spring 2020 series 9, volume 4 oods aers · dr. bastian’s discovery that a newly found strain of...
TRANSCRIPT
SPRING 2020 series 9, volume 4
Woods & WaTersPennsylvania
The Official Publication of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania
BLUE-RIBBON TEAM OF BIO-MEDICAL SCIENTISTS ASSEMBLED TO RESOLVE CWD EPIDEMIC
continued on page 3
In March of last year, Dr. Frank Bastian joined with us to resolve what has become a national wild-life epidemic – chronic wasting disease. CWD now exists in 26 states and is doubling in Pennsylvania every year. From its epicenter in southcentral coun-ties it now extends near Pittsburgh to the west, exists within the northcentral elk range, reaches northeast-ward into the confluence of the Susquehanna River branches, and is moving eastward toward Allentown and Philadelphia. To date, there has been no means to control or even slow its spread.By April 2019, we had organized the North American CWD Project, a nonprofit effort to attack CWD head on by creating diagnostic test kits and vaccines to not only control CWD, but to finally begin the long road to erad-icate the disease from Pennsylvania and throughout America. Finding the perfect laboratory space in New Orleans (where Dr. Bastian has his base of operations) was a long 3-month process, and on June 1 we estab-lished our private lab on the campus of the University of New Orleans in UNO’s special research park called the Advanced Materials Research Institute. On March 1, 2020, we doubled the size of the lab to speed up CWD research and to prepare for research on human neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s.Dr. Bastian’s discovery that a newly found strain of bacteria is the real cause of CWD (and not misfolded proteins called prions) now permits us to use anti-
bodies in developing vaccines to stop CWD and save deer, elk, moose, caribou, reindeer, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep – animals that are in the cross-hairs of CWD and are at imminent risk of population collapse across the country. That means that after a half century of failed prion research that has not moved our understanding of CWD one inch closer to the finish line, we will soon be able to kill the CWD bacteria with antibiotics. This is being called the medical break-through of the century.When we announced Dr. Bastian’s discovery last year in the Rotunda of the Capitol, based on the new science information that we had at hand, we stated that we would have test kits and vaccines in about a year. While this prediction was accurate based on science, we had no idea at the time that the politics involved in introducing a new medical discovery would be so difficult to maneuver in the face of an estab-lished industry that had placed all its money on a prion theory. Our progress has been slowed in overcoming this hurdle but will soon resume full and rapid opera-tions to provide these test kits and vaccines possibly in less time than we had even predicted.Of great excitement, we have assembled a blue-ribbon team of biomedical experts who have peer-reviewed Dr. Bastian’s research and found that he has made the scientific discovery for which America had searched for 50 years toward solving CWD, and perhaps has
NORTH AMERICAN CWD PROJECT
By John Eveland, Director, North American CWD Project
SPRING 2019page 2
OFFICERS (5)PresidentPhil Wagner2020 Green Ridge RdMifflinburg, PA [email protected]
Vice PresidentPete Kingsley340 Hilltop RoadStrasburg, PA. 17579717-682-3999 (Cellular)[email protected]
TreasurerDoug Tyger184 Fairview Rd. Kersey, PA 15846-9210 [email protected]
SecretaryBlaine Toy152 5th St. Kittanning, PA 16201 724-545-1895 724-664-1674 (Cellular) [email protected]
Chairman of the BoardStephen MohrPO Box 103Bainbridge, PA 17502717-426-3193717-278-8542 (Cellular)[email protected]
USP OFFICERS & DIRECTORS 2019-2020
INSIDE THIS ISSUE1. North American CWD Project
Blue Ribbon Team of Bio-medical Scientists Assembled to Resolve CWD Epidemic
3. USP Salutes the Armed Forces
4. Developing Vaccines to Finally Control Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
REGIONAL DIRECTORS (6)NorthWest Regional Director Dan Weaver 151 VIP Dr., Suite 210 Wexford, PA 15090 724-814-7270 [email protected]
NorthCentral Regional Director Eric Stafford P.O. Box 93 Emporium, PA 15834-0093 814-546-2860 (Cellular) [email protected]
