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Pennsylvania lawmakers eyeing huge Game Commission balance
Harrisburg — After Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Stephen Smith gave his annual report to the House and Senate game and fisheries committees on March 18 and March 26, respectively, the lawmakers wanted to talk about the agency’s huge bank roll.
“What is the balance of the Game Fund as of right now?” asked Rep James Haddock.
After learning that the total of the account – fed by the proceeds from natural gas leases under Game Commission-owned state game lands – was $460 million, the Democrat representing Lackawanna and Luzerne counties referred to a well-publicized legislative gambit involving the commission’s finances a year ago.
“Last year, obviously, our Senate friends tried to – I say ‘steal,’ they say ‘commandeer’ – some money from the Game Fund, and we were able to stop that,” Haddock said.
He asked Smith if the shooting range renovation for sportsmen’s clubs and private land habitat-improvement programs described for committee members by former commission executive director Bryan Burhans last year to spend down the Game Fund were still valid.
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Smith explained that he made the decision to kill the private land habitat-improvement program, because long-term it would be too expensive and require hiring employees, and to expand the clubs shooting ranges program because it was good for hunters, clubs and for the Game Commission.
That response seemed to satisfy Rep. Jeff Olsommer, R-Pike and Wayne counties. Still, he seemed concerned the commission’s Game Fund balance remains too high.
“The new shooting range improvement program grants were well received, albeit limited,” he said.
“How will this program progress into the future and how does the commission plan to advertise these grants? With the backdrop of the Game Fund balance sheet, plus with the projected royalties (of $80 million to $90 million) that we just talked about, it seems like there’s an excess amount of money in that fund.”
Rep. Joseph Hohenstein was skeptical, however, suggesting that the Game Commission’s plans to spend a significant portion of the Game Fund are inadequate.
“I have a lot of the same concerns as my colleagues who expressed issues with the transparency of the funding and the fund balance in particular,” the Philadelphia Democrat said.
“I’m extremely concerned that we’re sitting on over $500 million without any real coherent plan on how it can be either used or leveraged, not just for the Game Commission but also for the commonwealth as a whole.”
In the Senate committee hearing focused on Smith’s annual report (read it here), Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties, committee chairman, pointed out that the Game Fund was generating significant interest income that could be used to sustain a private lands habitat program.
“Your funds are invested with the Treasury, so they are paying big returns – I mean, with $500 million, if you’re getting 5% return, you are earning $25 million annually, it’s just simple math, right?” he said.
“One of the suggestions I have for you is maybe partner with groups like the Ruffed Grouse Society or Pheasants Forever that can provide the expertise that allows you not to have to hire more staff.”
Rothman continued: “I’ve heard a lot as chairman my last term, and now I know that this $500 million should be going to habitat rebuilding and helping people hunt on private lands, too.”
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67 thoughts on “Pennsylvania lawmakers eyeing huge Game Commission balance”
How about eliminating the pheasant stamp requirement. The only place you can find pheasants is where they are stocked and those places are very crowded to the point they are almost unsafe!
Agreed 👍
Hell with a budget like that why don’t you make us buy a stamp for every animal we harvest . You know 25.00 for every squirrel you get that way you can push more hunters away from buying licenses. I have talked to so many hunters that have told me the same story the PGC are doing NOTHING area’s they should be or the target people trying to do right but punish them for more money.
Ditch chickens..sad days..then there’s the state bird..?.. anybody old enough to remember grouse hunting?
I haven’t seen any grouse in Bradford County! They aren’t doing anything in game land 142, it’s been deserted! And there is natural gas being taken from there? Something is definitely going on! They shut down the gun range at French Creek???
Habitat improvement, try another area for wild pheasants maybe in southwest area
If people want to see the money spent how about pay the Game Commission employees a fair wage.
I applied for food and cover, with a class A CDL, I game all kinds of expierence, and they could start me at $35000 a year…
I have a wife and 3 kids at home to support.
Even the head hancho that I talked to agreed that if they were willing to pay more they would get better help.
I would need 50000 to justify it.
