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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FEB 2025

– from the desk of Blaine Toy

<Click Here To View>

It is with great sadness that we report the recent loss of one of our very own and very active board members, Pete Kingsley.

Pete had been a USP member for over 40 years and on the Board of Directors for 35 years. He had served as President, Vice President, and Director at large.  He was involved with setting up cooperation with several sportsmen’s organizations, including the Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League, Beaver County Sportsmen’s League, Firearm Owners Against Crime, Eastern Firearms Coalition, and USP. His involvement too gather local sportsmen’s associations cannot go unnoticed and for clubs like Mill Creek Sportsmen’s Association his memory and support will carry on.

His family will receive visitors at Wesley United Methodist Church on Saturday, June 21, 2025, from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, with the Memorial Service starting at 11:00 AM.

 

Following the service, friends are invited to one of Pete’s favorite places the Strasburg Jaycee Park, located at 218 Miller Street, from Noon to 4 PM for food and fellowship. The family will provide the main course, if you’re able please bring a side dish to share, a lawn chair, and your stories about Pete to the Celebration of Life Picnic.

< www.snyderfuneralhome.com/obituary/peter-e-kingsley/ >

FOAC – ILLEA PRESIDENT JIM STOKER AND TEAM TO PRESENT

Firearm Owners Against Crime at Mill Creek Sportsmen’s Association
Saturday – APRIL 26, 2025 at 10AM to 1:00PM – Doors Open 9:30AM
FREE EVENT – PUBLIC WELCOME WITH RSVP <click here>
(Food, Beverages to be provided by donation)
Mill Creek Sportsmen’s Association
1877 Windy Hill Rd.
Lancaster, PA 17602
717-393-6416

 

PA SENATE BILL 1087 TAKES AWAY PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

<click here for details>

When the Sunday Hunting Bill was passed by the PA State Legislature, and signed by the Governor in 2019, a little-noticed amendment was added to the bill before passage.

The amendment allows Hunters to enter privately owned lands, posted or not, at any time to retrieve a hunting dog without the knowledge and permission of the landowner.

There’s a reason for the decline in Wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania

It is not habitat loss. It’s predation that seems to be the main cause. <click for details>

Fishers <click for details>, reintroduced by the Pennsylvania Game Commission back in 1994-95 in Blair and Bedford counties to reduce the Porcupine population, are widely regarded as the single most serious threat to mature Turkeys.

 

<click for details>

 

 

 

 

Support the Traditional Monday Rifle Deer Season Opener

Unified Sportsmen of PA has maintained a neutral position regarding the controversy of the Saturday versus Monday Deer Rifle Season.
We have reviewed a few polls/surveys, two by USP, and one by the Game and Fisheries committee, as well as heard about other polls/surveys of hunters. The only one that supported the Saturday opener was one the PGC did of a sample of only 2,000 hunters which many of us hunters feel questions were set up to get the answer they wanted. With the overwhelming response of the hunters supporting the traditional Monday opener, USP BODs now come out in support of the Monday Rifle Deer Season.

 

<Seasons and Bag Limits – click here>

 

NEW HUNTING LICENSE YEAR IS COMING

<read full info here> of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Hunting and Furtaker licenses for the 2023-24 license year will expire June 30, and hunters will need new licenses for the 2024-25 license year to begin July 1.

New licenses go on sale Monday, June 24, and hunters no longer need to purchase a general license before getting an antlerless deer license – they can be purchased at the same time, anywhere licenses are sold.

This year, when licenses go on sale at 8 a.m. on June 24, antlerless deer licenses will be available for only three Wildlife Management Units where demand is highest – WMUs 1B, 2G and 3A. Licenses in these WMUs will be sold on a first come, first serve basis until the allotted number of licenses sells out, and only Pennsylvania residents may purchase antlerless licenses initially.

SATURDAY DEER OPENER FAILURE – Update

As of February 2025, there is a push to return to a Monday opener for Pennsylvania’s deer hunting season. The change to a Saturday opener in 2019 has been criticized by some hunters, businesses, and legislators. The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee held a hearing on February 3, 2025 to discuss whether to return the deer season opener to a Monday. The hearing was informational and did not result in a vote.

What impact is there they ask?

  • Family time: Some say the Monday opener weekend was a time for fellowship and family that has been lost with the Saturday opener. 
     
  • Economic impact: Some say the Saturday opener has hurt small businesses, including fire companies and restaurants that rely on the seasonal influx of hunters. 
     
  • Public opinion: Surveys show that most hunters want the Monday opener reinstated. 

After several years of the Saturday deer opener, as predicted by all the 2018- 2019 evidence the PGC board ignored the information. So, many hunters are still upset and complaining their voicer is not heard. Some liked it but, the evidence is clear it did little to nothing to increase hunting license sales and did economic damage to many rural PA businesses.

With that in mind, voices from many hunters that preferred the time that the Monday opener gave are not being conveyed or heard. Hunters need to speak up where it matters…. to the PA Game Commission – NOW. I know they did not listen before, but that is no reason to hang our heads in defeat, we have the evidence on our side even more so today. The compromise that would bring back that weekend of time to scout, mark trails with trail markers for pre-daylight entry, a few last-minute confirming rifle shots to confirm our guns, the restore the economic demise it caused to rural businesses and first responder fund-raising events, a far more relaxed time frame to prepare and open camps if you camp hunt, and time to experience all the family and friend traditions that are now far too rushed if at all able to be carried out.

The compromise is to bring back the Monday opener and put on the next two Sundays giving two full hunting weekends and a 13-day continuous run of the season. email the commissioners at pgccomments@pa.gov.

Additional Saturday opener letters  <Click here> to read more.

PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS – BE PART OF THE CHANGE

Our Constitutional Rights have been in serious danger for years. Stay informed – Stay involved!

There are great changes taking place in the United States of America right now and it will take time but we must stay the course. Support the changes even during the tearing off the band-aid and blind-fold.

Never forget to thank a Veteran, first line responder, or helping hand from a stranger.

Positive change comes from positive actions by all.

Consider joining the following groups to support your rights:

 

We need to protect our rights, and can only hope the US House of Representatives and US Senate protect our rights too.