Pa. legislators ponder senior hunter antler restrictions and two hunting, fishing bills

Three bills that impact Pennsylvania deer hunters and anglers are starting to make their way through the state House and Senate.

The measures include reduced antler restrictions for senior hunters, extending the Fish and Boat Commission’s power to raise license rates 10 more years and allowing college students, living out of state, to hunt as residents.

Seniors and antler point restrictions

Legislation that allows senior hunters to be exempt of antler restrictions for adult hunters has received approval from the House Game and Fisheries Committee.

Created by Rep. David Maloney (R-130) in Berks County, House Bill 493, would exempt senior license holders, those 65 and older, from the antler point restrictions to shoot a buck. Adult hunters are now limited to shooting bucks that have at least three points on one antler. On the western fringe of the state, adult hunters need those three points on an antler to not include the brow tine.

The bill would allow senior hunters to have the choice to take a buck similar to what junior hunters are permitted to kill. That regulation is one antler at least 3 inches long or an antler with two points regardless of length.

Maloney said the change would allow older hunters to choose if they want to take a smaller buck or pass on it.

“Our senior members deserve the opportunity to make that choice,” he said during the June 28 Game and Fisheries committee meeting.

“As you are getting older, our sportsmen feel the cold," said state Rep. Jim Haddock, (D-Lackawanna and Luzerne). If you are in the wrong area, and if you are in the woods and you have a buck fly by you, it’s hard to count to three."

State Rep. David Delloso (D-Delaware) cast the only dissenting vote, saying legislators shouldn’t be legislating deer management. The Game Commission is doing a “decent or good job of maintaining our deer, herd and I just wanted to express that I have some concerns that we should be legislating deer herd management in the state.” The full House can now consider the bill.

Fish and Boat Commission license increases

The House Game and Fisheries Committee also advanced a bill to the full House to extend the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s power to set license and fee rates for an additional 10 years.

House Bill 1409, sponsored by state Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik (D-Allegheny), would give the agency the choice to set its fees and license rates through 2035. Kulik is the chair of the committee.

The agency won’t have full authority with its rates. The House and Senate’s Game Fisheries committees could choose to deny an increase by the Fish and Boat Commission if it's deem to be too egregious.

It would be an extension of a five-year pilot program that’s currently underway with the agency. This is the third of five years that the agency can consider raising the rates under Act 56 of 2020. The Fish and Boat Commission didn’t increase rates during the first year of the program but has approved rate increases for anglers in 2023 and 2024.

“It’s really kudos to the fish commission with respect to questions we had in the past, and they really partnered with us to make sure they weren’t too intense, the increases weren’t outrageous or some of them they have halved instead of what they really wanted. So there was some compromise there,” Maloney said.

State Rep. Thomas Mehaffie (R-Dauphin) said the Fish and Boat Commission has been responsible with its power to raise rates in the current five year plan. During the first year, the agency held off raising rates.

“It worked, it worked well. Complaints none,” he said. “You’ve (the Fish and Boat Commission) used this bill for the benefit of fishermen and boaters across Pennsylvania."

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Out-of-state college hunters

The Senate approved legislation on June 28 to include full-time out-of-state college students as resident hunters.

Sponsored by state Sen. Chris Gebhard (R-Lebanon, Berks and Lancaster), Senate Bill 344 would allow these students to purchase hunting license at the same costs as state residents.

Resident hunting licenses cost $20.97 while non-residents pay $101.97. Nonresidents also pay more for add on licenses like archery, muzzleloader, furtaker and bear seasons.

To be eligible for the residential rate, the student must show a valid state college identification card as proof of enrollment when applying for the license.

“I believe my bill would increase hunting license sales and potentially motivate out-of-state students to stay in Pennsylvania after college – or at the very least keep them coming back to our great state to hunt in the future,” Gebhard said in a news release.

The Fish and Boat Commission has a similar  program for fishing licenses. However, the Game Commission, which cannot set its own license prices, needs a legislative fix to implement the program.

Having received support in the Senate, the bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors,Twitter @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Antler restrictions for senior hunters, out of state college