NorthEast Regional Director Ralph Saggiomo 1112 Pennsylvania Ave Sayre, PA 18840 570-888-4896 (Home) 570-596-3291 (Farm Phone) [email protected]
SouthWest Regional Director Randy Santucci 121 Beaver Grade Road McKees Rocks, PA 15136 412-787-0747 412-760-1492 (Cellular) [email protected]
SouthCentral Regional Director Mike Strickhouser PO Box 449 Biglerville, PA 17307 717-677-6737 [email protected]
SouthEast Regional Director Ronald Cramer 412 Martic Heights Drive Holtwood, PA 17532 717-572-0380 (Cellular) [email protected]
DIRECTORS AT LARGE (1) Jim Wagner 153 Witmer Road Lancaster, PA 17602 717-644-5584 [email protected]
(2) Ron Benjamin 5792 Lambs Creek Road Mansfield, PA 16933 570-662-7680 [email protected]
(3) Lon Strayer 60 Pine St Dillsburg, PA 17019 717-576-4072 [email protected]
(4) Eugene O. Stafford 215 N. Cottage Avenue Connellsville, PA 15425 724-628-1986 [email protected]
(5) Joe Clement 630 East Fulton Street Lancaster, PA 17602 717-341-4945 [email protected]
(6) Wayne Haas 2799 Old 220 Rd. Howard, PA 16841 814-933-1328 717-856-5848 (Cellular) [email protected]
(7) John Tarbay 900 McAteer St. Houtzdale, PA 16651 814-378-7261 814-577-5370 (Cellular) [email protected] update this list, please contact Blaine [email protected]
(REV. 11/11/19)
USP OFFICIAL ADDRESSUnified Sportsmen of PennsylvaniaPO Box 125Bainbridge, PA 17502USP MEMBERSHIP DIVISION USP Membership530 4th AvenueSutersville, PA 15083
PA W&W EditorBlaine M. [email protected]
5. Facts About CWD vs. Human Health
5. July Cash Raffle
6. President’s Message
7. The Future of Fishing isn’t Foremost for the PA Fish & Boat Commission
7. USP is Here for the Sportsmen
8. Saturday Deer Opener Follow Up
9. Shows/Events 2020
10. Hunters Survey
11. USP State Membership Meeting
PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 3
North American CWD Project ...continued from cover
discovered the answer to numerous human diseases that have taken millions of human lives and have befud-dled the science community for many generations. Dr. Bastian is the director of our Bastian Laboratory for Neurological Disease Research and leader of our newly formed team of experts. Their goal is to under-stand the dynamics of the bacterial infection and, espe-cially, to learn exactly the mechanism by which these tiny microbes gain access to healthy brain cells and rapidly kill them. We are now nearly certain that the microbes use proteins as receptors to enter brain cells, and in so doing cause the misfolding of the proteins. Therefore, what mainstream researchers have labeled as prions are actually byproducts of the bacterial infec-tion. As soon as antibodies are identified, we can begin to develop test kits and vaccines.Our team of expert Biomedical collaborators includes a Professor of Pathobiological Sciences at LSU’s School of Veterinary Medicine, a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Tulane School of Medi-cine who is expert in peptides and protein folding, a Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Tulane School of Medicine who is expert at generating anti-bodies to the CWD spiroplasma isolate for use in developing diagnostic live testing for CWD, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at Tulane School of Medicine and CEO of a company
that specializes in receptor biology and the develop-ment of DNA diagnostic probes. He will evaluate the nature of the CWD spiroplasma isolate and its rela-tionship to the prion. He will be involved in developing a workable diagnostic test for CWD based upon our extraction of nucleic acids from the CWD spiroplasma isolate. The President and CEO of another company will make polyclonal antibodies to develop diagnostic tests for CWD.The overall project is administered from Pennsylvania by John Eveland who is the director and co-investigator of the project, and lead scientist for management, field testing, and implementation of diagnostic and treat-ment products. It is important to note that whereas mainstream time and money over the past half century have been spent almost exclusively on research, our project includes all three phases that are needed to resolve the epidemic – research, vaccines develop-ment, and implementation of test kits and vaccines in the field to contain the disease.Since assembling our team last fall, expert medical staff from four additional universities and two more private biomedical companies have joined the team. Please be sure to review our project at: www.northamericancwdproject.org and on Unified’s website at www.gousp.org.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO THANK OUR DISABLED VETERANS, WOUNDED WARRIORS, MIA’S & POW’S
