Local farmers react to expanded Sunday hunting in Pa.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission approved a resolution to add 10 Sundays to the state’s hunting schedule for fall 2025 during its special meeting on Monday, July 28.
This fall, hunting will be open every Sunday between Sept. 14 and Dec. 7 — a decision that some local farmers hope helps get the white-tailed deer population in Butler County “under control.”
The decision makes hunting available beyond the three Sundays between Nov. 16 and 30, which already allowed hunting prior to the passage of the resolution.
During these Sundays, any game that is in season is legal to hunt, with the exception of migratory game birds, as those seasons are set by the federal government.
The vote of the nine Game Commission board members was unanimous and included Kristen Koppenhafer, who represents Butler County as the District 1 coordinator.
William Thiele, who operates a dairy farm in Jefferson Township, welcomed the news. He said that deer have caused him and his farm plenty of grief by chewing on their crops, as well as putting their cattle at risk of catching illness.
“Deer love to munch on corn and soybeans and pretty much anything they can get their little mouths on,” Thiele said. “That’s obviously detrimental to our yield of crops.
“And they can also spread disease. If there’s a deer with Chronic Wasting Disease, some of their excrement could get on our plants, and we could end up feeding that to our cattle and that could cause some digestive issues.”
Thiele’s farm participates in the Game Commission’s “Ag-Tag” program, which enlists the aid of hunters to cull the population of deer that cause agricultural damage. He is hopeful that the expansion of Sunday hunting could lead to new hunters entering the game.
“With this new Sunday hunting law, a father and son could go hunting Saturday and Sunday if they choose to do so,” Thiele said. “And that could maybe spark some more kids to want to hunt because they can. So hopefully that snowballs. If it starts out slow, it’ll keep rolling.”
Ryan Graham, who maintains a farm in Center Township, is also plagued by an abundance of deer.
“They eat the corn, and they ruin the alfalfa seedlings,” Graham said.
However, he is unsure whether the addition of 10 Sundays of hunting will be enough to solve Pennsylvania’s deer overpopulation issue.
“The Game Commission’s got to do something to get this deer population under control, and I don’t know if Sunday hunting’s gonna help,” Graham said. “It’s going to take the insurance companies to strong-arm the Game Commission to do something.”
Monday’s decision by the Game Commission was made possible by the signing into law of House Bill 1431, which — among other provisions — effectively repealed Pennsylvania’s long-standing ban on Sunday hunting, a relic of Sunday blue laws.
“I think it's great. I really support it,” said Matt Lutz, owner of Lutz’s Wildlife Taxidermy in Zelienople. “It’ll be great for business.”
Prior to the passage of House Bill 1431, hunting was only allowed on the aforementioned three Sunday dates in November, as set by the schedule announced in April. An exception existed for the hunting of foxes, coyotes and crows, which are legal to hunt on Sundays during their respective seasons.
“I’m really excited to be here today to give something back to (our hunters), which is Sunday hunting,” said Matthew Schnupp, director of the state’s Bureau of Wildlife Management. “We know that they’ve really wanted it for so many years, so I’m excited to be a part of that.”
