Visitors to the Game Commission’s Facebook page are casting their votes in the agency’s third annual Turkey Harvest Photo Contest, and voting remains open through June 19.

Finalists have been selected in each the youth and adult categories, and voters can pick their favorites by “liking’ the images.

One winner in each category will receive a personalized, engraved box call from Top Calls, of Renovo, Pa.

The Game Commission received hundreds of photos of excited hunters with their 2019 Pennsylvania spring gobblers. Finalists were selected by a panel of judges and voting opened June 11.

Visit the Game Commission’s Facebook page to help select the winners.

Accident-free spring turkey season celebrated

Pennsylvania hunters had a perfect safety record in the recently completed 2019 spring turkey season.

No hunting-related shooting incidents were reported to the Game Commission during the month-long season. While years ago, it was common for hundreds of incidents to occur in a year, the total has dipped to about a couple dozen, thanks in part to the requirement for all first-time license buyers to complete a Hunter-Trapper Education training course. Administering the course wouldn’t be possible without a dedicated team of Hunter-Trapper Education instructors, who volunteer their time to teach it.

At a time when state legislators are considering expanded Sunday hunting opportunities, and opponents have raised questions about hunter safety, the accident-free spring turkey season is something to note, and something of which all hunters can be proud.

Courtesy of Pennsylvania Game Commission

HUNTER EDUCATION – George Sullivan

6/8/19 Midland Club 9:00am – 4:00pm

6/15/19 Pine Run 9:00am – 4:00pm

8/24/19 Pine Run 9:00am – 4:00pm

9/7/19 Concord United Methodist Church 9:00am – 4:00pm

9/14/19 Gobblers Knob Hunting Preserve 9:00am – 4:00pm

9/23/19 & 9/24/19 Ambridge Club 5:30pm – 9:00pm

9/28/19 Aliquippa Club 9:00am – 4:00pm

11/7/19 & 11/ 8/19 Concord United Methodist Church 5:30pm – 9:00pm

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, the State Senate Game and Fisheries Committee approved Senate Bill 147, legislation which would give the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners the authority to regulate hunting on Sundays.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission supports this legislation that would give the agency the authority to determine for which species Sunday hunting should be lawful. The legislation approved must pass the full Senate, the House of Representatives, and be signed by the Governor before it could become law.

The current prohibition on Sunday hunting is in state law, and the Game Commission does not have the authority to change it without legislative action. Please contact your local state representative and/or state senator on this topic.

Link to Senate Bill 147

Hunting hours during the April 20 youth hunt, and from April 27 to May 11 of the statewide season begin one-half hour before sunrise and end at noon. Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1 p.m. during those periods. From May 13 to May 31, hunting hours begin one-half hour before sunrise and end one-half hour after sunset.

2018 – 2019 Turkey Seasons & Regulations

Senate Bill 147, sponsored by Senator Daniel Laughlin, would expand hunting opportunities for Pennsylvania hunters by eliminating the prohibition against hunting on Sundays. Prohibitions on Sunday hunting are old blue laws left on the books in just a few states.  They deny hunters access one day per week despite the fact that each year, hunters pump millions of dollars into habitat restoration and conservation through Pittman-Robertson funds.

Many hunters are prevented from introducing their children or friends to hunting because they are competing against organized sports and other activities on Saturday, which is currently their only opportunity to hunt outside of the work or school week.  Countless hunters stop hunting because of the lack of opportunity, both in time and accessible land.  The addition of an extra day in the field, especially on the weekend, increases the opportunity to enjoy our hunting heritage.  Allowing hunting on Sundays will invigorate essential hunter recruitment and retention efforts.

Your NRA-ILA will continue to keep you updated on this important pro-hunting legislation as it progresses in the legislature.

Courtesy of NRA-ILA  Institute for Legislative Action

As the statewide deer seasons kick off, hunters will have their first opportunity to recover big game they’ve shot by tracking the animal’s escape trail with a leashed dog.
Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this year signed into law a bill that allows for the use of leashed tracking dogs to recover big game that cannot be recovered by hunters.
The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Mario M Scavello, provides another choice for hunters who have shot and inflicted injury on a white-tailed deer, black bear or elk, but lose the trail.
“This law will provide greater recovery of big game shot by hunters,” noted Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “Trailing big game can require specialized tracking skills, especially after nightfall. And if it’s a warmer night, or rain is approaching, every minute matters. Within a few hours, downed big game might spoil.”
Scavello’s bill recognized and championed the need for properly trained and controlled tracking dogs.

