Monday, May 18th, 2026

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Monday, May 18th, 2026

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Now leading the nation in licensed bowhunters, Pennsylvania has come long way since inaugural archery season

Pennsylvania has come a long way since its first archery deer season in 1951. Its current legion of archery hunters represents nearly 60 times more license buyers than in the inaugural season, and the state officially leads the nation in number of licensed bowhunters. (Photo courtesy of Eric Morken)

While moseying through a historic log cabin on my parents’ property a few years ago, I came across an old dusty box of magazines. Within the stack, a July 1963 issue of Pennsylvania Game News caught my eye. Thumbing to page 55, I discovered the inaugural edition of the long-running column, “Straight from the Bowstring,” established that very issue. 
This column was launched and written for many years thereafter by Keith Schuyler, who, more than a decade earlier, wrote a feature for Game News about a group of friends electing to bow hunt during the statewide firearms deer seasons. This story, along with urging from other archery lobbyists, led to the first official Pennsylvania bow season taking place in 1951.

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