PROSPECT — The Butler County Farm Bureau approved policy recommendations that will be sent to the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, including several aimed at increasing the deer hunting harvest to reduce crop damage.

County Farm Bureau members who attended the annual meeting Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Prospect-Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department hall unanimously voted in favor of a recommendations that target archery hunting, antler restrictions and hunting licenses.

The archery recommendation is a requirement for archery hunters who have an antlerless, or doe, license to harvest a doe before harvesting a buck, or antlered deer.

Archery hunters who hunt on farms target bucks and, in doing so, push does away, said Evelyn Minteer, bureau vice president and co-chairwoman of the Women’s Leadership Committee.

Requiring archers to harvest a doe before going after a buck would help solve the problem, she said.

Another recommendation call for opposition to antler restrictions. William Thiele, board member and co-director of the government relations committee, said an antler restriction is in place wildlife management unit 2D.

The restriction limits hunters to harvesting bucks with three points not counting the brow tine on at least one side of its antlers. The antler restriction is in place in most of the units in Western Pennsylvania. Unit 2D includes the eastern half of the county, but the restrictions also is in place in units 1A and 2B, which cover the rest of the county.

The final deer hunting recommendation calls for support of the state issuing a single license for all deer hunting, instead of the existing separate licenses for bucks and does.

Several bureau members said the deer population needs to be reduced because of the damage they do to crops, but they do not believe the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which regulates hunting, would support the recommendations.

All of the approved recommendations will be sent to the state bureau for consideration to be voted on at its 74th annual meeting that is scheduled for Nov. 17-19 in Hershey.

Not all of the recommendations were related to deer hunting. One is to recommend that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture declare the state to be free of brucellosis.

Board member and Clinton Township supervisor Bill Duncan, who owns Duncan Elk Farm, said he proposed the recommendation to benefit dairy and elk farmers. He said the state requires that cows and elk must be tested for and found not to have brucellosis before coming in or out of the state.

Duncan said only one case of the disease has been reported in the country in recent years, and 20 states have adopted declarations saying they are brucellosis free. He said he wants Pennsylvania to join that list.

Another recommendation is to eliminate the state requirement to slaughter pigs taken to fairs and shows that receive funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The department mandates killing pigs immediately after events to prevent the spread of African swine fever.

Bureau members also voted in favor of recommendations that oppose taxes on unrealized income including property, retirement savings and capital gains; ban the release of products that can be released into air carrying burning material; and require that any motorized gas or electric bicycle capable of traveling 15 mph or more must be registered or operated by a licensed driver when used on public roads.

In other business, the bureau’s membership was 961, which exceeded the goal of 929 and included 158 new members for its year, which ended Sept. 30. The membership goal for the current year is 971.