This simple and humane change in law is of great benefit to both our hunting community and some of Pennsylvania’s most-valued natural resources, white-tailed deer, black bears and elk, Scavello said.
Big-game hunters may use tracking dogs to recover big game in the 2018-19 seasons. Dogs cannot be used to locate big game unless an animal has been shot.
It’s important to remember that the new leashed tracking dog language to the Game and Wildlife Code really doesn’t change how hunters can track wounded big game, said Randy Shoup, Bureau of Wildlife Protection director. The only difference is the tracking dog.
During hunting hours, big game can be tracked with a sporting arm, which can be possessed only by the hunter. After hunting hours close, a sporting arm cannot be used to dispatch downed big game. This includes Sundays and the day after season closes.

In addition, hunters tracking big game after hours, or on Sundays are asked to contact the Game Commission region office serving the county where the animal will be tracked, to alert the local state game warden of the recovery effort. It’s possible the game warden might accompany the tracker.
During tracking, the hunter and the tracker (dog owner) must be licensed for the big game being tracked and meet the season’s florescent orange requirements. In addition, the longstanding expectation for hunters, and now trackers, to respect private property boundaries remains in place.
Trackers do not register with and are not certified or licensed by the Game Commission. Trackers might charge for their services, but the Game Commission will not resolve differences between trackers and hunters. Commercial activity on state game lands is prohibited so tracking dog owners cannot charge for their services there.

MEDIA CONTACT: Travis Lau – 717-705-6541

COURTESY OF PA GAME COMMISSION

Watch the 9-minute film

Between 2001 and 2005, the ruffed grouse population suffered a 63 percent decline in Pennsylvania. No one was sure why but in 2015 through 2016, Game Commission biologist Lisa Williams and her team confirmed their suspicions about Pennsylvania’s state bird being affected by the West Nile Virus (WNV).

Grouse chicks were hatched from eggs gathered in the wild, and then inoculated with WNV. Within the first week 40 percent of the chicks died. After two weeks, an additional 40 percent of the chicks showed so much organ damage that they probably could not have survived in their natural environment.

After the challenge study was completed, the laboratory findings were then tested on wild grouse in Pennsylvania by looking for WNV-positive antibodies in harvested grouse. This testing is the first of its kind where lab results were then tested in wild populations.

Williams rallied hundreds of hunters across the state to send in blood samples when they harvested a grouse during the hunting season. Game Commission pathologist Justin Brown and their research partners at Colorado State University and the University of Guelph then did the careful lab work to assess WNV exposure in wild grouse. By incorporating these findings into habitat management planning, the Game Commission and partners hope to direct habitat management efforts to areas where grouse populations have the best chance of responding.

Williams’ research then caught the ear of one of the Game Commission staff filmmakers.

Game Commission filmmaker Tracy Graziano, armed with her Canon C500 and Final Cut X editing program, set out to tell Williams’ story that continues to unfold even today. Graziano completed the 9-minute documentary in late January 2017 after 18 months of shooting and countless hours in the field. She has been with the agency for eight years but has been creating science and wildlife documentaries since 1999.

“The most rewarding thing I can hope for in any of my film projects is to help influence change for the benefit of wildlife and conservation,” said Graziano.

“With more than 27,000 YouTube views to date, I believe the ‘Ruffed Grouse’ film was critically important in raising awareness among hunters about the risk of WNV to grouse and is one of the reasons other state wildlife agencies started looking into WNV as a contributing cause of decreasing grouse populations,” Lisa Williams said.

Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans concurs.

“Lisa Williams’ research into the ruffed grouse population decline in Pennsylvania is cutting-edge science-based wildlife management,” Burhans said. “Documenting these important findings by using the latest technology by skilled filmmaker Tracy Graziano so others can learn and benefit exemplifies why the Pennsylvania Game Commission is at the forefront in modern wildlife management.”

“Ruffed Grouse” won awards from the following:

• The University of Idaho Fish & Wildlife Film Festival 2017, Idaho, “Natural History Documentary-Short” category
• American Conservation Film Festival 2017, West Virginia, Official Selection “Conservation Film Short” category
• Wildlife Conservation Film Festival 2017, New York, Official Selection “Wildlife Conservation” category
• FIIN 2017, Portugal, Official Selection “Films of Nature” category
• NatureTrack Film Festival 2018, California, Official Selection “Conservation” category
• Outdoor Film Festival 2018, Utah, Official Selection “Categories by Species”

This past July, the “Ruffed Grouse” film was recognized with its most recent award at the Association for Conservation Information (ACI) conference in Springfield, Missouri. The film took third place in the 2018 “Video Long” category.

ACI is a professional organization that recognizes excellence in educational work completed by state and federal fish and wildlife agencies across North America.