USP SUPPORTS OUR POLICE, FIREMEN, USP SUPPORTS OUR POLICE, FIREMEN, AND EVERY BRANCH OF OUR WONDERFUL AND EVERY BRANCH OF OUR WONDERFUL MILITARY. WE THANK THEM FOR THEIR MILITARY. WE THANK THEM FOR THEIR
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“PROUD TO BE AMERICAN”“PROUD TO BE AMERICAN”
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PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 4
The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania [USP] needs your help! As many of you know, Dr. Frank Bastian has made the medical discovery of the century – that CWD and other neurological diseases of animals and humans are caused by a previously unknown bacteria, and not by a prion. To advance this research, USP entered into an agreement with Dr. Bastian to assist him in developing diagnostic kits for hunters to immediately test their deer in the woods for CWD infection and to develop vaccines to finally control CWD. Last June, we set him up at a private laboratory that’s located in a research park at the University of New Orleans. USP is a part of the lease and we have been financing the lease and all operations of Bastian Laboratory for Neurolog-ical Disease Research. We call the overall project the North American CWD Project, and our goal is to create test kits and vaccines to finally control and hopefully eradicate CWD while there is still time. This whole project is administered from Pennsylvania, and we play a vital role in the success of the project.Our lab will also cure scrapie disease in sheep and goats, Mad Cow disease, and hopefully a whole series of related neurological diseases of humans including Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), Parkin-son’s, ALS, and Alzheimer’s. I can’t begin to tell you the significance of what USP is now involved in at state and national levels. At this time, we have taken the national leadership role toward curing CWD. Mainstream university and government research have failed to move the bar even one inch closer to controlling CWD over the past half century. In addition to Dr. Bastian and his team at the lab, we have assembled a blue-ribbon team of expert scien-tists from the medical departments at the University of New Orleans, Tulane, LSU, and five other universi-ties plus private companies. Starting March 2020, USP has agreed to expand the size of our lab in New Orleans to fast-track research and vaccine development. It’s our goal to have CWD test kits and vaccines online in about a year, but that depends on funding. USP has been trying to get major private or government funding of up to
$2-6 million (a small price to finally cure CWD and a series of human brain diseases that continues to kill millions of Americans each year), and while we are moving forward, it is a slow pace in a politi-cally charged environment that has supported prion research for 40 years. USP is not alone in fund raising. Our partners are the Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League, Sinnema-honing Sportsmen, Pennsylvania State Camp Asso-ciation, and others. But we need more help!To help USP keep the lights on at our laboratory and help us save deer and elk, we are asking our members, the members of our partner organizations, and all citizens of Pennsylvania to donate any amount of money and especially on a monthly basis. An example would be $5-10 a month or maybe $30-50 per month. At $30 per month, this would only be a dollar a day that would go far toward a final cure for CWD. You do the math - 1000 supporting members times $30.00 a month equals $30,000.00 per month, and 1000 camps and clubs at $90.00 or $100.00 a month equals $ $90,000.00 TO $100,000.00 a month toward curing CWD. This sure would help!You can set up such a donation plan by going to our website (www.gousp.org). If you have ques-tions, please call me at (717) 682-3999 or USP’s treasurer, Doug Tyger, at (814) 594-6238. How many times have we said as kids that we wanted to grow up and save the world? WELL, NOW YOU CAN!
