Here is a bit more.
By Christian Berg | Of The Morning Call
January 30, 2008
A proposed ban on virtually all rifle hunting in the Lehigh Valley was sent back to the drawing board Tuesday, and officials said it's unlikely any changes will occur this year.
The state Game Commission voted 6-1 to table a plan that would have expanded southeastern Pennsylvania's no-rifle hunting area to include nearly all of Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Although commissioners decided against moving the ban forward, they did grant preliminary approval to a significant boundary expansion of Wildlife Management Unit 5C -- a move that will dramatically increase archery and rifle deer-hunting opportunities for sportsmen in the upper Lehigh Valley.
Commissioner Gregory Isabella of Philadelphia, whose district includes the Lehigh Valley, said more time is needed to gather public input and evaluate proposed changes before deciding on the rifle-hunting ban.
Because of the need to complete 2008-09 hunting regulations at the commission's April meeting, Isabella said it's unlikely local firearm regulations will change before the 2009-10 season.
''I was inundated with people coming to me with serious concerns,'' said Isabella, who made the motion to table the vote. ''We need to do a little more thinking and make sure the proposal is correct.''
State Sen. Lisa M. Boscola, D-Northampton, was disappointed by the agency's inaction and questioned whether commissioners gave too much credence to a ''vocal minority'' of hunters.
''You get five or six people who say this is the way it should go, and all of a sudden, the commission tables it,'' said Boscola, a member of the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee. ''I just wish they would look at it not just from a hunter's perspective, but from a regional perspective.
''We are the third-largest metropolitan area in the state. It just prolongs the inevitable, and in the meantime, all I can do is pray nobody gets hurt.''
Boscola has advocated changes to local firearms regulations since 2004, when former North Whitehall Township resident Casey Kantner, then known as Casey Burns, was struck in the head by a stray rifle bullet fired by a deer hunter. The bullet struck Kantner, who was eight months pregnant at the time, as she sat in a vehicle in her driveway more than a half-mile away from the hunter. She was critically wounded but later recovered and delivered a health baby girl.
Franklin Hoffman, president of the Lehigh County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said he was pleased the issue was tabled, because most hunters weren't aware of the proposal until a week ago. He sent Isabella an e-mail to express concern about making a hasty decision.
''I feel sorry for that woman who got shot, but they've got to look at everything -- not just the pressure from Sen. Boscola or anything else,'' said Hoffman, whose organization represents 15 rod and gun clubs across the county.
''They didn't have any input from anybody, and for me to get back to 15 clubs and get their consensus of how they feel [that fast], it's ridiculous. The Game Commission has never listened to the people who are paying them. They don't want our input.''
The Kantner shooting spurred vigorous debate over whether the region's no-rifle hunting area -- confined to Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties -- should be expanded to include the Lehigh Valley. Deer hunters in the no-rifle area are limited to shotguns, muzzleloaders and archery equipment.
Isabella said most opposition to expanding the no-rifle area had nothing to do with deer hunting.
He said the most common complaint came from groundhog and coyote hunters who said the new rules, which would have limited all rifle hunting in the area to less powerful .22-caliber rimfires, would make it virtually impossible to pursue their sports because .22 rimfires lack the range and killing power.
Commission President Roxane Palone of Greene County heard similar complaints from sportsmen in her district, where the proposal would have expanded the no-rifle area from just Allegheny County near Pittsburgh to include parts of Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
Carl Roe, commission executive director, said agency employees will take the next several months to evaluate concerns before coming back with a revised proposal.
Commissioners granted preliminary approval to a related proposal to expand the size of Wildlife Management Unit 5C to include more of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks and Chester counties, plus a small section of Lancaster County.
If commissioners complete the expansion in April, the unit would encompass all of the Lehigh Valley except a small sliver of land along the Blue Mountain.
In supporting the wider unit, officials cited rapid development throughout the Lehigh Valley and Reading areas and the need to manage wildlife differently in urban and suburban areas.
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