CWD TEST RESULTS CONTINUE TO COME IN

Pennsylvania’s statewide deer seasons have come to a close, and within the next several weeks, final chronic wasting disease test results will return from deer harvested by hunters in the 2017-18 seasons.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission collects samples from deer harvested across the state and tests them for chronic wasting disease (CWD), as part of the agency’s ongoing CWD surveillance.

Within the state’s Disease Management Areas – where the disease has been detected in captive and free-ranging deer – intensified sampling occurs.

This past hunting season, the Game Commission offered free CWD testing for hunters harvesting deer within Disease Management Areas (DMAs). Free testing offered hunters a way to have their deer tested prior to consuming it, and it provided the Game Commission with additional samples to better pinpoint areas where the disease exists, so specific problem spots might be addressed.

Successful hunters within DMAs dropped off heads from more than 1,500 deer in the boxes. About 1,000 of these samples already have been tested for CWD, with the results reported to hunters.

Additionally, Game Commission staff collected more than 3,000 other samples within DMAs to test for CWD. In total, nearly 8,000 samples were collected statewide. Slightly more than 5,700 whitetails were tested for CWD in 2016; 25 tested positive, all were in or near DMA 2, the only area of the state where CWD has been detected in the wild.

At this time, 51 deer from the 2017-18 hunting seasons have tested positive for CWD. All have been within the DMAs. Forty-eight were within DMA 2, in southcentral Pennsylvania; and three were within DMA 3 in northcentral Pennsylvania.

But the majority of samples collected still are being analyzed.

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COMMISSIONERS TO DISCUSS 2018-19 HUNTING, TRAPPING SEASONS

The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners will hold its first quarterly meeting of 2018, from Jan. 28 through 30 at the agency’s Harrisburg headquarters.

On Sunday, Jan. 28, beginning at 1 p.m., the commissioners will hear public recommendations for 2018-19 hunting and furtaking seasons and bag limits. Doors will open at noon. Individuals interested in offering public testimony – limited to five minutes – may register on a first-come, first-to-speak basis.

On Monday, Jan. 29, the board will gather any additional public comments and hear Game Commission staff reports beginning at 8:30 a.m. Doors open at 7:45 a.m. Registration for those interested in offering public testimony – limited to five minutes – also will begin at that time.

PowerPoint presentations are not permitted during public comment periods.

On Tuesday, Jan. 30, beginning at 8:30 a.m., the board will take up its prepared agenda to, among other initiatives, give preliminary approval to hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits for 2018-19. Doors open at 7:45 a.m.

Antlerless deer license allocations for the 2018-19 seasons will be presented for the board to consider at its meeting in April. Harvest results from the 2017-18 deer seasons will be announced in mid-March.

The agenda for the January meeting is available at the Game Commission’s website.

Name change to take effect Jan. 1 will help the public to know all that these officers do.

For the first time in its 122-year history, the Pennsylvania Game Commission will call its law-enforcement officers “state game wardens.”

The change takes effect Jan. 1, 2018.

“The job titles previously used to describe our field officers – game protector and wildlife conservation officer – didn’t fully identify their unique and diverse responsibilities,” explained Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “The goal here is to more clearly identify our officers and their purpose. We believe ‘state game warden’ will help communicate this.

“In addition, this title already is well understood by the public,” Burhans said. “The word ‘warden’ is America’s oldest title for the men and women who serve wildlife in this capacity.”

Since the recodification of the state’s Game and Wildlife Code in 1987, field officers were titled wildlife conservation officers. Prior to that, they were called district game protectors. But neither title resonated with the public. Many never associated them with Game Commission officers.

Game wardens are known by many different titles depending upon the state wildlife agency for which they work. The titles reflect the varying sets of broad duties they fulfill. Most wardens share a basic duty to enforce the laws that regulate hunting, protect wildlife and the environment. However, their duties extend into education, research and a host of conservation programs.

For example, Pennsylvania game wardens coordinate and supervise Hunter-Trapper Education programs. They also represent the agency at conservation and sportsmen’s club meetings, respond to nuisance wildlife complaints, and deal with injured wildlife and suspected rabid-animal calls. Warden work also includes wildlife surveys, wildlife trap-and-transfer, field research and providing programs to civic groups and public schools.

“It was the variety of work, which has accompanied the position since game protectors were defined by law in 1895, that inspired the former titles our officers have had,” Burhans said.

While wildlife law-enforcement is a core responsibility, fulfillment of an officer’s full range of duties requires significant training and responsibility.

Burhans noted that the public often wonders what our game wardens do outside of the hunting season.

“There is no “off” season for our officers,” he said. “The breadth of responsibilities is what sets game wardens apart from other traditional law-enforcement professionals. Being a game warden requires a very unique person willing and able develop a diversity of skills in support of the agency.”

Burhans said renaming full-time agency officers ‘game wardens’ immediately will help the public know what these officers do.

It’s important to point out, though, that game wardens are sworn peace officers with statewide law-enforcement authority. They are highly trained and equipped as well as any police officer. They are expected to know and follow standards for protecting civil rights, gathering evidence that will hold up in court and prosecute violations of many different laws. 

“As one of the most familiar faces of our agency, it is critical that that game wardens are recognized for who they are and what they do,” emphasized Burhans. “Anything less is unacceptable.”

Courtesy PA Game Commission / www.pgc.pa.gov

Tree and shrub seedlings from the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Howard Nursery will not be offered for sale to the public in 2018 due to drastically low inventories.

Seedlings will continue to be supplied to participants in the Seedlings for Schools Program, as well as to landowners who open their lands to public hunting through the Game Commission’s Hunter Access Program, but there are too few seedlings to offer for public sale.

The Game Commission hopes to resume seedling sales to the public in 2019.

The existing seedling shortage is due to germination failure in a couple of conifer species.

The Game Commission’s annual seedling sale – a way to benefit wildlife statewide by improving habitat – has been popular with the public. Sales typically open in mid-January, and the variety of seedling offered varies from year to year.

Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans acknowledged many will be disappointed with the suspension of seedling sales to the public, but staff is working to build inventory in hopes the existing shortage will result only in a one-year layoff.

“And in 2018, Pennsylvania’s state game lands as well as the Seedlings for Schools and Hunter Access programs will continue to receive seedlings that make for better wildlife habitat statewide,” Burhans said.

Courtesy PA Game Commission / www.pgc.pa.gov  12/22/17