HR 468 — A Resolution urging municipal governments and encouraging farmers, landowners and residents throughout Pennsylvania to open their lands to public hunting and make greater use of existing deer management programs and permits available through the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

PRINTER'S NO.   3149

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



              HOUSE RESOLUTION
                 No. 468
                                                 Session of
                                                   2026

     INTRODUCED BY COOPER, KULIK, VENKAT, JAMES, NEILSON, PASHINSKI
        AND STEELE, APRIL 7, 2026

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAME AND FISHERIES, APRIL 8, 2026


                                  A RESOLUTION
 1   Urging municipal governments and encouraging farmers, landowners
 2      and residents throughout Pennsylvania to open their lands to
 3      public hunting and make greater use of existing deer
 4      management programs and permits available through the
 5      Pennsylvania Game Commission.
 6         WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission has recently
 7   established new hunting opportunities and increased the number
 8   of antlerless deer licenses available in order to reduce the
 9   deer population in much of this Commonwealth; and
10         WHEREAS, Deer-vehicle collisions are a growing public safety
11   problem throughout this Commonwealth, and PennDOT reports that
12   crashes involving deer rose from 3,618 in 2015 to 5,111 in 2024;
13   and
14         WHEREAS, White-tailed deer impose substantial agricultural,
15   residential and ecological damage across this Commonwealth, as
16   the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has recognized crop damage by deer
17   as a significant problem for Pennsylvania farmers, and both the
18   Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Department of Conservation
19   and Natural Resources warn that excessive deer browsing
 1   suppresses desirable tree regeneration; and
 2      WHEREAS, Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses carried
 3   on deer present an additional public health concern in this
 4   Commonwealth, as the Department of Environmental Protection
 5   documented blacklegged ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi
 6   in all 67 counties; and
 7      WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission has made clear that
 8   hunting is the most effective means by which deer populations
 9   are adjusted to meet management goals; and
10      WHEREAS, Regulated harvest can occur only where hunters have
11   lawful access, thus expanding safe and appropriate access to
12   huntable land on public and private property is indispensable to
13   reducing localized deer populations and the harms associated
14   with deer overabundance; and
15      WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Game Commission administers
16   multiple lawful tools to address localized deer problems,
17   including the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), the
18   Agricultural Deer Control Program, the Certified Hunter Program,
19   the Hunter Access Program and more; and
20      WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's municipalities and counties
21   collectively manage a substantial inventory of public open space
22   and more than 6,000 local parks that, where safe and
23   appropriate, should be reviewed for lawful hunting access as
24   part of local deer management efforts; and
25      WHEREAS, Municipalities that open suitable public lands to
26   lawful hunting enable use of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's
27   political subdivision deer control permit, which is expressly
28   built around public hunting and allows a municipality to pursue
29   a structured, Pennsylvania Game Commission-approved plan to
30   address localized deer damage and overabundance; and

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 1      WHEREAS, Municipalities such as Fox Chapel, Bradford Woods,
 2   the Town of McCandless, Ross Township and others have
 3   successfully utilized lawful public hunting and cooperation with
 4   the Pennsylvania Game Commission to address problematic deer
 5   populations; therefore be it
 6      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge municipal
 7   governments in Pennsylvania, where safe and appropriate, to open
 8   or maintain suitable municipal lands for lawful public hunting
 9   so that political subdivision deer control permits, agricultural
10   deer control permits, Deer Management Assistance Program and
11   other available Pennsylvania Game Commission tools may be more
12   fully utilized; and be it further
13      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives encourage
14   farmers, agricultural producers and other qualifying landowners
15   in Pennsylvania to make fuller use of existing Pennsylvania Game
16   Commission programs intended to address deer agricultural
17   predation and overabundance, including the Agricultural Deer
18   Control Program, destruction for agricultural protection, DMAP
19   and, where appropriate, the Certified Hunter Program; and be it
20   further
21      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge residents
22   and private property owners in Pennsylvania to support lawful
23   deer management by permitting responsible hunting access where
24   appropriate and by cooperating with municipal and Pennsylvania
25   Game Commission programs aimed at reducing deer-related
26   nuisances; and be it further
27      RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
28   the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Department of Agriculture,
29   county commissioners in all 67 counties, the County
30   Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania

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1   Municipal League.




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