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GAME COMMISSION PRESENTS TESTIMONY ON LICENSE FEE INCREASE BILL

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS, Crawford County - Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today delivered testimony before a Senate Game and Fisheries Committee in support of Senate Bill 1527, sponsored by state Sen. Charles T. McIlhinney Jr. (R-Bucks), who chairs the Senate committee.



Under Sen. McIlhinney's bill, the following increases and decreases would be made to the present license fee structure, which was last changed in 1999:



- Resident adult hunting license would increase from $20 to $26 beginning July 1, 2009; to $31 beginning July 1, 2012; and to $36 beginning July 1, 2015;



- Resident antlerless deer license would increase from $6 to $13 beginning in July 1, 2009, and to $16 beginning July 1, 2015;



- Resident migratory game bird license would increase from $3 to $6 beginning July 1, 2009;



- Nonresident adult hunting license would increase from $101 to $151 beginning July 1, 2009;



- Nonresident junior hunting license would decrease from $41 down to $6 beginning July 1, 2009; and



- Nonresident junior combination hunting license would decrease from $51 down to $9 beginning July 1, 2009.



Additionally, Senate Bill 1527 proposes to reduce the number of consecutive days of service Pennsylvania National Guard and Reservist members would have to serve from 180 days to 60 days in order to qualify for reduced license fees.



"Toward the end of the 19th century, a group of conservation-minded sportsmen approached the General Assembly with a novel idea: create an independent agency to restore and protect the Commonwealth's wildlife," Roe said in his prepared testimony. "From this idea came the Pennsylvania Game Commission which for more than 110 years has managed, protected and conserved the Commonwealth's wild birds and mammals, while promoting this state's rich hunting and trapping heritage.



"When the Commission was first established it received a few hundred dollars from the general fund to finance its operations. This soon proved to be inadequate and the Commission and sportsmen organizations again came together and petitioned the legislature to create a hunting and trapping license and to designate that revenue from the sale of those licenses would help fund the Game Commission. This was by no means a non-controversial topic, in fact, in 1913 one of the first Commissioners wrote to the governor of the Commonwealth, and pleaded, 'Give us a resident hunter's license law and I will die happy.'



"While I do not intend to resort to similar pledges, we are essentially asking for the same thing that our predecessors asked for 95 years ago- adequate funding for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.



"Senate Bill 1527, sponsored by Chairman McIlhinney, will provide funding that the Commission desperately needs and I thank Chairman McIlhinney for his leadership in introducing this legislation. I know from discussions with Chairman McIlhinney that his intent was to structure the legislation in such a way as to not place a burden on license buyers, but at the same time provide proper funding for the Commission. I believe Senate Bill 1527 strikes that balance.



"The increase in hunting license fees set forth in Senate Bill 1527 will still provide an enormous bargain for our state's hunters. The chart behind me demonstrates what Pennsylvania resident adults pay for their basic hunting license and state migratory game bird license in comparison to what resident adults in various other states pay for the same hunting privileges. Furthermore, while many of these other states provide general funds for their wildlife agencies, in Pennsylvania state taxpayers do not contribute to the Commission- only our hunters and trappers. As you can see by the current chart, with the completion on Senate Bill 1527 the cost to the Pennsylvania Hunter in 6 years is still lower that all the other states but two. There is no doubt in my mind that the other states will raise their fees in the next six years making Pennsylvania still the cheapest license.



"It has been almost 10 years since the Commission received its last license increase and our record over this time demonstrates the extent to which the Commission has worked tirelessly to fulfill our mission of managing wildlife and providing opportunities for hunting and trapping. In the past ten years, the Commission has done much for the 465 species of wildlife entrusted for our care. The key to all wildlife is the habitat that supports them. We have continuously increased habitat development on state game lands. Although we are short almost 30 food and cover employees, we continue to look for ways of maximizing that effort. We coordinate and receive support from state organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited to partner with us to develop habitat. These organizations as well as local sportsmen's' groups have helped, but they face the same fiscal challenges that we do. However, all that work is not enough. Since 80% of the land in the Commonwealth is in private hands we introduced a private lands habitat program a couple of years ago and we have completed almost 350 plans for private landowners. This program was funded through a federal grant, but the funding needs to be permanent.