It’s a dream job for me but I can not afford that low of salary and trust me, we love within our means. Family of 5 living in 58000 a year.
Why do seniors after 1950 have to buy trout stamp
How about stop reintroducing predators while acting concerned about the grouse population?
I love how the Philly Democrat says ” we’re sitting on this money with no plan, blah blah blah, ” greater good of the commonwealth”. This is hunters money scumbag, paid over decades, keeping family traditions alive, and not for anybody, but those who’ve given our hard earn dollars to support this tradition. I also have a predator issue, when I bought my farm, we had three separate flocks of turkeys, fast forward to the fisher reintroduction to kill everything from the turkeys, to our chickens to farm cats, but not the porcupines, the ” intended target” great job pgc.
Open up more shooting ranges. I have to travel over an hour one way to get to the closest one. All the local hunting clubs will not even recognize new applicants unless they have a sponsor. I do not know anyone thats a member in any club. So I’m screwed and can’t get my rifles sighten in. Stop the pheasant stocking its useless. The PGC, at one point complained that hunting licenses were diminishing. So, open all Sunday hunting, our surrounding states already opened that option up. You’re living in the dark ages, the BLUE Laws are gone! That would bring in more hunters.
Rebuilding habitat sure sounds good. Especially for propagating pheasant, grouse, and quail species. The only problem is that the PGC does not have an answer for the West Nile virus or the predatory pressure caused by great horn owls and red tail hawks. As raptors they are protected by federal regulation.
Just what the state needs. The liberals getting their grubby hands on more state money. We know how they love to spend other peoples money.
All that money and you worry about cwd and want to shoot more doe how about letting hunters shoot small buck they spread the disease to
I think the PA Game Commission is doing a good job. It my not be perfect but still, a good job. Name one other state that offers it’s hunters over a million acres for hunting. I wish other state agencies could have balances and not just burn up the taxes payers money.
Note, The money in the game fund belongs to the hunters of Pa. Please keep your hands off the hunters of Pa’s money.
Respectfully Edward Rogalski
I am not a PA resident but do agree with you Edward. What happened to the program to trade wild pheasants for turkeys with S Dakota? I understand your hunter numbers are declining which surprises me with the amount of land DCNR has available to you. I don’t know of any other state that offers their hunters the opportunity that PA does. Good luck on using the money for land and game management.
I agree, this belongs to the sportsman of the state, it should be used for that. How can we get phasents to repopulate in the state like they were back in the 50s and 60s.
Your not! Unless you find a way to limit the predators, pheasant numbers will not return.
PETA got the price of fur to the point trapping isn’t worth the time, and hawks devastate pheasant populations.
The numbers can’t come up unless we find a way to stop the predators!!!
BINGO
Yes, politicians seeing money even in their sleep dreaming how to steal it for “pork belly items”. Just like Congress started stealing from social security, moving from a private fund to the general fund and then their pet projects, i.e. pork belly with little to no accountability. Then your guess is as good as mine where it goes but we have an idea.
Agreed
Don’t forget it was the senate republicans who tried to steal it first but the house democrats stopped it
You’re totally correct Bill.
The Game Commission could also partner with the Fish Commission a boost there trout stocking to the number of trout stocked in the 80 s and 90s.
Can we open the airgun regulations like what maryland and other states have to be able to hunt big game and small game with airguns along with removing the .177-.22 caliber restriction on small game
Yes, it would be great to be allowed to use high power large caliber air to guns along with “air bows”.
The
Look if the money does not get use right now at least it is there for the future. It shows trust and honesty within the game commission.
I agree Becky. One thing that irks me is the pheasant stamp. I think they could do away with that. Of course I’m not privy to the data….it just angers me. I haven’t bought one since they instituted it…..
How about a reduction of license fees??? They have no problem raising fees, or adding new license requirements.
How about lower the hunting licenseand stocking more pheasant on more game lands
With all of the gas wells and gas line right of ways the commission has had control of for years and years I find difficult to believe that there’s only 500 million.
2nd that motion
100%, my PA license all in is close to the same cost as a ny non resident license, where I get two buck tags and can hunt on Sundays!