DEVELOPING VACCINES TO FINALLY CONTROL CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE (CWD)
By Pete Kingsley, Vice President
SPRING 2019page 5
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2 - $100 12 - $100 22 - $100
3 - $100 13 - $100 23 - $100
4 - $100 14 - $100 24 - $100
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Officially, the mainstream CWD community states that while CWD represents a possible risk to humans, no human cases of CWD have been confirmed to date. Below is a list of facts which should offer concern regarding the relationship of CWD-causing bacteria and human health.(1) An ongoing study by Canadian and German scien-tists has announced in a preliminary report that not only squirrel monkeys, but also macaques (one of the closest primate-relatives to humans), were infected from eating the meat of CWD-infected deer.(2) It is estimated that there are currently 7,000 to 15,000 CWD-infected deer that are eaten by humans every year. Considering that meat from each of these infected deer could be distributed to and ingested by numerous family members and friends of each hunter, then it is possible that upwards of 30,000 to 100,000 people are eating CWD-infected deer every year. Accordingly, Wisconsin is conducting a long-term study of 1,000 people who are known to have ingested infected venison.(3) Humans have been infected by eating beef that was infected with Mad Cow disease. It is believed that the bacterium that causes Mad Cow disease is the same spiroplasma bacterium that causes CWD.(4) A human-related form of CWD is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). This always fatal neurodegenerative human disease is known to have incubation periods
of years and even decades before manifesting symp-toms, at which time death usually occurs in less than a year. Dr. Bastian has isolated the same spiroplasma bacterium from deceased CJD patients as causes CWD in deer and scrapie disease in sheep and goats.(5) In the past, there have been an estimated average 350 cases of identifiable Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) patients every year in America. However, studies have determined that a minimum of 15% of Alzheimer’s cases are misdiagnosed and actually have CJD. Dr. Bastian has discovered that CJD is caused by the same novel spiroplasma bacterium that also causes CWD and scrapie disease in sheep and goats. Considering that there are an estimated 500,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s disease in America every year, then the 15% who are misdiagnosed represent about 75,000 people every year who have CJD instead of Alzheimer’s disease. With adequate and timely funding, our North American CWD Project and Bastian Laboratory in Louisiana will develop diagnostic hunter test kits to prevent humans from eating CWD-infected venison and will design antibiotic vaccines to prevent and cure CWD and related human neurological diseases. It is, therefore, possible that in a few years our research lab could prevent up to 75,000 people every year from acquiring CJD and misdiagnosed Alzheimer’s disease and 7-8 million people worldwide with a treatment as simple as an antibiotic vaccine.
Co-authored by Steve Mohr & Pete Kingsley
FACTS ABOUT CWD VS HUMAN HEALTH
PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 6
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE By Phil Wagner
“I AM SO UPSET RIGHT NOW THAT MY BLOOD PRESSURE IS PROBABLY HIGHER THAN EVER”!
That is the comment I made after I heard in late December that the Pennsylvania Game Commission was discussing having two weeks of concurrent buck and doe season across the state in 2020. I had a letter to the editor published in the February 14th issue of Pennsylvania Outdoor News about my oppo-sition as well.The Commissioners believe that they can jump start the sale of hunting licenses in Pennsylvania by giving the hunters both bucks and does to harvest for the entire season, again. They did this before in 2000 or 2001 for several years even after hunters across the state protested the two week concurrent season. After a year or two and the herd was drastically reduced. That reduction in the whitetail deer population caused thou-sands of Pennsylvania hunters to quit hunting due to lack of deer. Some places in the Northern counties were so bad that there wasn’t a hunting population. Much of that area still has very few deer on public lands, including Union and Centre Counties where I was raised hunting deer from our cabin with my grandfather, father, brother, uncle, cousin and several friends.We haven’t hunted deer from our cabin for at least the past 12 years or longer. We do hunt bear from camp with a gang and usually hunt all four days and make on average 12 drives in those four days. Over the past eight years or so on average all of the hunters in the gang see about 10 to 12 deer on those four days. That means we see 1.25 or 1.5 deer per drive on each drive on public land. The PGC Commissioners have no idea how many deer are on State Forest Land or State Game Lands and it doesn’t do any good for the hunters to try and tell them because they just won’t listen. They say they can control the reduction of deer by lowering the number of antlerless licenses they sell. We all know the outcome of that reduction - probably more, not less!The problem on DCNR State Forest Lands is habitat. It is the same as it was twenty years ago, we still have no habitat, and it’s not because the deer are eating everything. The forest is over grown and needs to be cut or burned to open up the forest floor. There is very little feed and if we don’t have acorns, it is really bad here in Union County. The deer and other animals
