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On the first day of small game season last year, Ross Piazza said he saw a resurgence.
Driving by the parking lot for state game lands 119 by the Francis Walter Dam, Piazza counted 60 cars parked along the road. They were pheasant hunters, he said, and it was evidence of the comeback the sport has made.
Now, Piazza wonders if that comeback is about to reverse course and fall into decline.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently decided to close two of its four pheasant farms and cut the yearly statewide allocation of stocked birds from 200,000 to 170,000. The move was made to cut costs as the agency struggles financially after not having a license fee increase since 1999.
Piazza, who serves as the habitat chairman for the Northeast Pennsylvania Chapter of Pheasants Forever, understands the financial plight, but feels any move made to scale-back the pheasant program could doom the sport in the long run.
“My big concern is if they do decide to forget about stocking pheasants all together, where does that leave Pheasants Forever and all the work we do?” Piazza said, adding the local chapter conducts habitat improvement, provides seed for food plots and cover, holds several youth hunts and sponsors a hunter safety course.
“All of that is a question mark if they decide to shut down the pheasant program all together,” he said.
During its quarterly meeting on Jan. 31, PGC board members said closing the pheasant farms and the vote to implement a $25 pheasant hunting permit could be just the first steps if the state legislature continues to deny the agency a license fee increase.
“This is a process. There’s more to come if we don’t get a license fee increase,” said commissioner James Daley.
Commissioner Timothy Layton said just about every statewide hunting organization supports a hunting license fee increase, and the cuts to the pheasant program were identified as a possibility long ago.
Yet pheasant hunters didn’t become vocal on the funding issue until the agency made the decision to close the pheasant farms, Layton said.
As far as the $25 pheasant hunting permit, commissioner Dave Putnam said he would like to see the fee lowered and urged hunters to express their thoughts before the board gives final approval to the change in March.
Piazza doesn’t mind the $25 permit and said many people think nothing of paying the same amount for a single pheasant at a hunting preserve.
Changes to the pheasant program will likely be a key topic discussed at the upcoming Community Conservation Mixer, which will be held on Feb. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Apple-Tree Terrace at Newberry Estate in Dallas.
Piazza said a representative from the PGC will be on hand to discuss the need for a license fee increase and answer questions.
Cuts to the program, particularly stocking, are what has Piazza worried about the future of the sport and the 13 Pheasants Forever chapters in the state.
“We’ve seen that when the allocation increases there is a lot more interest in hunting and buying bird dogs,” he said. “Without pheasants, there is no Pheasants Forever and all the work that the members do.”
