Although state game land parking lots saw overcrowding earlier this year, as people sought relief from coronavirus confinement in the outdoors, the Pennsylvania Game Commission isn’t expecting similar problems during the upcoming hunting seasons.
Peter Sussenbach, director of the Bureau of Wildlife Habitat Management, was just off a call with five of the commission’s six land management supervisors on just that subject on Tuesday.
“It was apparently a bigger issue earlier on, but none of them felt that it will be a challenge during hunting season, even the earlier seasons,” he said.
The hunting seasons never close on some species, like the groundhog, but the traditional launch of the fall hunting seasons are the early Canada goose and mourning dove seasons, which this year open on September 1.
Sussenbach added, “If there are issues that pop up across the state, we will have to look into them on a case by case basis.”
He explained, “Although many of them faced challenges earlier in the summer, this activity has tailed off quite a bit.
“Also, through diligent enforcement and signage placement, a greater awareness of what the state game land or wildlife management area is there for has helped as well.
“Bottom line is that none of the five regions on the call this morning felt there would be a problem with parking spaces for hunters on state game lands or wildlife management areas.”
The commission manages nearly 1.5 million acres in 309 state game lands, most of which have multiple parking lots.
“The primary purpose of these lands is the management of habitat for wildlife and provide opportunities for lawful hunting and trapping,” according to the commission. “Secondary recreational uses are permitted in accordance with the Game Commission’s regulations.”
Many hunters appear to be more concerned than the commission about what they will find as they head afield for the coming hunting seasons. Hunting groups on social media have been discussing the potential issues at length.
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources recently issued an overcrowding alert for several state parks and state forests.
“A number of state parks and forest recreation areas are seeing significant crowding during the weekends and when the weather is warm,” noted the notice posted on DCNR’s website.
“The extraordinary number of people is causing these places to turn away visitors. Overflow parking also may be closed to help ensure proper social distancing.”
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Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.