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The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently updated safety regulations requiring all users of game lands to wear orange during hunting season. While this is a step in the right direction, it is only a small step toward resolving the ongoing conflict between hunters and others who use these properties.
For years, Pennsylvania hunters have been required to wear high-visibility orange for safety reasons. Yet nonhunters using state game lands have not been held to the same standard. Even during peak hunting season, dog walkers, horseback riders, hikers and bird watchers have freely traversed these properties, properties purchased specifically for hunting, without any requirement to protect themselves. That has now changed.
Under the new regulations, all non-hunting visitors to state game lands between Oct. 1 and Ja. 31, as well as April 20 to May 31, must wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange on the head, chest and back, and be visible from 360 degrees. This is what many hunters have been doing for years. While I applaud this move, and the fact that it makes nonhunters take some responsibility for their own safety while traveling on properties that not only allow hunting but were established for that purpose, it is not enough.
The reasons for this change were to prevent user conflict and reduce accidental shootings as foot traffic from nonhunters continues to surge. This statement alone highlights the problem that wearing orange does not address. Unlike state parks and state forests, managed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and funded by general tax dollars, state game lands are purchased and maintained by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for the explicit use of hunters. Although general tax dollars don’t fund their purchase or maintenance, conflict continues to grow. This is the real problem that no one wants to address.
State game lands are not parks, they are not forests, and they are not intended for use by the general public. Since the first purchase in 1920, these properties have been bought with sportsmen's dollars, hunting license fees, excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and archery equipment, and matching federal funds through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937. The primary purpose has always been to protect, manage and enhance wildlife habitat while providing public access for lawful hunting and trapping. No mention of hiking, walking, horses or any of the other expanding uses nonhunters have brought to the properties.
It is time to reclaim our game lands. No more worries about sharing the property. No more worries about conflict or increased visibility for nonhunters. No more nonhunters.
Allowing these other uses has always been a courtesy. When a courtesy becomes a burden, it is time to renege on the invitation. Instead of making nonhunters wear orange during peak seasons, make them go elsewhere. Every county has a state park, state forest or both. Each of these properties has areas specifically designed for nonhunting activities, which are often valued more than the limited hunting opportunities they offer. Stop pretending these are shared properties; treat them as what they are: hunting properties.