to a county-based system of WMUs and related antlerless deer management represents a more scientific approach to wildlife management. County-based WMUs permit more detailed and specific assessments of forests, forest health, and wildlife habitat within smaller geographic areas, and facilitate the application of responsible management methods for deer and other wildlife. Accordingly, this new legislation will serve the best interests of sportsmen and advance the science-based management of deer and other wildlife species. |
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Introduced as HB1724