"The second half of the equation for providing habitat involves acquiring and managing our Game Lands. In this regard, over the past 10 years the Commission has been aggressive in adding lands to our State Game Land systems. The Commission also created 11 new State Game Lands throughout the Commonwealth in counties such as Clinton, Northumberland, Lycoming, Centre, Indiana, Columbia, Schuylkill, Berks, Huntington, York and Clarion. It has added major acreage in five other counties. All told the Commission has acquired approximately 55,000 acres since our last license increase, which has brought the total amount of State Game Lands acreage to over 1.4 million. Our State Game Lands are managed for wildlife and provide models for habitat management.



"The habitat efforts combined with species management programs have netted many successes in the past ten years. From bald eagles and peregrine falcons to fishers and otters reintroduction programs have been key to bringing back native species to the state. The management of 465 species is demanding and we need to spend more time and effort on species that we do not hunt. They are the species that contribute to wildlife watching that is the fastest growing outdoor activity.



"While habitat and species are critical part of our challenge we do not forget our responsibility to the great hunting and trapping heritage of Pennsylvania. In the past ten years we have moved forward many initiatives for hunters and trappers. The Commission has:



- Held the Commonwealth's first bobcat season in approximately 40 years;



- Held the first elk season held in the Commonwealth in approximately 70 years;



- Created a three-day special firearms antlerless deer season for juniors and seniors, disabled persons, and Pennsylvania residents serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Services;



- Established a week long muzzleloader season for antlerless deer;



- Established the first regional bear season in addition to three-day statewide season;



- Created an archery-only bear season;



- Implemented a special youth pheasant season and a youth turkey season;



- Authorized the use of a crossbows in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D during any established deer season, as well as statewide during the elk and bear seasons;



- Implemented a Deer Management Assistance Program to ensure that hunting remains the first option for landowners attempting to manage deer on a more localized basis;



- Authorized the use of a second spring gobbler tag;



- Extended hunting hours by a half-hour past sunset;



- Eliminated the florescent-orange requirement for spring gobbler hunting; and



- Approved the use of cable restraints for trapping coyote and foxes.



"But of all the changes the Commission has adopted over the past 10 years, I believe the most important accomplishment is the mentored youth program which the Commission launched in 2006. As we enter the third year of the program, youth under the age of 12, now have the opportunity to spend time afield in pursuit of woodchucks, squirrels, spring gobbler and antlered deer. And at its June meeting, the Board of Commissioners gave unanimous approval to add coyote hunting to the list of species that mentored youth hunters can now pursue.



"On a personal note, there are few things I value more from my tenure as Executive Director than the countless stories from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, thanking the Commission for this program which allows them to introduce their youth to hunting at an early age and helps build memories that will last a lifetime. And I would be remiss if I did not thank Senator Robert D. Robbins (R-Mercer), who is in attendance today, for his leadership in helping to pass the legislation which authorized the Commission to implement the mentored youth program. Thank you, Senator.



"But of course, any discussion of the Game Commission's record over the past 10 years would be incomplete without discussing whitetail deer.



"In 1947, an editorial in our monthly-publication, the PA Game News included the following quote: 'The White-tailed deer is today Pennsylvania's most striking game animal. At the same time, it is also the Commonwealth's most complicated game problem.' Sitting here today, over 60 years later, I don't believe anyone in attendance would disagree with that statement.



"While no one would argue that there are fewer deer today than there were 10 years ago, it is also undisputable that the deer herd of today is more in-tune with what the habitat can support and is older and healthier. Also the habitat is responding to the reduced deer populations, and we are now seeing growth of tree and plant species which are necessary for deer, and all wildlife, to survive.



"But as we look forward to the next ten years, there is reason for hunters to be optimistic. The initial herd reduction phase of our plan was completed three years ago, with the exception of the Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In the remaining Units we are managing to keep the population stable, and beginning this year we are increasing the herd size in three of the WMUs. It is our goal to increase the herd within the other Units when the habitat, herd health and deer human conflict goals are met.



"In sum, deer management is an ever changing and evolving process. Just like the deer population of today differs from the deer population of 10 years ago, the deer population 10 years from now will look different than it does today. And we are confident that the short-term discomfort that the plan has caused for our hunters in the form of lower deer numbers will be outweighed by the long-term benefits we experience in the years to come and - more importantly- which we pass onto our future generations.