Without a doubt Gamelands habitat improvement is priority one. They are in terrible shape as the canopy on many needs thinned to allow new growth snd the Gamelands previously clear cut are useless. No food, no cover snd just pole timber of maple and Birch trees.
Eliminate the pheasant stamp.
Hire more Gamelands workers to maintain Gamelands instead of $ 80,000 SUVs and pickups for everyone to ride around in
Set up a checking plan for deer then maybe they can get an accurate count on the harvest hir once. Tired of their over harvest guesstimates
Why not take of us senior hunters who been buying licenses since we were 12 years old
I grew up in Pennsylvania and was lucky to have hunters and fisherman for family and friends . Back in the 1950 , 60s and early 70s there was plenty of small game . Ringneck could reliably be heard and seen sailing from the tops of hills . Rabbits were reliable to find and lots of squirrels and grouse . The quail were gone by then .
Then someone had the crazy idea of stocking those coop birds . Disaster . It wasn’t five years before the beautiful wild pheasants were gone . Rabbits followed. There were lots of rabbits in the spring .then gone . I personally spotted them lean over in the brush wobble and just fall over dead . All gone . Deer and Turkeys now .
I hunted Antelope in Montana last year and was pleasantly surprised to see hear and actually harvest a couple of Ringnecks . Wonderful
Lack of forest regeneration is always blamed on the deer. If soils are tested the response always is to put tons of lime down before planting. We do not need more hunting seasons to cull the herd. Maybe we need money to buy lime.
Maybe think about a deer relocation program that removes deer from overpopulated areas. Then after the deer have been tested and are disease free relocate them to selected hunting lands.
Why not go back to food plots on game lands
Reducing license fees sounds good, along with using the interest that is accruing for food plots with volunteers doing the work. Most of us would be willing to help.
Purchase more land, they aren’t making anymore of it.
That seems like a good investment.
Drop the antler restrictions for senior hunters and return opening day of deer season to the Monday after Thanksgiving
I agree with you
How about doing the late season pheasant stocking in northern PA and not just southern PA? Or use the money earned by each gameland on the gameland that earned the royalty. How about adding shooting ranges so that they are not so far away, it would take me well over a hour to get to one from northeastern PA?
Why not pay Game Wardens better wages. A risky environment that pays the same as a fork truck operator in a warehouse. Quality young people would love to be part of this organization. They see the pay scale and decide against this career path. It is pathetic what this state government pays them.
Why not pay Game Wardens better wages. A risky environment that pays the same as a fork truck operator in a warehouse. Quality young people would love to be part of this organization. They see the pay scale and decide against this career path. It is pathetic what this state government pays them especially with a bank account like that.
I noticed their was no late season phesant stocking for the northern tier ( wayne county) so what? The money we paid for the pheasant stamps was not good enough to allow me to hunt within 75 miles of where it live? So unfair! Maybe I missed something ?
Return 1st day to Monday after Thanksgiving.
Absolutely! The biggest mistake ever made by the agency. 6 years later there is legislation with growing support to return it due to the economic demise in that once prosperous weekend for many rural
Business. It hurt hunting preparation and traditions. Still today in pa outdoor news it is still a popular complaint by many hunters. Back to Monday.
Agreed, I know several tracts of land that have been posted due to Sunday hunting.
How about helping the co ops with their habitat who open their land to public hunting? For some reason PGC decided to quit mowing on some of these. Why? It takes one employee to cut most of the things that we saw them cut before. Also why not help them with their fruit trees that they leave most of the fruit for the game. Better yet instead of just cutting the weeds why not plant some of these co ops in food plots?
20 years back, every license buyer 900,000 could harvest a pheasant with their general license. They stocked upwards of 600,000 birds annually. The PGC closed pheasant farms due to financial shortcomings. They want to expand opportunity? Today the special pheasant stamp only has approximately 50,000 participants. Put our money back into expanding the pheasant program to where it was when the agency had a far meager game fund. I suggested this last June to Commissioner Fredrick. You want to stimulate youth interest? Bring back pheasant numbers for them and any hunter that goes out small game hunting. Bumping up a ring neck is an unparalleled days excitement.
