Pennsylvania Game News - February 2017 - 37

COMMISSIONERS WORKING GROUP MEETING

Commissioners talk change
The commissioners at the
December working group meeting
discussed a number of possible
changes for the 2017-18 license year.
Some of them could be proposed
formally at the January meeting.
* The board indicated its support
for creating a pheasant-hunting
permit to help offset cost of the
pheasant propagation program.
The suggested cost of the permit,
which would be required to hunt and
harvest pheasants, would be $25 for
adults and $1 for juniors.
* The board discussed the
possible creation of a $10 state
game lands user permit that would
be required for snowmobile, horse
and bike trails.
* The board talked about moving
the statewide bear archery season
to the second-to-last week of the
statewide deer archery season.
* The board talked about shifting
Wildlife Management Units 5A and
5B to bucks-only hunting during
the first five days of the firearms
deer season.
* The board talked about opening
a conservative fall turkey season in
WMU 5B. Season-length changes
also were suggested for some
WMUs.
* The board talked about
reconfiguring WMU 4A and
surrounding WMUs so that all of
Disease Management Area 2 would
lie within WMU 4A, allowing for
better regulation of CWD rules.
* The board talked about changes
to Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas,
including a decrease to the size of
the Central Susquehanna WPRA, and
holding a youth pheasant hunt there.

FEBRUARY 2017	

Semiautomatic rifles discussed
New law enables board to regulate use.
The December working group meeting of the
Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners
was the board's first meeting since passage of a
new law that enables the board to regulate the use
of semiautomatic rifles and air rifles for hunting
and trapping.
The bill was signed into law Nov. 21, and the
board on Dec. 5 met at the Game Commission's
Harrisburg headquarters, discussing preliminarily
how this new law might be applied.
Changes allowing for semiautomatic rifles and
air rifles to be used in the hunting and trapping of
certain species could be proposed as soon as the
January meeting, to be held Jan. 29 through 31 in
Harrisburg.
No changes could be approved before the April
meeting.
At the working group meeting, Game
Commission staff presented the board with a
number of options to consider in making its
decision.
The board must consider which if any species
can be hunted with semiautomatic rifles or air
rifles, and consider enacting minimum caliber
requirements and magazine-capacity limits for
any species they might approve.
Staff did not make a recommendation to the
board about allowing for semiautomatic rifles or
air rifles, but noted 49 states allow semiautomatic
rifles to be used for at least some hunting purposes
and there's no evidence semiautomatic rifle use
has led to a decline in hunter safety.
Commissioners said at the meeting they'd
already received significant public comment about
the new law, and they anticipate even more in the
coming months.
Those comments will aid the board in making
its decision, commissioners said.
Comments are accepted by mail, and by email
to pgccomments@pa.gov.
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Pennsylvania Game News - February 2017

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