HR 356 — A Resolution designating December 27 , 2025, as "Pennsylvania Elk Hunt Day" in Pennsylvania.

PRINTER'S NO.   2513

                  THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



           HOUSE RESOLUTION
              No. 356
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY HADDOCK, GREINER, VENKAT, HILL-EVANS, K.HARRIS,
        PASHINSKI, KULIK, BURGOS, MERSKI, GUENST, STEELE AND NEILSON,
        OCTOBER 23, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, OCTOBER 23, 2025


                               A RESOLUTION
 1   Designating November 3, 2025, as "Pennsylvania Elk Hunt Day" in
 2      Pennsylvania.
 3      WHEREAS, Today, approximately 1,400 elk call this
 4   Commonwealth home, with most of these animals residing in the
 5   north-central region of the state; and
 6      WHEREAS, Each year, nearly 500,000 people come to this area
 7   of Pennsylvania to witness its native elk population; and
 8      WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has seen its elk population both
 9   dwindle and flourish multiple times over hundreds of years; and
10      WHEREAS, In the 1700s, elk could be found across Pennsylvania
11   and the eastern United States, but European settlers and
12   indigenous populations overhunted the native elk during this
13   era, leading to the entire eastern elk population in
14   Pennsylvania going extinct by 1880; and
15      WHEREAS, By 1913, while Pennsylvania had exhausted its elk
16   population, elk in the Rocky Mountain region were experiencing
17   overpopulation, leading to many elk in Wyoming being transferred
 1   to other states, including Pennsylvania; and
 2      WHEREAS, Through the efforts of the Pennsylvania Game
 3   Commission, 50 elk were shipped to this Commonwealth from
 4   Wyoming, with the elk being evenly split between Clearfield and
 5   Clinton counties; and
 6      WHEREAS, Two years later in 1915, an additional 95 elk were
 7   brought to this Commonwealth from Yellowstone National Park and
 8   were distributed between Cameron, Carbon, Potter, Forest, Blair
 9   and Monroe counties; and
10      WHEREAS, Shortly after the arrival of the initial elk
11   shipment, the General Assembly passed a law prohibiting the
12   hunting of elk until November 1921, when a two-week hunting
13   season would be held; and
14      WHEREAS, The first regulated elk hunt in Pennsylvania took
15   place in 1923, two years later than originally scheduled, and
16   only permitted the hunting of bull elk with four or more points
17   on at least one antler and only allowed hunting through
18   stalking; and
19      WHEREAS, These hunts were an annual occurrence until the
20   final hunt took place in 1931, though many other elk were killed
21   illegally by poachers or by disgruntled farmers after elk had
22   disrupted their crops; and
23      WHEREAS, Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Pennsylvania Game
24   Commission accelerated its efforts to manage the elk population,
25   taking action to improve elk habitats in response to damage
26   caused by strip mining in this Commonwealth in the preceding
27   decades; and
28      WHEREAS, Habitat management and elk research conducted by the
29   Pennsylvania Game Commission has allowed the Pennsylvania elk
30   population to grow to its current levels; and

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 1      WHEREAS, In 2000, the General Assembly and Governor Tom Ridge
 2   passed a law authorizing elk hunts to return to this
 3   Commonwealth; and
 4      WHEREAS, In 2001, the Pennsylvania Game Commission issued
 5   this Commonwealth's first hunting licenses for elk and held a
 6   regulated hunting season 70 years after the original
 7   Pennsylvania elk hunts ended; and
 8      WHEREAS, Since then, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has
 9   annually held elk hunting seasons, with tens of thousands of
10   hunters applying to the commission for their chance to hunt a
11   Pennsylvania elk; and
12      WHEREAS, Today, the Pennsylvania Game Commission holds three
13   elk hunting seasons each year, an archery season in September, a
14   rifle season in November and a late hunting season in late
15   December into early January; and
16      WHEREAS, In 2024 alone, more than 55,000 hunters submitted
17   applications for just 140 elk licenses for these three elk
18   hunting seasons; and
19      WHEREAS, Hunters across this Commonwealth consider it a once-
20   in-a-lifetime privilege to hunt an elk in Pennsylvania, with
21   many hunters submitting multiple applications over several years
22   for the chance to participate; and
23      WHEREAS, This year, the general elk hunting season in this
24   Commonwealth will begin on Monday, November 3, 2025, and will
25   last until Sunday, November 8, 2025; and
26      WHEREAS, Hunting elk is a celebrated aspect of Pennsylvania's
27   storied hunting culture, and the House of Representatives should
28   recognize the importance of this tradition to Pennsylvania's
29   hunters while celebrating the anniversary of Pennsylvania's
30   first elk hunt over a century ago; therefore be it

20250HR0356PN2513                 - 3 -
1      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate
2   November 3, 2025, as "Pennsylvania Elk Hunt Day" in
3   Pennsylvania.




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