Bills Introduced in Pennsylvania to End Sunday Hunting Ban

If passed, two bills would end Pennsylvania’s partial ban on Sunday hunting. Photo by Mircea Costuna.

Some Pennsylvania officials are pushing to end the state’s restrictions on Sunday hunting in an effort to make it easier for hunters to help control the state’s deer population. State officials estimate there could be as many as 1.5 million deer in Pennsylvania, which is three times more than there were before European settlers arrived.

According to altoonamirror.com, an effort to repeal Sunday hunting restrictions failed to pass in 2024. Both chambers of the General Assembly approved separate bills that would have ended the state’s partial ban on Sunday hunting. But neither measure got final approval in the other chamber, so the issue remained unresolved at the end of the legislative session.

Identical bills have been introduced again in both chambers. The House Game and Fisheries Committee has set a vote on House Bill 1431. Its companion bill is Senate Bill 67.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission said the agency supports the bills.

“Hunting takes time, and a lack of time is one of the biggest reasons cited by hunters who stop hunting,” Steve Smith, the Game Commission’s executive director, said when SB 67 was introduced in March. “Repealing the Sunday hunting ban and allowing the Game Commission to fully regulate Sunday hunting is an opportunity to provide hunters more time, which will help keep them engaged and carrying out their vital role in managing key wildlife populations. This legislation is beneficial to hunting’s future and the future of wildlife management in the Commonwealth.”

Pennsylvania is one of just 11 states that limits hunting on Sunday. Since 2019, Pennsylvania has allowed the Game Commission to schedule Sunday hunting on three weekends.

In a memo seeking support for his bill, Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, said the three weekends of Sunday hunting have proven to be “extremely successful and exceptionally safe.”

But according to license sales data, hunter numbers have continued to decrease, dropping 3.5% from 2020 to 2023. The number of licenses sold in 2024 dropped by almost 4% from 2023.

Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Allegheny, the primary sponsor of HB 1431, said opening the door for more Sunday hunting will attract more in-state and out-of-state hunters.