00:00 - Your Andy, thank you.

00:01 - And good afternoon, everybody.

00:03 - Good to see you.

00:04 - Is a pleasure always to to be together here in progress days.

00:09 - But I think, particularly at this moment, given because the last time we convened,

00:14 - it was cold, and we did not have solutions.

00:19 - Right. We come, we've come a long way.

00:21 - And I just want to acknowledge,

00:22 - the coalition that came together to really focus on the problem

00:27 - and that coalition, you know, is the Game Commission.

00:30 - It's the hunters, it's the Farm Bureau, it's the farm ers.

00:34 - It's a General Assembly. It's a governor.

00:37 - It's a lot of great advocates, you know, who just saw,

00:40 - what what the title of this, is all about.

00:44 - It's that balance between sort of agriculture and, our wildlife and,

00:50 - we were here earlier

00:51 - today talking about the balance between agriculture and the environment.

00:55 - This is another dimension to that, right?

00:56 - And probably, it's complicated of just how do you manage this landscape,

01:02 - where you have, an economic enterprise of the agriculture

01:06 - balanced against, you know, a wild, a wild herd, right?

01:12 - There's a lot of deer.

01:13 - And as I said in January at the Farm Show, there's this convergence of things

01:18 - we don't often talk about.

01:19 - It is that you have, a number of hunters, right?

01:23 - On a decrease or at least a plateau.

01:27 - You have land.

01:29 - That is, supporting the wildlife.

01:35 - But increasingly we have folks who post that land.

01:38 - Right.

01:39 - And there's a challenge in that because we want it both ways.

01:42 - Right?

01:43 - We want to be able to protect it, but also reserve

01:44 - or for for my family or friends or whatever.

01:47 - But in all of that, we see the impacts where you have,

01:52 - significant crop losses occurring, you have significant

01:55 - sort of economic pressures already existing inside of agriculture.

02:00 - Magna side by deer damage.

02:02 - And so what's the solution to that?

02:05 - And part of that solution is increasing the access and opportunity, which we

02:09 - we saw in the legislation, increasing the,

02:12 - confidence that landowners would have, should have for those who are accessing

02:18 - but making it as easy as possible to, harvest

02:22 - those deer that that, are done in partnership.

02:26 - And then being really mindful that we have

02:29 - a need for, good protein.

02:32 - I always like to put it out there because it motivates me, in our family to hunt.

02:37 - We've got plenty.

02:40 - But there are a lot of those folks in my community and around me at home

02:44 - who do not.

02:45 - And one way, simple way for us to sort of satisfy

02:48 - that is through the hunter share in the harvest.

02:50 - So I think it's this perfect convergence of the need for landowners.

02:54 - The need for farms, the increase opportunity for for hunters

02:58 - to access and harvest, being mindful that we do this

03:02 - in, in a symbiotic way between the environment hunters

03:06 - and those in our communities who are, who are hungry,

03:09 - but we do that all in the public space.

03:11 - And the amazing thing to me is the, the, the folks have come together

03:16 - to allow that to be, to be possible in a really short span of time.

03:21 - Right.

03:21 - And I think that's a credit to, to many, it's about compromise.

03:25 - It's about good public process.

03:27 - That produces a really important, important result.

03:30 - So thank you all for being here.

03:32 - Thanks for the support.

03:34 - In this effort, thanks to the governor and the legislature and teams

03:38 - that came together, to, to allow this moment to happen.

03:41 - So look forward to the conversation. And, thank you.

03:45 - Thank you, Secretary Redding.

03:46 - All right, next up, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau president Chris Hoffman.

03:50 - President Hoffman.

03:51 - Well, thank you, Andy, and it is an honor to be here,

03:54 - representing over 26,000 farmers across Pennsylvania.

03:59 - And, you know, as I,

04:02 - I was driving in here this morning, I was watching, a couple of the,

04:07 - the farmers out there

04:08 - tending the hay and looking at the crops that were out there and and looking

04:14 - at some of the newest technology that we have.

04:18 - And we come here and we celebrate, you know,

04:21 - AG process progressing, you know, going forward.

04:25 - And then I get to travel around the state and I get to see

04:29 - all those great new seeds, those new hybrids,

04:34 - those new bio crops

04:36 - that don't seem to perform like they do around the fence.

