Sentinel photo by ANTHONY FIUZA Scott Pierce, owner of Dan Pierce Outdoor Shop, helps a customer check out Tuesday morning.

Outdoor shop owner shares insight on new hunting bill

LEWISTOWN — As area hunters gather their guns and hunting equipment for the upcoming fall season, they’ll have an extra opportunity to add to their harvest.

On July 28, the Pennsylvania Game Commission approved hunting for 13 Sundays this year, which ranges from Sept. 14 through Dec. 7. On these Sundays any game can be hunted that’s in season.

Governor Josh Shapiro signed the bill back on July 9. House Bill 1431 was introduced by Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Allegheny, and it fully repealed the ban on Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania. It also authorized the Pennsylvania Game Commission to provide additional Sunday hunting opportunities.

Now that hunters are able to spread out their schedules a little more this fall, local shops might see an uptick in profits.

“It’s not going to hurt our business, giving people more access to public ground,” Scott Pierce, owner of Dan Pierce Outdoor Shop, said. “In their scheme of things it’s going to give more people hours in the woods which should give us more opportunity to service customers.”

Even though some folks may be against Sunday hunting, there’s no denying that the bonus day will allow huntsmen to save themselves a big trip and stay in their neck of the woods.

“It was a matter of time before this happened, good or bad, however you feel about it. States around us, New York, Ohio, Maryland they’re all doing this. We had people leaving Pennsylvania to hunt in the other states because it gave them a weekend to hunt that they couldn’t do in their own backyard,” Pierce explained.

The Sunday ruling scrapped one of Pennsylvania’s last remaining “blue laws” which started back in the 1700s. Pierce thought it was surprising the ban on Sunday hunting didn’t change sooner.

“Yeah in a way it was. We have a fairly big population that are traditionalists and they just never hunted Sunday and they didn’t want it to happen. A lot of people didn’t want them to change it from a Monday opener to a Saturday opener. So change is not easy for a lot of us,” Pierce noted.

In 2019, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was announced as the opener for rifle deer season. This ended a tradition where Monday was typically the opening day for the hunt.

With fall season around the corner hunting enthusiasts have the option to get outside and make the most of another opportunity to showcase their skills on state game lands. Whether people like or dislike Sunday hunting, the topic at least hydrates the water cooler discussions for those interested.