Pennsylvania ends 152-year-old law banning hunting on Sundays
Deer hunting has only been allowed on three Sundays per year.
Oh, deer!
Pennsylvanians will soon be able to go hunting on Sundays.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a bill on Wednesday that removes a prohibition on hunting on Sundays, a move some advocates have waited decades for. The new law, which will become effective in September, allows the Pennsylvania Game Commission to control which Sundays are hunting days.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mandy Steele, a Democrat who represents part of Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania and got into hunting as an adult.
“Not being able to hunt on Sundays creates major hurdles for busy families,” Steele said on the House floor. “It’s a significant barrier for working people. It’s also an issue for farmers that are being financially crippled by crop damage.”
She said the “archaic blue law” is “not based in the reality of today.”
Hunting crows, coyotes, and foxes has been allowed on Sundays in Pennsylvania, but not deer or other creatures such as rabbits, turkeys, and black bears. The Sunday ban had been in effect since 1873.
The Sunday hunting ban was one of Pennsylvania’s old “blue laws,” which restrict certain behavior on Sundays. Ten other states ban or limit hunting on Sundays, according to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.
The state legislature took a step in 2019 to open up hunting on Sundays by allowing the game commission to permit it on three Sundays per year, including one during deer rifle season and one during deer archery season.
The bill to fully remove the Sunday ban on hunting first passed the Pennsylvania House on June 11 before the Senate made amendments to it, including getting rid of a measure for testing deer urine used as bait for chronic wasting disease.
The amended bill passed the Senate 34-16 on June 26 with bipartisan support and seven Democrats and nine Republicans opposing it. It then passed the House 142-61 with bipartisan support on June 30, with two Democrats joining a group of Republicans in opposition.
Supporters of the bill argued that restrictions on Sunday hunting are antiquated and get in the way of working families who can hunt only on the weekends or hunters who want to enjoy their sport. They contended that it can help control deer populations and, as a result, protect farmers’ crops and decrease collisions with motorists. They also argued that it can bring in revenue by encouraging more people to buy hunting licenses.
The game commission, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and various hunting groups supported the bill.
Those who opposed it argued that it would get in the way of others enjoying their Sundays outdoors. Rep. Greg Vitali, a Democrat who represents part of Delaware County and voted against the bill, said the Sierra Club, Keystone Trails Association, and Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation all opposed the bill because they were concerned about the safety and enjoyment of hikers, bikers, and fishers.
Sen. Cris Dush, a Republican who said his northern Pennsylvania district is the most rural in the state, proposed amendments to the bill that would prohibit hunting within state parks and forests on Sundays and also prohibit asking property owners’ permission to hunt on their land on Sundays, but the chamber rejected them.
State Sen. Lisa M. Boscola, a Democrat who represents part of Lehigh and Northampton Counties, said she supports allowing hunting on Sunday but could not support the bill because of concerns about chronic wasting disease.
“I wish I could vote for Sunday hunting this time … but once you added this and jeopardized our environment, there is absolutely no way,” she said.
Sen. Lindsey Williams, a Democrat from Allegheny County, said she believes that the law passed in 2019 was a good “compromise” and that Pennsylvanians should have “one day a week to be outside, safely in nature, without running into hunters.”
“I fear that the additional Sundays will be during the same time of year that my constituents are most excited to get outside,” she added.
But Sen. Daniel Laughlin, an Erie County Republican, argued that opening up hunting on Sundays will help hunters also be able to enjoy the outdoors. He said it’s “ridiculous” that hunting is not allowed on Sundays when other activities are, and argued that hunting is an important tradition in the state that is also good for the economy.
“On any Sunday in Pennsylvania, you can get up, you can go fishing, play baseball, football, enjoy literally any sport under the sun, or you could go to a liquor store, buy a half a gallon of whiskey, go to a medical dispensary and buy a bag of cannabis, and then you can go to the casino and do some gambling, but you can’t take a 12-year-old squirrel hunting on a Sunday in Pennsylvania because it’s not legal,” he said. “To me, that’s ridiculous.”