Start of deer Hunting season changes

The game commission has changed the start of deer rifle season to the Saturday after Thanksgiving hoping that more hunters will participate and bring younger hunters into the sport.  Since 1963 deer rifle season began on the Monday after Thanksgiving. According to The Sentinel, the amount of hunters has gone down since 1982. There was a whopping 1.1million hunting licenses sold in 1982.  The number of hunting licenses sold has gone down, and PA has sold just under 900,000 licenses last year compared to previous years.

Michael McVitty, art teacher and avid hunter, said, “Yes, I am happy with the change, because as a teacher I would need to take an extra day off. Now I can hunt with my  family.” McVitty said, “It may help reduce the deer population as well.” Travis Barnes, former adviser to the Big Spring Hunting and Fishing club, said, “This will be beneficial for a lot of people especially for people who work five days a week and do not have a lot of vacation days. As a teacher I cannot take off work for hunting. This change is good and bad. The bad part about it is people who are not normally out on the first day will be out crowding the woods.  This change will not affect the deer population”. The deer population has a high number and this could be a problem, so by hunting,this could decrease the deer population and keep it under control.

Jacob Roseinberry, a student who hunts, said, “I have not been affected by the change. I have been hunting eighteen years, all my life.” When Richard Fry, Superintendent, was asked if the school calendar would change, he said, “The school calendar for next year, 2019-2020 has already been approved and communicated to our staff and community. As such, we are not considering any changes for next year. I’m not aware of any other school district in the area considering such changes as well.”