Hunters in Pennsylvania will have more opportunities to pursue in-season game as Sunday hunting becomes temporarily legal for three weekends in mid-November and early December. This move stems from a 2019 state legislation that permits limited Sunday hunting each year, marking a significant step toward lifting the state’s longstanding ban on Sunday hunting altogether.
Travis Lau, communications director for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, expressed optimism about a permanent change. “The bill that was making its way through the legislature here and up until recent weeks, when the session ended this week, had traction. It was moving,” Lau said. “But it did run out of time before the end of the session.”
The bill, which received unanimous approval in the House in June, stalled in the Senate before the session ended. It will need to be reintroduced in the next legislative session, starting in January.
Lau emphasized that allowing Sunday hunting could attract more participants to the sport. “If they don’t have enough time to get out in the woods, they’re less likely to buy a license,” he explained. “And over the years, that is a factor, most likely, in the long-term loss in hunters that we’re seeing, not only here in Pennsylvania but across the nation.”
Despite this progress, restrictions remain on hunting certain species on Sundays. Hunters are not permitted to pursue turkey or migratory game birds during the three Sundays allowed for hunting. According to Lau, this decision aligns with population management goals. “Providing more opportunity on a day of the week like Sunday would require shortening that season somewhere else,” he noted. “It would be a trade-off that hunters probably would not want to see.”
The current arrangement reflects efforts to balance expanded hunting opportunities with wildlife conservation concerns. With a possible statewide lift of the Sunday hunting ban on the horizon, many hunters and wildlife officials are closely watching developments in the upcoming legislative session.