PENNSYLVANIA STARTS A PROGRAM FO HELP HUNTERS
GAIN PERMISSION TO HUNT ON PRIVATE LANDS! By Anne Muller
Allow me to provide some context for the Clive Goddard cartoon that appears on Page 15:
As Mr. Goddard was researching hunting for C.A.S.H.’s next cartoon, he discovered a shocking article about a program to help Pennsylvania hunters gain permission to hunt on private land.
The Article appeared in GoErie and was written by Brian Whipkey, the PA Outdoors Columnist for GoErie.
The gist of the program is that Pennsylvania hunters can earn a “Master Hunter” certificate if they haven’t committed a hunting crime and can prove that they can shoot straight.
The game department confesses that, over the years, they have received complaints about hunters who fire in unsafe directions, fire too close to residences, ignore property lines, and litter.
To encourage property owners to open their lands to hunters, they feel that anyone who earns this esteemed certificate should be welcomed with open arms.
Further, the names of the hopeful hunters who earn the certificate will be put into a database, thus making it easy for the property owner to allow them on the property.
(We haven’t checked to see if renters would approve of the scheme or not.)
The PA Game Commission wants to get hunters out on private property to protect farmers’ crops, calling it a “win-win.”
They say it’s a win for the farmers who don’t want their crops eaten by deer, and a win for the hunters who want to access to those properties to “provide food for their families or to the communities.”
The game commission doesn’t mention that it’s their management of deer for hunting that has created any overpopulation of deer!
Working in tandem with the game commission, the PA Farm Bureau wants a program like this to help agricultural landowners to be able to connect with “ethical” hunters.
Additionally, a Farm Bureau representative would like the removal of the Sunday hunting ban.
Why is the Master Hunter program needed? They say “It comes down to communication.”
Over the years, the Game Commission has received complaints of safety zone violations, hunters hunting too close to residences, hunters not recognizing where a neighbor’s property starts, firing in unsafe directions, littering, traveling in vehicles across fields.
All of the above has rightfully caused property owners to post their property to keep hunters off their land.
The underlying lie is that The Game Commission is PRODUCING DEER FOR HUNTERS! THE GAME COMMISSION IS, IN FACT, THE CAUSE OF ANY DEER DEPREDATION OF CROPS!
The PA Farm Bureau, rather than playing ball with the Game Commission, should be suing PA Game Commission.
A wink and a nod is extremely costly to the loss of crops for food or ethanol, cruel to the wildlife, potentially dangerous to the families that are in harm’s way from hunters with high-powered weapons.
See Clive Goddard’s cartoon on Page 15.