"While I have spent the past couple minutes talking only about deer, the reality is that deer are only one of the species that the Commission is responsible to manage. As a result of our efforts in the past 10 years, the number of black bears being harvested has been record-breaking. Wild turkey hunting continues to be exceptional. Grouse hunters are reporting an increase in population size. And for those fortunate enough to be drawn for an elk license or bobcat permit they have an opportunity which previous generations never experienced.



"Although we have been able to accomplish many things in the past 10 years, it is not nearly what we wanted to accomplish or what is designated in our strategic plan. Our challenge continues to be to address the demands of the public for service with the limited resources that area available. As an independent agency we are unique in the sense that we receive no appropriated money from the general fund. Consequently, we operate like a private business on the revenue side. We estimate what our revenues will be for the year, and then adjust accordingly throughout the year if revenues are short of expectations. I don't know of any private business that is still in business selling its products at 1999 prices.



"In addition to being limited to 1999 selling prices we do not get to control our required expenditures. As an example, our labor costs have increased almost 40 percent since 1999. At the end of the current contract our personnel costs will have increased by almost $10 million annually from June 2007 and will surely increase in the next contract. Gas was $1 a gallon in 1999 and so far this year it crested at $4 a gallon. Fertilizer went up from last year's cost of $490 a ton to $800 a ton in one of our regions. Our costs for in lieu of taxes is $1.7 million. Payments to other state agencies for services is $1.6 million. We do not control many of our costs as they are mandated by state contracts. Basically we are trying to run a business where costs have increased considerably with a revenue stream based in 1999.



"All of these increasing costs are outside of our control and leave us with the choice of cutting or eliminating programs and services. In our effort to keep our expenditures in line with revenues we have been forced to cut millions of dollars from our operating budgets. We have cut back on purchasing new equipment, suspended important wildlife research, reduced program and project budgets, been forced to temporarily close some of the rifle ranges on our Game Lands, allowed vacant positions to go unfilled and, in some cases, eliminated services altogether. We have been forced to drastically cut patrols by our conservation officers and wildlife biologists, as well as the habitat improvement work of our food and cover crews.



"Some have said we can cut more trees. However, that is limited by the number of people available and the market. We continue to treat the same number of habitat acres on an annual basis, however, the funds received for that habitat work fluctuates considerably. For two years we received revenues about 25 percent higher than anticipated based on market values and that has helped us survive over the previous two years. Today those same habitat treatments are bringing in considerably less revenue than anticipated. Black Cherry and Sugar Maple are down 30 percent and red oak is down 50 to 60 percent. Others reference the Marcellus Shale as the savior for everything the state needs. We would like to brief you separately on our gas program as it relates to the Marcellus Shale. It is not as simple or as lucrative as others may lead you to believe.



"Understanding our fiscal situation we have not been passive about finding alternative sources of revenue. We have established the Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation located in State College that has assisted with grants for habitat development and our Seedlings in the School Program. We have worked with Legislators for alternative funding such as a portion of the state sales tax. We have suggested a cost of living indexed hunting license so there would not be a perceived burden on the sportsmen and women when licenses increase.



"Everyone knows that we cannot continue indefinitely on 1999 revenues. I believe there is general support from the hunting and trapping community for an increase in license fees. In reality the cost of the license is the cheapest part of the hunting experience. It is cheaper than a box of shells, cheaper than a tank of gas and cheaper than almost any other form of recreation. A recent study by Responsive Management on the Future of Hunting and shooting Sports stated that 'costs and expenses related to hunting are not a major dissatisfaction or constraint on participation.' The modest proposed increase in license fees that support a $3 billion industry and provides $214 million in state and local taxes seems like a simple task to me.



"Senate Bill 1527 is vital to ensure that we can continue to provide the services for our hunters and trappers and the general public. I believe that the Game Commission and sportsmen of this state have come too far over the past 110 years to compromise our outstanding wildlife conservation programs over the need for revenue enhancement."

Tags: PA Pennsylvania Game Commission License Fees

NEW YEAR UNDERWAY FOR MENTORED YOUTH HUNTING PROGRAM

 

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today reminded experienced hunters, who have historically helped pass along the state’s rich hunting heritage, that the new license year means another year to begin introducing youths to hunting through the Mentored Youth Hunting Program (MYHP).

