Anti's target PA youth hunters

[PABuck_HNTR]

Anti-hunting lawsuit targets youth program

Nothing is more important to hunting's future than getting young people involved in the sport.

Pennsylvania has seen a modest increase in junior hunters over the past couple of years, thanks largely to the Game Commission's decision to offer special youth seasons for deer, turkey, squirrel, pheasant and waterfowl.

''Junior hunting programs are what we're all about,'' agency spokesman Jerry Feaser said.

Not surprisingly, the commission is enthusiastic about Salisbury Township's proposed junior hunting program, which would allow kids 12-16 to hunt deer in portions of Riverside Park, a 500-acre wooded tract along the Lehigh River. Youth hunters would be limited to shotguns only and must be accompanied by a parent or other adult hunter.

The program is the brainchild of former Salisbury Commissioner Joe Emrick. He suggested it as way to get a handle on problems within the park, which has long been abused by illegal dumpers, vandals and ATV riders.

Emrick, an avid sportsman, said Salisbury also has problems with hunters using rifles in Riverside Park, despite an ordinance against rifle use on township property.

''There was a tremendous amount of criminal mischief,'' said Emrick, who spent more than a year developing the program and convincing the park's co-owners, Lehigh County and the City of Allentown, to sign off on it. ''Something needed to be done to protect and preserve this space.''

By creating a junior hunting program and issuing permits to participants, Emrick believes the township can provide a positive recreational opportunity for youth and curtail undesirable activities at the same time.

''You need to have good people doing good, productive things on that land,'' said Emrick, who who now lives in Upper Nazareth Township.

Feaser said Emrick's program meshes beautifully with the Game Commission's youth-hunting initiatives.

''When our parents were growing up, they could come home from school and hunt,'' Feaser said. ''Nowadays, you come home and there's nowhere to go hunt within a half hour's drive. That's why this "¦ situation is so excellent, because it provides a youth hunting opportunity close to the population.''

Unfortunately, that's far from the end of the story.

While the Game Commission sees Salisbury's program as a step in the right direction, Melissa Rudas sees it as ''a catastrophe waiting to happen.''

Rudas is the attorney for 48 Salisbury residents fighting to shut down the junior hunting program before it starts. They filed a lawsuit last fall, shortly after township commissioners authorized the program.

The suit has already stalled the program for a year. Local youngsters could again be denied a chance to hunt in the park this fall, pending the outcome of a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday before Judge Edward D. Reibman in Lehigh County Court.

Rudas said allowing kids to hunt in the park is unsafe for local homeowners and park users, such as hikers and kayakers.

''It's really common-sense, logical thinking,'' Rudas said.

Actually, its flawed logic. While accidents do happen, that doesn't make hunting inherently unsafe.

Last year, Pennsylvania hunters sustained 5.63 injuries per 100,000 participants, the lowest injury rate in 90 years of Game Commission records and far below national injury rates for more popular sports such as bicycling and football.

Rudas said her clients also worry that Salisbury's junior hunters won't be adequately supervised. She even suggested that groups of a dozen or more children might hunt with a single adult.

Can anyone say scare tactic? The township's ordinance doesn't specify how many youths an adult can accompany, but state law requires adult hunters to maintain visual contact and verbal control over junior hunters at all times. Doing this with more than a handful of kids would be virtually impossible.

In addition to safety concerns, Rudas contends Salisbury's ordinance establishing the junior hunting program is illegal because only the Game Commission has authority to establish hunting regulations.

Feaser said Rudas is misinterpreting existing case law. It's true that municipalities can't modify state game law by doing things such as creating their own seasons or allowing Sunday hunting.

In Salisbury's case, however, the township is merely acting as a landowner imposing hunting rules for its own property.

''Landowners can put in any kind of restrictions they want,'' Feaser said. ''It doesn't matter what landowner it is.''

In essence, the situation is no different from a farmer who imposes a few rules on hunters who want access to his land.

There are plenty of examples of government entities restricting hunting on their property. For example, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources restricts deer hunting at Tyler State Park in Bucks County to one day each year, even though the local deer season lasts for weeks. DCNR uses a lottery to award 125 hunting permits and requires participants to use shotguns loaded with buckshot.

Even the Game Commission imposes restrictions on hunters at its Middle Creek and Pymatuning wildlife areas, where controlled deer hunts are held each year. ''They're both in areas where you could use rifles for hunting,'' Feaser said, ''but we restrict it to the flintlock and late archery seasons.''

Despite the safety and regulatory issues raised in the lawsuit, Emrick and others contend the real motivation for the lawsuit is anti-hunting bias.

The lead plaintiff in the case is Virginia Wolfe, president of the Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition. Wolfe's group strongly opposes hunting. It has also protested the use of animal acts in circuses and last year called for the resignation of Allentown parks superintendent John Fasolka after a mute swan was euthanized at Lake Muhlenberg.

During a Salisbury Commissioners meeting last year, Wolfe publicly acknowledged her concerns about animals being killed in the park.

''That's their whole agenda,'' Emrick said, ''and they're trying to find legal loopholes to stop it.''


KEEP YOUR EYES ON THIS IF YOUR FROM PA....EVEN IF YOUR NOT THEY WILL BE TARGETING YOUR STATES TOO.... BASTARDS!

[Charlie P]

Thanks for the article very interesting.

[kevin1]

Maybe the good folks of Salisbury Township should just thumb their noses at the antis and take their kids hunting anyway . If the township doesn't officially sanction it as an event the court can't do anything . Unless there is an ordinance againt using a weapon within township limits it should be completely legal .