Tom Venesky: Proposal for July 1 start to Pennsylvania’s ag tag deer season ‘ethically wrong’

Commissioner Kristen Koppenhafer made a point that every ethical hunter should agree with, yet she was in the minority.

During the April 11 Pennsylvania Game Commission board meeting, an amendment was made to change the start of ag tag season from Aug. 1 to July 1. It was a horrendous idea from a conservation standpoint, and it could’ve erupted into a public relations nightmare for the sport of hunting in general.

The problem with moving the ag tag start date to July 1 is it would allow hunters to shoot does that are still nursing fawns.

And, as Koppenhafer pointed out, a July 1 start date would also allow hunters to shoot fawns.

There are a lot of problems with all of it.

But first, let’s bring some science into it to limit any unnecessary dispute.

During discussion on the amendment, Dr. Matthew Schnupp – the agency’s director of the Bureau of Wildlife Management – was asked when is the period that most fawns are born, and when are they weaned.

According to Schnupp, who has an extensive biology background, June 1 is the peak fawning period, and 10 weeks later fawns can be weaned – early to mid-August.

So, what would happen if the ag tag season began on July 1? And does the current Aug. 1 start date mean that fawns are being shot that aren’t even weaned yet?

“It would certainly happen early August that you’d be shooting fawns that are not weaned,” Schnupp said.

And still, knowing this, some members of the Game Commission board still wanted to move the ag tag season start to July 1.

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It’s nothing but an overzealous move in the name of addressing crop damage, with no regard for the potential damage that could occur to the public’s perception of hunting.

Koppenhafer summed it up well.

“That means we would allow hunters to shoot a couple-week-old spotted fawn, throw that little deer on a tailgate, take a picture of it and post it all over social media,” she said. “And it would be 100% legal.”

And ethically wrong.

To elaborate on Koppenhafer’s point, imagine the backlash when the non-hunting public sees photos on social media of hunters standing by their “trophy” fawn in the back of the truck.

Regardless of the severity of crop damage, that’s not an image that would do hunters or hunting any good.

There are just over 13 million residents in Pennsylvania, and the vast majority of them don’t hunt. Also, most of them aren’t vehemently opposed to hunting, but legalizing the killing of fawns is a good way to transform non-hunters into anti-hunters.

And I guarantee the anti-hunters will take those images of dead fawns to their legislators and demand that something be done, and hunters won’t like the result.

Let’s not forget, we as hunters are a very small minority in this state, and the country in general. We need to keep the non-hunting public on our side, and that means holding ourselves to a higher standard. Intentionally killing nursing does and fawns destroys any kind of standard.

Beyond the potential public image nightmare of a July 1 start date, Koppenhafer also brought up another fact that should bother us all: shooting does in the middle of summer equates to the intentionally orphaning fawns that can’t survive on their own.

As Schnupp said, it’s already occurring with an Aug. 1 start date, and it would happen even more in July.

But what does it actually look like when a fawn is orphaned before it’s weaned?

It’s not pretty. A young fawn that loses its mother will die from starvation, dehydration, stress-induced pneumonia or even predation as it wanders around bleating out of distress.

Still, after knowing all this, the majority of the commissioners supported the earlier July 1 start for ag tag.

Commissioner Dennis Fredericks tried to justify the move by saying ag tag hunting only occurs on farms, and not all over the place.

“It’s a culling program on a very localized basis,” he said, adding the conflict between farmers and deer is one that needs to be solved.

But what Fredericks and the other commissioners who supported the amendment forget is it doesn’t matter if the occurrence is relegated to farms or statewide. It only takes one picture of a dead fawn appearing on social media to ignite a firestorm against hunting.

Perhaps more importantly, any hunter with an ounce of ethics would know that’s wrong to shoot does and fawns before weaning takes place.

Commissioner Mike Mitrick suggested a good compromise – move the start date for ag tag to Aug. 15, and push back the end date from April 15 to May 1.

Unfortunately, the original amendment to start the ag tag season on July 1 passed, with only Koppenhafer, Mitrick and Todd Pride voting against it.

Fortunately, later in the meeting, Schnupp asked the board to reconsider the vote so agency staff could further evaluate the matter, and the commissioners agreed.

There’s no dispute that crop damage is a serious issue and lawful, ethical hunting opportunities can help.

But there’s a fine line between hunting and killing. Shooting nursing does and letting the fawns die is the direct opposite of conservation and hunting, which is why starting the ag tag season on July 1 is an idea that should be left to die.