 

“Pennsylvania’s hunters have a remarkable opportunity to introduce those under the age of 12 to hunting,” Roe said.  “Hunting is deeply woven into the cultural fabric that is Pennsylvania, and it is important that we recruit new hunters to carry on this tradition.”

 

Roe noted that the logic behind the Mentored Youth Hunting Program is simple and clear: create expanded youth hunting opportunities without compromising safety afield.

 

“This program paves the way for youngsters to nurture their interest in hunting early and allows them to take a more active role in actual hunting while afield with mentoring adults,” Roe said.  “The program accommodates hands-on use of sporting arms and can promote a better understanding and interest in hunting and wildlife conservation that will help assure hunting’s future, as well as reinforce the principles of hunting safely through the close supervision provided by dedicated mentors.”

 

Under the program, a mentor is defined as a properly licensed individual at least 21 years of age, who will serve as a guide to a youth while engaged in hunting or related activities, such as scouting, learning firearms or hunter safety and wildlife identification.  A mentored youth is identified as an unlicensed individual less than 12 years of age who is accompanied by a mentor while engaged in hunting or related activities.

 

The regulations require that the mentor-to-mentored youth ratio be one-to-one, and that the pair possesses only one sporting arm when hunting.  While moving, the sporting arm must be carried by the mentor.  When the pair reaches a stationary hunting location, the mentor may turn over possession of the sporting arm to the youth and must keep the youth within arm’s length at all times.

 

The species identified as legal game for the 2008-09 license year are woodchucks (groundhogs), squirrels, spring gobbler and antlered deer.  At its June meeting, the Board of Game Commissioners gave unanimous approval to add coyote hunting to the list of species that mentored youth hunters can pursue.  For the addition to take effect, the proposal must be approved at a subsequent meeting of the Board.

 

Those youths participating in the MYHP are required to follow the same antler restrictions as a junior license holder, which is one antler of three or more inches in length or one antler with at least two points.  The program also requires that both the mentor and the youth must abide by any fluorescent orange regulations, and that the mentored youth must tag and report any antlered deer or spring gobbler taken by making and attaching a tag that contains his or her name, address, date, WMU, township, and county where it was taken.  The youth must submit a harvest report card, which is available on page 33 of the 2008-09 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, within five days for any antlered deer or spring gobbler he or she takes.

 

For more information on the program, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on “Mentored Youth FAQs” in “Quick Clicks” box in the upper right corner of the homepage.  Information also is included on page 15 of the 2008-09 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, and a sample harvest tag can be found on page 33 of the Digest.

 

To continue hunting once a youth reaches the age of 12, they will need to and pass a basic Hunter-Trapper Education course and purchase either a junior hunting license or a junior combination license.  For a listing of HTE courses, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on the “Hunter Education” calendar in the right-hand column of the homepage.

Tags: Hunting Youth Mentored Hunt Kids Children

A new way to look at an old deck of cards.

Here is a new way to look at a deck of cards!!

Deck of Cards

It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.

The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.

As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.

Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren 't you with the rest of the platoon?"

The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord."

The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards."

The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country,

I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards."

The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?"

"You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God..

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments

The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.

The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.

The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.

The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.

The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.

The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.

The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.

The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary

The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.

The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Each suit has thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for."

The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?"

Please let this be a reminder and take time to pray for all of our soldiers who are being sent away, putting their lives on the line fighting.

Prayer for the Military.

Please keep the wheel rolling. It will only take a few seconds of your time, but it'll be worth it to read on....

Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them.
Bless them and their families.
I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our servicemen and women all around the world. There is nothing attached, but this can be very powerful. Of all the gifts you could give a Soldier, prayer is the very best one.


In GOD We Still Trust!!!

'Walking Eagle'

Senator BARACK OBAMA was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nation two weeks ago in upstate New York HE spoke for almost an hour on HIS future plans for increasing every Native American's present standard of living, should HE one day become the President. HE referred to his career as a Senator, how he had signed 'YES' for every Indian issue that came to his desk for approval. Although the Senator was vague on the details of his plan, he seemed most enthusiastic about his future ideas for helping his 'red sisters and brothers'.

At the conclusion of his speech, the Tribes presented the Senator with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name - Walking Eagle. The proud Senator then departed in his motorcade, waving to the crowds.

