Special Regulations Area in the East

President Boop, Commissioners, Executive Director Roe, Commission staff, I am Henry Karki.  I currently serve as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau State Wildlife Committee, and also serve on the Board of Directors for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is a statewide general farm organization representing more than 42,600 farm and rural families in the Commonwealth. On behalf of Farm Bureau, I want to thank you for this opportunity to offer testimony today.  I also am a member of, but am not representing the NRA, Ducks Unlimited, and Castlewood Rod and Gun Club. I own and operate a beef farm in Lawrence County.

I wish to speak about several items within the agenda which you will be making decisions and on which you will be taking action on Tuesday.

The proposed changes that would expand the Special Regulations Area in the East, to now include WMU 5C, is receiving support from farmers within the unit area, who are concerned about public perceptions on the safety of hunting in this area.  Farmers also support the changes that would enhance opportunities to attract deer to areas where they may safely be removed, and provisions that would continue a farmer’s ability to use other firearms to protect crops on properties they control.
Farmers are concerned though about the degree to which biased and unsupported public perceptions of hunting safety needs may be driving the Commission’s policy decisions in the regulation of firearms to be used in hunting activities.  In particular, the Commission’s proposal to ban the use of rifles to hunt deer in WMU 5Cand limit firearms use in this unit to shotguns is inconsistent with the recent study presented to Commissioners and Commission staff in this auditorium, which demonstrated hunting with high-powered rifles to be statistically safer than shotguns. We would recommend that before you take action to implement any ban on firearms use, you conduct a study that scientifically analyzes the impacts of the firearms ban on public safety.

Thank you for recognizing the many difficulties farmers face regarding wildlife control in areas where farms neighbor lands that are predominantly posted or otherwise incapable from being hunted. Your action to expand doe season in WMU’s 2B, 5C and 5D with an early archery season in September is a good example of this and appears to track well with areas where these problem situations exist, and will be a positive step in helping farmers effectively control wildlife and the risk of serious wildlife damage that can result . Please continue to engage farmers and landowners in these areas for suggestions and ideas to improve programs to curb damage and disease associated especially to white tailed deer.

In previous testimony we have asked that the Game Commission continue to use science to base programs and decision-making. We again ask you to apply proven and supported science as you consider the merits of a proposal to impose sweeping changes to deer seasons in four WMU’s across the state.

I wish to point out to you the potential impact that your final decision on the features of deer season in WMU’s 2D; 2G, 3c, & 4B will have on agriculture, and the state.

Nearly 13,584 farms are contained within these wildlife management units, comprising almost two- million acres of farmland. These figures do not include farms or acreage of partial counties that are divided within the WMU’s. Simply stated, about 26% of Pennsylvania’s total land in agricultural production is contained within these wildlife management units. We are seriously concerned that efforts by the Commission to adopt the sweeping changes for deer seasons in these areas without scientific evaluation and justification will have harmful effects on farmers’ ability to effectively manage and control wildlife damage on their farms and will result in serious and widespread damage to farm production.

We ask that you not eliminate 5-days of concurrent buck and doe seasons in these WMU’s until proven to be a rational and reasonable move that will not seriously increase deer damage to our farms or reverse impacts on habitat, hence cause additional crop damage.

Please remember, in spite of high prices being received for corn and soybeans, other costs are keeping farmers working on very thin margins. Deer are the biggest threat outside of severe weather to crop production, where they are out of balance and are causing crop damage.

Please refer to the addendum sheet provided with my testimony that details the farm acreage in each of these WMU’s. We are very concerned that such a change, encompassing large areas of agricultural land, could begin to increase farm deer damage. We would not wish to see a dramatic increase in deer populations due to a change involving such a large amount of mass of land.

We understand that much of the data required for accurate collection by the deer team requires the formulas especially the concurrent seasons to be a constant for staff to be able to accurately measure the affects of other adjustments in their management of the commonwealth’s wildlife resources. Especially where deer management is concerned, it is important that this Commission not make dramatic changes to the seasons and bag limits that may be politically motivated.
Thank you