go to where the feed is and that means they go to the valleys or the farmers’ fields and once they get there they don’t go back to the mountains.I have had the opportunity for the past eight years to hunt deer on a small parcel of private land here in Union County and have harvested several nice bucks. This past year, I went out on the Friday before the Saturday opener to look things over and I talked to the landowner next door to where I have permission to hunt. He told me he spent eight days hunting in archery season and only saw one deer and that there weren’t many deer around. The next morning, I went to my spot and started seeing deer shortly after daylight. In 2018, I didn’t see a deer in a day and a half but this year I was seeing a lot of deer. At 10:15 Saturday morning, I ended my deer season, killing a really nice 9 point. I had only heard three shots within ¼ of a mile of me until the time I fired my rifle. After the season was over, I talked to the same landowner I had talked with before season and he told me he only saw one deer in the two weeks of deer season, imagine that!The PGC Commissioners are also in favor of changing the law that if you have four antlerless tags and six deer come past you, you can just keep shooting until you have put four on the ground. The sport is deer hunting, not deer slaughter. How are you going to track wounded deer and get all those dead deer out of the woods? Don’t be afraid to speak your opinion. Once they approve it in early April, it will be too late.We must stop the two week concurrent season and multiple killings by sending letters to the PGC at: Penn-sylvania Game Commission, Attn: Commissioners, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797 and calling the Governor’s Office at 717-787-2500 and telling his aid that the Governor needs to put a stop to this proposed two week concurrent season and multiple killings.We also need to tell the PGC Commissioners, State Legislators and the Governor that we want the Monday opener back for the start of deer season because Saturday just doesn’t work for a number of reasons for the majority of hunters.These changes just don’t make any sense and the hunters need to stand together and protest these proposals.
PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 7
THE USP IS HERE FOR THE SPORTSMEN.
By Blaine M. Toy USP SecretaryUnited Sportsmen of PA need your help. Currently we are strongly involved in curing CWD to help save our hunting heritage, and opposing the Saturday opener that has done considerable harm to the Northern tier camps and businesses. Please join USP and help save our hunting/ fishing heritage. Please encourage all your Sportsmen & Sports-women if they are not members to join USP to help fight the Pennsylvania Game Commission for our Sportsmen’s rights. One purpose of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania is to bring attention to important issues relating to hunting, fishing, trapping, property rights, and shooting. To help keep our members informed we distribute this newsletter.USP has an email alert program to keep our members-up-to-date on important issues. Ensure you give us an email address when signing up.
By Doug Tyger, President East Fork Sportsmen’s Club
Trout Unlimited has a plan that wants to see every stream possible to be categorized as Class A. This means that the stream can reproduce native brook trout and/or brown trout. Most of the reason that these streams are being able to reproduce is not the water quality or anything to do with habitat, but that there is less fishing pressure then there was in the past. So now the streams are not allowed to be stocked. The PFBC is adopting that goal and eventually getting out of having to stock trout. Now this may not sound all that bad, but what it means is that the size of the trout and the number of trout available to catch are both smaller. This means kids starting to fish for trout are less likely to catch any trout. Is that going to get or keep a kid inter-ested in fishing?The reclassification of the East Fork of the Sinnema-honing Creek has limited my club, East Fork Sports-men’s Club, ability to keep fishermen happy. Now most of East Fork has been classified A and limits as to where we can stock the rainbow trout we raise as a coop nursery. This in turn has cost us members every time they would take a section of stream from us and that cost us money which we need to raise the trout. The previous time when they reclassified section 3, we did a letter writing campaign. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears. Is this attitude going to keep fishermen buying license?Near my camp they just expanded the keystone select delayed harvest artificial lure only section along route 872. The expansion doesn’t bother me as much as the original section which was next to the road in most locations and in the other part it had 3 easy access points. This made the area Ideal for kids, handicapped, and senior fishermen. Instead it is used most by 20 to 60-year-old fishermen who don’t need the ease of access as the other groups do. Is this a way to encourage the young and keep the older fishermen?Now those three examples are bad enough but in their infinite wisdom the PFBC has forced a long-time kid’s fishing derby to move. The Sinnemahoning Sportsmen Association has held a kid’s fishing derby in Brooks Run for decades. This past year the classification of the lower end of Brooks Run was changed to A. I had
THE FUTURE OF FISHING ISN’T FOREMOST FOR THE PA FISH & BOAT COMMISSION.