Return 1st day to Monday after Thanksgiving
20 years back, every license buyer 900,000 could harvest a pheasant with their general license. They stocked upwards of 600,000 birds annually. The PGC closed pheasant farms due to financial shortcomings. They want to expand opportunity? Today the special pheasant stamp only has approximately 50,000 participants. Put our money back into expanding the pheasant program to where it was when the agency had a far meager game fund. I suggested this last June to Commissioner Fredrick. You want to stimulate youth interest? Bring back pheasant numbers for them and any hunter that goes out small game hunting. Eliminate the pheasant tag purchase. Bumping up a ring neck is an unparalleled days excitement.
When there is such a surplus of money why do they get grants? They had so much money a few years ago they were found to have 6 million in an account they forgot they even had When it was found in their Audit. I dont hunt. But my first dog was a English setter and dad and I took her out grouse hunting alot. I am his youngest daughter. And while I didn’t hunt and I still don’t and we didn’t use game commission property cause we had our own land it was still the most fun for us both. Where are those birds now? Why aren’t you improving the numbers? I’m 53 now and it’s been many years since I’ve seen a grouse. And live butted up to one of the gameland properties. Give me a grant and I’ll raise some thousands of them and pheasant. Spend some of that moldy money. You can afford to.
I am not a PA resident but do agree with you Edward. What happened to the program to trade wild pheasants for turkeys with S Dakota? I understand your hunter numbers are declining which surprises me with the amount of land DCNR has available to you. I don’t know of any other state that offers their hunters the opportunity that PA does. Good luck on using the money for land and game management.
All the above are great suggestions!!!! How about useing some of that money to purchase more land to help elevate some of the over crowding on game land which would give hunters more opportunities as well as make it safer for hunters
You purchase a LIFETIME HUNTING LICENSE, then move out of state and they revoke it.. after paying for a License from 12 years old to 65… Paying taxes in the state your whole working life … What part of Lifetime is not UNDERSTOOD… THIS IS A DISRESPECTFUL RULE .. Pennsylvanians have donated land money and so much more. Yet Right is right is not common any more if the Game Commission needed the money I wouldn’t have a problem.
You know me and my grand children go hunting,I dont think they ever shot at a phesant? With all that money you think we would have birds and trout in our woods, rivers and streams out the wazoo? Then our children ,grand children would be more involved in the outdoors.You know when akid go fishing and goes fishing and catches a lot of fish, or sits all day and gets a couple bites.You know the outcome,l hope.
How about opening the gates and letting the hunters access the pa game commission lands. Dcnr allows it but not the game commission. Patrol it if you must but stop locking us out, nobody wants to hike 4 miles to their spot to see 4 deer all day and hike back out. More access equals more hunters which equals more deer activity. Let us back in!!!
Easiest solutions and best solutions for everyone. Lower the price of the tags as number one. Second thing is to upgrade the food plots.
i have been a hunter for fifty years and i have to say the game comission ott to be thrown in prison for jacking the license fes up like they have and getting rich while a family cant afford to get thier kids licenses when they have five or four kids . how about doing something about that .game commission are a bunch of crooks in uniforms and dont get me started on how they have more power than the state police and can come in your house without a warrant . to much power and our senators need to do something about it.
Why dont the Game Commission share the revenue with the Fish Commission likebother states??? The fish Commission has no way to make extra funds except license increases… Our forefathers and donations gave lot of land FREE land to the PGC… time to share the wealth… Oh yeah more parking lots would be great too….Thousand acres and 3 parking lots for 8 vehicles.. .
I agree with you
How about reducing the population of winged predators in the state. We lose large amounts of squirls and rabbits to them, as well as birds like grouse. We have a predator problem in the state. We need less not more ,like the stupid idea of introducing pine Martin’s. The fisher didn’t help anything. High population of raccoon and opossum do a lot of damage to bird eggs. How about putting bounties on these animals to encourage trapping since the pelts aren’t worth anything these days. Other states put bounties on over population of other species.