Rifle deer season opener expected to stay on Saturday in 2025
The start of deer rifle season this year will remain on Saturday.
Businesses and hunters who were hoping for a change were disappointed Saturday, Jan. 25, when the Pennsylvania Game Commission voted to give preliminary approval for the 2025-26 hunting schedule.
Hunting schedules, which are still preliminary, are expected to be finalized during the Commission’s meetings on April 11 and 12.
The preliminary schedule keeps the start of deer rifle hunting season in Pennsylvania on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, as it has been since 2019. That year, it was moved up two days from the first Monday after Thanksgiving, a decision which has drawn criticism from hunters, small business owners and some lawmakers.
During Saturday’s meeting, multiple members of the hunting community showed up in person to criticize the Game Commission during public comment.
“The Pennsylvania Game Commission seems unwilling to acknowledge the mistake they made in 2019 when they implemented this program,” said Blaine Toy. “Most hunters prefer a Monday opener, yet the commissioners’ stubbornness to admit their poor decision prevents resolving this problem.”
According to Travis Lau, communications director for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the agency’s decision to move the start of rifle season in 2019 was done “ … to allow more hunters to participate.”
“There was a lot of feedback both before and after (the change),” Lau told the Butler Eagle in December. “Even before the board proposed a change, we would regularly hear from hunters who asked that the opening day be moved to Saturday, often because it would allow for them or their family members to take part, which might not have been possible on a Monday because of work or other obligations. … Today, we continue to hear from hunters who might support Monday or Saturday.”
In a November interview with the Butler Eagle, Dean Ciafre of Ciafre Deer Processing in Middlesex Township called it “the worst thing (Pennsylvania has) ever done.” Ciafre says the decision has deprived local businesses of customers who previously stopped by on the weekend prior to the opening Monday.
“People used to go up on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and on Saturday and Sunday, all the people participated in the town. They went and spent money,” Ciafre said. “Now everyone’s hunting Saturday and Sunday. They’re in the woods and not spending any money in these little parts that really rely on that.”
Ciafre mentioned Marienville, a small town located in Forest County, as an area which was particularly hard-hit by the change.
“It doesn’t affect me. I’m busy all the time,” Ciafre said. “But it affects the small businesses in towns like Marienville, where people have camps.”
On the other hand, Curt Hunka, the manager of Down Range Supply in Connoquenessing Township, has mixed feelings about the change.
“I guess how some businesses might be upset because it can interfere with Small Business Saturday,” Hunka said. “But at the same time, I can see how some people who aren't business owners like it. Not everyone gets Monday off to go hunting.”
Hunka said the change didn’t affect his business too much, since most of his sales come over the internet.
“Internet sales in general are just better, whether it's Black Friday or not,” Hunka said.
Jerry O'Donnell, the owner of O’Donnell’s Sports Supplies in Portersville, says he’s largely indifferent toward the change, even though it caught him off-guard when it took place. The store sells hunting and fishing equipment.
“It had been on Monday my whole life,” O’Donnell said, “I just do whatever they say. I like Monday better, but there's not much I can do about it.”
Despite the Game Commission’s intention to stick to its guns, the state legislature may override them with a proposed bill which would permanently set the start of rifle deer season on Monday. The bill, known as HB70, has been referred to the House Game & Fisheries Committee and will be discussed during a livestreamed informational meeting Monday, Feb. 3.
