Making a hunting or fishing video on public land? You may have to pay or hit pause

Huntingdon, Pa. — On the surface it sounds like a pretty cool thing to do. Film your hunts, fishing trips and other outdoor experiences and make them available on any number of online platforms … Next thing you know you are an internet sensation. Maybe you will be able to quit your job and make a living off of the outdoors.

Well, that all sounds great,  but you better have access to private land in the state to do so. However, if you choose to do it on public land within Pennsylvania, you better be ready to pay.

Generally, if you are just filming for fun and posting on your Facebook page or sharing it with friends, that won’t be a problem. However, when you cross the line and start getting sponsors, endorsing products or just earning good ole greenbacks, the situation changes.

If you choose to film on a piece of public land, if it is even allowed, you have to be registered with the agency that owns it. Each agency, it seems, has its own set of requirements.

MORE COVERAGE FROM PENNSYLVANIA OUTDOOR NEWS:

Elk shot in Clearfield County, Pa., goes in Boone and Crockett record book

Sunday hunting to be phased in at Pennsylvania state parks

Lackawaxen River’s redbreast sunfish brighten September fishing in Pennsylvania

For instance, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources requires you to register with the agency by filling out a commercial activities agreement form.

After you fill in all the requirements, the permit is then forwarded and approved or denied on an individual basis. If it is approved, you will then have to pay a non-refundable $100 administration fee. Whether this is a one-time thing or must be completed on a yearly basis is unclear.

As for the Game Commission, all commercial activities on its state game lands are against the law, period. That means that commercial filming on game lands is taboo.

Amy Nebozny, south-central region information and education supervisor, said the possibility exists that you may be able to attain a special-use permit from the Harrisburg office, but she was unaware of any of the details, never having dealt with this issue previously.

Should you choose to head to the Allegheny National Forest, which is federal public land in northwest Pennsylvania, the situation remains somewhat the same.

Robert Heiar, deputy director of the Allegheny National Forest, said that on all national forest lands a permit must be secured for commercial filming. It comes with a catch, though, because you have to pay a fee per day for filming.

The fee has to be paid in advance and the days of filming will be stated on the permit, noted Jason Kirchner, assistant director for public relations for the U.S. Forest Service eastern region. You just cannot pay a fee and head to the woods when you want, he pointed out.

Heiar and Kirchner also both referred to the Explore Act, which was signed by President Biden early this year and may have language within its pages that deals with small venues filming on national forest lands. However the language is complicated and they asked higher ups trying to get clarification.

But at this writing, no clarification is available.

In addition to the agencies mentioned, the question about filming also was put to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Spokespeople for each stated that there would have to be some sort of agreement in place before commercial videos could be made on their properties, but the details of exactly what one would need to do to comply were never made clear, and no further information was available at this writing.

It seems clear that most of the state and federal agencies are starting to focus on this area because the number of people making hunting, fishing and other outdoor videos continues to grow.

Since the pandemic, the agencies are cracking down on what is generally called “abuse” of public lands. So, persons making commercial videos on public lands without permission may be subject to fines.

Before you decide to film your hunting or fishing trip and then stream it widely, take the time to make sure what you are about to do is legal where you plan on doing it.

Also, if you expand your horizon beyond Pennsylvania, make sure to do the same there, as well. Because several states currently list video-making as an activity that is against the law on any public property without proper credentials.

You may want to be on camera, but not in a police mugshot, so know before you go.