A news reporter later inquired to the group of chiefs of how they came to select the new name had given to the Senator. They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of shoot it can no longer fly.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

God Bless all of you.
Tom

I went to the Yellow Breeches Outfitters in Boiling Springs and TCO Fly Shop in Carlisle today. Damn, between the two stores I walked out a little over $100 poorer. All I bought were flies and a new pair of forceps.

I will be putting them all to good use tomorrow as I fish a secret location.

A friend of mine from work Al Ozminski just finished my custom made St. Croix 9' 5wt rod. Al turned a beautiful pc of walnut burl for the handle. (pics will be posted soon) I have a matching 7' 3wt rod that he made for me a few years ago. Both rods are equipped with Fly Logic reels. The reel color matches the blue of the wrapping.

I did get to go out briefly Tuesday before and during the rain. I caught one and had 4 other fish hooked but not landed. One was a beautiful rainbow about 18 inches. Considering I had a 2.7# tippet tied on for my dropper nymph it did'nt take much when he got into the current. Once I lost my second and last size 18 black zebra nymph the fishing was done. I tried several other patterns but they just weren't interested.

Since I still consider myself a novice fly fisher I would say I had a good hour.

Will post up on how I do tomorrow and will try to get some pics.

Tags: Flies Rods Money

Saturday Sept 1,2007 (Opening Day)
 
This morning found us (Dave, Darv, Tom, Justen, Adam and Curtis) somewhere in Lancaster County, PA. We were set up in a pasture next to a farm pond that geese have been frequenting quite regularly. Having arrived before daylight we had everything set up just as the first hint of light was coming up from the horizon. All the cameras were checked and set to record the day’s events so we climbed into our layouts to await the geese.
 
The farmer told us that on some mornings the geese would arrive around 6:30 AM. As we were lying there in our Exterminator layout blinds, provided by Otter Outdoors, waiting for the geese we had several mallards come into the pond and check things out. Of course as nice as they came into the goose deeks they would not be in season.
 
Tom stepped out to double check the camera we had hidden beside a decoy and from out of nowhere a flock of Blue Winged Teal came in and sat down no more than 20 yards from him on the pond. The brilliant flash from the blue on the wing patch in the morning sun was amazing.
 
Staying as still as he could he slowly turned the camera around to record them while sitting out in the open with the goose decoys. They stuck around for a little while as we admired them and they ate from the bottom of the pond. Then in an instant they were gone.
 
It wasn't until 8 am that the geese decided to get up and start flying. The first group came flying in from our right. They swung out wide and ended up coming straight into the pond from directly in front of us. Six geese came in locked up, some of them flipping wildly as they came through the gap in the trees along the fencerow. They never stopped until they were almost on the water. The six of us popped out of our layouts and in an instant six geese lay on the water or along the pond bank.
 
Next we had a single come in. He made more noise than then all the geese in the previous flock combined. Unfortunately for him we were on our “A” game today and he stayed for good too.
 
Next we spotted three far out to our back right. After some enticing calls they circled wide and swung into the decoys. We had 3 more birds on the water.
 
The farmer told us the pond wasn't more than 2 feet deep so no one brought along their chest waders. He forgot to tell us there was also a foot of mud under the water. We had 2 geese floating belly down heads straight out and one belly up that we couldn't get to.
 
Unfortunately the next flock that came in saw the one belly up and never committed to the pond.  They circled several times and never presented a passing shot.
 
After working our way out to the belly up bird someone spotted another flock of birds. Six more were coming in from our front left. Everyone ran back and jumped into the layout blinds.
 
Once again the birds came in and were doing their airborne acrobatics flipping sometimes completely upside down. They came into the pond from the left and circled around the pond and came right in. Exploding out of our layouts once again the last flock of the day lay in front of us.
 
The final result for the day was 16 birds. You couldn't ask for a much better opening day of early goose season in Pennsylvania. Just to be able to see the flock of Blue Winged Teal made the day extra special. A lot of them are gone by the time the early duck season gets here in Oct. You can still see some Green Winged Teal but the Blues usually head south early.
 
After taking the birds back to Dave's house and getting them cleaned we headed out for an afternoon of dove hunting. There we were set back into reality with our shooting or lack of. Several boxes of shells later we were cleaning 24 doves.
 
Hopefully this will be the beginning of a great season to come.

Tags: Goose Waterfowl Decoys Pond Water Dogs Hunting