A Resolution urging municipal governments and encouraging farmers, landowners and residents throughout Pennsylvania to open their lands to public hunting and make greater use of existing deer management programs and permits available through the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

PRINTER'S NO. 3149
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 468
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY COOPER, KULIK, VENKAT, JAMES, NEILSON, PASHINSKI
AND STEELE, APRIL 7, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, APRIL 8, 2026
A RESOLUTION
Urging municipal governments and encouraging farmers, landowners
and residents throughout Pennsylvania to open their lands to
public hunting and make greater use of existing deer
management programs and permits available through the
Pennsylvania Game Commission.
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission has recently
established new hunting opportunities and increased the number
of antlerless deer licenses available in order to reduce the
deer population in much of this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Deer-vehicle collisions are a growing public safety
problem throughout this Commonwealth, and PennDOT reports that
crashes involving deer rose from 3,618 in 2015 to 5,111 in 2024;
and
WHEREAS, White-tailed deer impose substantial agricultural,
residential and ecological damage across this Commonwealth, as
the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has recognized crop damage by deer
as a significant problem for Pennsylvania farmers, and both the
Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources warn that excessive deer browsing
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suppresses desirable tree regeneration; and
WHEREAS, Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses carried
on deer present an additional public health concern in this
Commonwealth, as the Department of Environmental Protection
documented blacklegged ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi
in all 67 counties; and
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission has made clear that
hunting is the most effective means by which deer populations
are adjusted to meet management goals; and
WHEREAS, Regulated harvest can occur only where hunters have
lawful access, thus expanding safe and appropriate access to
huntable land on public and private property is indispensable to
reducing localized deer populations and the harms associated
with deer overabundance; and
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission administers
multiple lawful tools to address localized deer problems,
including the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), the
Agricultural Deer Control Program, the Certified Hunter Program,
the Hunter Access Program and more; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's municipalities and counties
collectively manage a substantial inventory of public open space
and more than 6,000 local parks that, where safe and
appropriate, should be reviewed for lawful hunting access as
part of local deer management efforts; and
WHEREAS, Municipalities that open suitable public lands to
lawful hunting enable use of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's
political subdivision deer control permit, which is expressly
built around public hunting and allows a municipality to pursue
a structured, Pennsylvania Game Commission-approved plan to
address localized deer damage and overabundance; and
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WHEREAS, Municipalities such as Fox Chapel, Bradford Woods,
the Town of McCandless, Ross Township and others have
successfully utilized lawful public hunting and cooperation with
the Pennsylvania Game Commission to address problematic deer
populations; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge municipal
governments in Pennsylvania, where safe and appropriate, to open
or maintain suitable municipal lands for lawful public hunting
so that political subdivision deer control permits, agricultural
deer control permits, Deer Management Assistance Program and
other available Pennsylvania Game Commission tools may be more
fully utilized; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives encourage
farmers, agricultural producers and other qualifying landowners
in Pennsylvania to make fuller use of existing Pennsylvania Game
Commission programs intended to address deer agricultural
predation and overabundance, including the Agricultural Deer
Control Program, destruction for agricultural protection, DMAP
and, where appropriate, the Certified Hunter Program; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge residents
and private property owners in Pennsylvania to support lawful
deer management by permitting responsible hunting access where
appropriate and by cooperating with municipal and Pennsylvania
Game Commission programs aimed at reducing deer-related
nuisances; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Department of Agriculture,
county commissioners in all 67 counties, the County
Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania
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Municipal League.
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