Photo courtesy Rep. Mandy Steele’s website Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Cheswick, is pictured during a recent news conference.

The latest attempts to eliminate Pennsylvania’s limits on Sunday hunting have begun.

State Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Cheswick, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation she is drafting that would allow hunting every Sunday during the hunting season.

Pennsylvania ended its ban on Sunday hunting in 2019 when lawmakers passed a bill designating three Sundays a year for hunting and fur taking. Those Sundays were Nov. 12, 19 and 26 during the 2023-24 hunting season.

Maine and Massachusetts still have bans on Sunday hunting while several other states have limits on Sunday hunting, including Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Each of those states have different limits on Sunday hunting.

Steele proposes giving the state Game Commission the authority to decide how many Sundays the commonwealth should allow hunting rather than having the number of Sundays decided by the state Legislature.

“Hunters are the original conservationists. They are committed to protecting nature and have a deep understanding of balancing our wildlife populations with what our beautiful Pennsylvania lands can support,” Steele wrote in her co-sponsorship memorandum. “The Pennsylvania Game Commission has the authority to promulgate rules for hunting and wildlife management in this state. This authority allows the commission to also determine other aspects of hunting and fur taking. However, while other outdoor activities take place on public and private property, hunting and fur taking on Sundays remains illegal in Pennsylvania.”

Maine’s highest court is considering a lawsuit asking whether the state’s 19th century law, which prevents hunting big game animals such as deer, moose and turkeys on Sundays, is still necessary. In Massachusetts, where hunters are also lobbying for Sunday hunting rights, there is a renewed effort to change state laws forbidding the practice, according to a November Associated Press report.

Forty states have no prohibition on Sunday hunting. The states that still have full or partial bans on Sunday hunting are all on the East Coast, where every fall sportsmen pursue wild turkeys and white-tailed deer with firearms and archery.

Lifting bans has created hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity, Fred Bird, assistant manager for the northeastern states for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, told the Associated Press in November. “Simply put, if hunters do not have available days to go afield, they must decide whether their time, energy, and financial resources should continue to be allocated to a pursuit they are unable to fully participate in,” he said.

Steele said Pennsylvania’s experience with limited Sunday hunting is a reason why the state should end its limits on the practice – or at least give the state Game Commission the ability to do so.

“The Game Commission began approving the three Sundays in 2020; these decisions have remained successful to this day. Regardless, the Game Commission still has limited authority over Sunday hunting despite the governance they have over other aspects of hunting. Moreover, some states that have recently lifted their Sunday hunting bans have reported no adverse impact on their game populations,” Steele wrote. “For these reasons and more, I will be introducing legislation to repeal the prohibition on Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania. Under this legislation, the Game Commission will have the authority to decide when and how Sunday hunting is permitted, with the best interest of wildlife management and environmental preservation in mind.”