Pa. Senate approves bill to repeal Sunday hunting ban

A bill to fully repeal Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting passed the state Senate on Thursday.

The proposal, House Bill 1431, gained approval June 11 in the state House of Representatives. However, a provision to allow the use of natural deer urine as an attractant was amended in the Senate to remove requirements for testing to ensure it’s free of Chronic Wasting Disease.

Because of that change, another House vote is needed before the legislation goes to Gov. Josh Shapiro to be signed potentially into law.

The change would give the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners full authority to decide which Sundays are open to hunting. Pennsylvania long has had Sunday hunting opportunities for foxes, coyotes and crows. In addition, the Pennsylvania Game Commission in 2020 began allowing hunting on three Sundays for certain game species under legislation signed into law as Act 107 of 2019.

The bill, HB 1431, sponsored by state Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Allegheny, passed the House originally by a vote of 131-72. The Senate vote on passage was 34-16.

State Sen. Daniel Laughlin, R-Erie, championed the proposal Thursday on the Senate floor. He has proposed companion legislation, Senate Bill 67, that is similar to HB 1431 but which is still awaiting consideration by the full Senate.

“This brings us one step closer to ending Pennsylvania’s outdated restrictions on Sunday hunting,” Laughlin posted Thursday on Facebook, thanking both Steele and former Democratic Sen. Jim Brewster “for helping lay the groundwork” to get to this unprecedented point in the push to permit more Sunday hunting.

“This has been a top priority of mine since I first took office,” Laughlin wrote. “It’s about fairness, giving hardworking families the chance to hunt on Sundays, a day many have off but couldn’t enjoy hunting until now.”

Steele has touted support from the proposal from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the Game Commission and multiple hunter advocacy groups.

“When I delved into this issue, knowing how impactful Sunday hunting could be in families across this commonwealth, I began to understand that it’s not just busy families that are advocating for Sunday hunting, but it’s also our farmers who are being financially crippled by crop damage,” Steele said during a meeting June 3 of the House Game & Fisheries Committee. “It’s our wildlife biologists telling us that we need some Sunday hunting for herd management. And it is our forest ecologists that are seeing our great Pennsylvania woodlands decimated beyond repair by too large of a herd.”

The proposed change comes as the Game Commission this week opened sales of a record 1.3 million antlerless deer hunting licenses. Resident hunters are guaranteed one of these tags for their choice of one Wildlife Management Unit during the first round of sales that opened Monday and continue for three weeks until nonresident sales begin Monday, July 14.

Opponents of expanded Sunday hunting cite concerns about non-hunting outdoor enthusiasts having to share forest and field — and remember to wear blaze orange — during additional weekend hunting days.

Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith on Thursday thanked the Senate, Laughlin and Game & Fisheries Chairman Sen. Greg Rothman, R-Cumberland/Dauphin/Perry, for their work toward repealing the Sunday hunting ban — one of the last remnants of the state’s so-called blue laws.

“Thanks to their leadership and commitment, Pennsylvania hunters are now on the brink of gaining the opportunity to hunt on additional Sundays,” Smith said in a news release.