a conversation with the PFBC fisheries management and was assured that the kid’s fishing derby would be grandfathered in. Well that was correct the PFBC did grandfather it in, but with so many limitations that it made it unfeasible to hold it at Brooks Run. They limited the length of stream down to where the approx-imately 200 kids would have to take turns to fish and literally stand on each other. They limited the number of rainbow trout to 125 not even enough for 1 per kid. So, the Sinnemahoning Sportsmen will be moving the derby to May Hollow Sportsmen’s pond. Is this the way to promote fishing?So how will any of this generate future fishing license sales? Will all this good will by the PFBC even keep the fishermen that they have? The PFBC seem to be their own worst enemy.
PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 8
continued on page 9
A few months back, a press release was done iden-tifying negative aspects from changing the rifle deer season opener, moving it from the Monday after Thanksgiving to the Saturday prior. This is a follow up identifying how the main reason for this change, to increase hunting license sales, and stimulate youth sales, failed almost completely in targeted categories. The earlier press release revealed the damages to businesses that historically identified that weekend as one of their top sales weekends, and many non-profit organizations and first responder fundraising events were negatively affected or cancelled. Thanksgiving family conflicts unfolded for many hunters and camp hunters, making up 25% of hunters mostly opposed the change. This and other strong statewide opposition data were levied against this change. From the onset, these aspects made the Saturday opener seem like the juice was not worth the squeeze, and the failure to increase hunting license sales in targeted categories now validates that claim. Here are the specifics from The Pennsylvania Game Commission staff data presented in January. These poor license sales outcomes were presented to The
SATURDAY DEER OPENER FOLLOW UPBy Randy Santucci
House Game and Fisheries Committee at the Hearing held on February 20th in Charleroi, Pa.Collectively all four youth sales categories dropped again from 2018 by 2,613 licenses.Resident Adult sales also declined from 2018 by 4,282 licenses.The 18-34-year-old category did increase, but only by 1079 licenses or .56%. The caveat attached to this small uptake in sales is, we don’t know actually what caused it. Peripheral license sales not included in the general license total were up strongly from 2018, by over 58,500 collectively. Bear licenses increased 27,174, Muzzleloader licenses increased 5,182, Archery licenses increased 6,022. 16,622 hunters applied for the new archery elk permits, and Pheasant permits were up 3,551. As you see these 5 categories and a few lesser changes, all having little to nothing to do with the new Saturday deer opener, remands they certainly stirred hunter interest and participation. The Saturday opener can only claim a portion of the
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ISLAND EXOTIC HUNTS
SPRING 2019page 9
minor 1079 license sales increase. What portion is again unknown, but as small an uptake as this 1079 is, any reduction in this number further exacerbates its already insignificant stature.The 18-21-year-old category made up 1067 of the 1079 18-34-year-old categories. Subtracting the latter from the former leaves only 12 licenses sold in the 22-34 age group STATEWIDE! The significance here, if not blatantly obvious, is the Game Commis-sion board claimed younger hunters entering the early years of their careers, would have no time or little vacation to partake in the Monday deer season opener, and the Saturday opener would benefit them. Can you think of a better representative group of younger hunters entering the workforce than 22-34-year old’s? This was another PGC theory that was proven to be badly mistaken about the Monday opener….again 12 LICENSES!License sales fluctuate annually up and down for no apparent reason. They actually increased 5 times in the last 11 years. 3 prior periods in license sales history, license sales went up following a 3 consecutive year loss nearly identical to what we just experienced. The .4% increase this year could have happened all on its own, and for no apparent reason as historical data shows, but regardless, one license category, completely uninfluenced by the Saturday opener, can be removed from the general sales total and bring
this year’s total sales back into the loss category. The Resident Adult Senior Combo Renewal category has increased steadily the last 9 years between 3,101 to 4,921 each year. This category followed the trend again in 2019 increasing by 3,769 licenses. Trend analysis and understanding this group of senior hunters likely cared little on what day the opener fell is a valid claim. The PGC has trumpeted “License sales up after Saturday opener”. This narrative is misleading at best, intentionally misleading at worst. License sales failed to increase targeted categories significantly or at all. This strongly supports other factors like the bear season running concurrent with the first week of rifle buck season in 16 management units, early muzzle-loader bear and extended archery bear that culmi-nated in an all-time Pa. bear harvest record, combined with all the other peripheral changes in seasons and regulations drove where we ended up. In summation, license sales did not begin to justify the damage to the aspects mentioned in the first press release and earlier in this article. The juice indeed was not worth the squeeze. The final PGC board vote to continue the Saturday opener is in early April, discussions will unfold in March. Send you comments to [email protected] and contact your legislator and House and Senate Game and Fisheries committee members with your position.
