HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania hunters would vote on whether rifle deer season opens on a Saturday or a Monday under a proposal a western Pennsylvania lawmaker sent to fellow House members Oct. 1.
The plan would give hunters a fight that two Lehigh Valley lawmakers want settled by law, favoring the Monday opening day that was tradition for generations until 2019. Nothing changes this fall: the bill has not been filed, and the season opens Nov. 28, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
State Rep. Carl Metzgar, a Republican from Somerset County, laid out the plan in a memo asking other lawmakers to sign on. Anyone buying a resident hunting license could answer one optional question: Should rifle deer season open on the Saturday or the Monday after Thanksgiving?
The Pennsylvania Game Commission, which sets hunting seasons, would count the answers and make the winning day the rule for 10 years. License buyers would vote again in the ninth year.
“This approach would provide long-term certainty and help settle a debate that has persisted for years, while still allowing the hunting community to revisit the issue as opinions and traditions change over time,” Metzgar wrote.
The Game Commission said the decision should stay with its board. “We appreciate and share the desire to do what’s best for the hunters of Pennsylvania, but we believe that wildlife management decisions should be made by the Board of the Game Commission,” John Buffone, the agency’s press secretary, told the Erie Times-News by email.
As of Tuesday, the Legislature’s website showed that Metzgar had not filed the bill. Any bill that does not become law before the two-year session ends Nov. 30 dies and has to be filed again.
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Democrat who represents parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties, would skip the vote and bring Monday back by law. She is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 391, which has been in a Senate committee since March 2025.
“Local business owners and hunters seem aligned that the move of opening day has hurt businesses and many of the traditions associated with the longstanding original opening day,” Boscola wrote in a memo asking colleagues to back the bill.
State Rep. Ann Flood, a Northampton County Republican, signed on to a House bill that would do the same. House Bill 70 has been in committee since January 2025.
Another bill would split the state, and the Lehigh Valley would not get Monday. House Bill 1659, by state Rep. Eric Davanzo, a Westmoreland County Republican, would open the season on Monday in four of the Game Commission’s nine districts and on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in the other five.
Lehigh and Northampton counties are in the Saturday group, which would open the season here a week earlier than it does now. That bill has been in committee since June 2025.
Each side points to a Game Commission survey. A 2021 survey, taken after the switch to Saturday, found that 60% of respondents supported Saturday opening day and 27% opposed it; Hunter Nation, which backs Saturday, wrote in comments prepared for lawmakers. Opening Day Sportsmen, a group that wants Monday back, said in written testimony that 65% of hunters favored Monday in earlier commission surveys.