SHOWS/EVENTS 2020Central PA Outdoor & Sports Show
Expo II 5615 Park St.
Clearfield, PA 16830 March 20 – 22, 2020
Important CWD Forum: United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania will hold
an open forum discussion on CWD.
12:00 PM Saturday March 21, 2020.
Third Annual 2020 Outdoor Expo & Sportsman’s Flea Market Westmoreland Fairgrounds
April 4 - 5, 2020
Sinnemahoning Snake Hunt 15 Club Rd., Driftwood, PA
June 13 - 14, 2020
48th Annual Cross Fork Snake Hunt Fire Hall Cross Fork PA
June 27 - 28, 2020
KECA Elk Expo 134 Homestead Dr.., Benezette PA
August 15 - 16, 2020
Flaming Foliage Festival Renovo, PA
October 9 - 11, 2020
For additional information check our website at wwwgousp.org/events.htm
Saturday Deer Opener Follow Up... continued from page 8
PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 10
HUNTERS SURVEY Please copy this survey and give to all your hunting buddies. Then mail to PGC (2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797), PA Game & Fisheries Committees, and your representatives, make you voices heard.
The PGC has experimented with season changes not supported by most of their customers (License buying Hunters & Sportsmen). That was apparent when they changed the traditional Monday deer season to the Saturday after Thanksgiving. All hunter surveys and contacts to the agency strongly opposed this change, but the PGC did it anyway. This March 2020, discussions about this are being revisited, and a final vote whether to continue the Saturday opener will be in early April.
Sportsmen have given up testifying at PGC meetings, but it’s time we stood up and expressed out opinions to our representatives.
Below are a few items of interest:
Changing deer opener back to Monday! _____ _____ _______ Yes No No Opinion
No Concurrent buck & doe seasons! _____ _____ _______ Yes No No Opinion
Return to 2 weeks Buck 3 days doe! _____ _____ _______ Yes No No Opinion
Eliminate Antler restrictions! _____ _____ _______ Yes No No Opinion
Support Bacteria CWD research ! _____ _____ _______ Yes No No Opinion
_________________________ ____________________________ Name Address
_________________________ ____________________________ City State Zip Hunter CID number, to show you hunt
HUNTERS SURVEY
PENNSYLVANIA WOODS & WATERS page 11
PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE
PAIDCARLISLE, PA
PERMIT NO. 485
UNIFIED SPORTSMENOF PENNSYLVANIA
PO BOX 125BAINBRIDGE, PA 17502
www.unifiedsportsmenpa.org
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION - Or join online aT www.gousp.orgNAME _______________________________________
ADDRESS ____________________________________
CITY___________________ STATE_____ ZIP ________
COUNTY________________ PHONE ________________
EMAIL ______________________________________
Please remit payment to:
USP Membership 530 4th Avenue
Sutersville, PA 15083
QUESTIONS? Contact
MEMBERSHIPIndividual: 1 Year $20 2 Years $35 3 Years $50 Individual Lifetime Member $250
Sportsmen’s Club: 1 year $100 2 years $175 3 years $250
Corporate: Platinum $10,000 Diamond $5,000 Gold $2,500 Silver $1,000
Hunting Camp $30 Business $50 Total $ ____________