04:40 - And, you know, it's been one of those,

04:44 - number one issues since I became president three years ago

04:49 - that, wildlife damage was one of the the biggest concerns,

04:54 - one of the biggest concerns

04:55 - our members had when we would pull them and ask them, right.

04:59 - And so I think about,

05:02 - you know, where we started and where we are today.

05:05 - It is it's just miraculous to see how we've been able to move forward,

05:11 - how we've been able to come together as a coalition,

05:15 - not only with the Game

05:18 - Commission, with the secretary and his department.

05:21 - Was Hunter sharing the harvest.

05:23 - But even the hunting groups, as they've come along with this, right.

05:27 - And and have shared the same vision, understanding that

05:31 - that farmers, farmers have needs and that we have the ability

05:36 - to put our heads together and to really work

05:39 - as a team to solve and come up with solutions.

05:43 - And so when I think about that, this last six months, eight months

05:47 - since the Farm Show, the amount of movement

05:51 - and, success that we've been able to see has been just miraculous.

05:56 - It's it's phenomenal to see, what we've been able to do as a team.

06:01 - And I just, you know, first want to say thank you to everyone

06:05 - who has, has worked really, really hard

06:07 - to be a part of the solution because I think that's what it is.

06:11 - Are we going to be totally there?

06:14 - Probably not.

06:15 - We got to have more tools, right?

06:17 - We got to have more opportunities.

06:19 - But, you know, as we look at where we were just

06:23 - eight months ago to today,

06:26 - you know, we've got new legislation that was passed that farmers.

06:30 - Yeah.

06:31 - We were known to be holding up Sunday morning.

06:34 - It was the Farm Bureau, anyone will tell you that.

06:37 - But we we needed a few things, too.

06:39 - We needed some trespassing laws that that helped with our biosecurity.

06:44 - We needed to make sure we were doing that.

06:45 - We needed, to make sure that farmers had different tools

06:51 - being able to remove the deer from the fields or the, bear or whatever.

06:57 - Right.

06:57 - And so we worked at trying to make sure that that as we move forward,

07:03 - we were able to, check the boxes that really needed to be checked.

07:08 - And so, for us, as a, as a farm bureau,

07:11 - we're, we're extremely proud of where we are today.

07:15 - With the opportunity, I have,

07:18 - been able to, to spend some time with the game commission, and

07:23 - I've really enjoyed the time together because,

07:26 - the collaboration is real, right?

07:29 - It is.

07:30 - It is totally different than it was three years ago.

07:32 - I'm sure they'll they'll be glad to tell you that.

07:34 - But but in, in going out.

07:37 - And I know Tyler will talk about the new hunting program,

07:42 - but I was able to go along and and to go to

07:44 - some of our Farm Bureau members who are really struggling

07:48 - with with, deer damage and with the they haven't

07:52 - been able to sign up to our farm with part of a solution.

07:56 - Just makes them excited, right?

07:58 - They're just excited about what

08:00 - what the opportunities are, and how they can help mitigate.

08:04 - And we can get our hunters, those people who who rely on

08:10 - to, lower the population

08:12 - to help be part of the solution to, what we're trying to do.

08:16 - And so I'm excited about this program.

08:19 - I'm excited about the things we we're doing.

08:21 - I know we have probably a lot more tools we've got to work out and put into place,

08:26 - but, it is exciting times, to see where we are.

08:30 - And, I just, I'm excited about this year's

08:34 - deer season because I've seen more buck in fields.

08:37 - Maybe it's because I've been out.

08:39 - But there is a lot of buck out there and a lot of doe,

08:42 - and so, it's it's going to be a phenomenal season.

08:46 - And, we're going to, we're going to end up being able to, eliminate some of the,

08:50 - the issues that our farmers are having when it comes to wildlife damage.

08:55 - So thanks for, the opportunity to be a part of this.

08:59 - Well, thank you, President Hartman.

09:00 - All right, next up, executive director Hunter sharing, the host, Randy Ferguson.

09:07 - Thank you very much.

09:07 - It's great to be here again

09:09 - for the second of these town halls that we've had this year.

09:12 - I'm really honored to be here among this group of folks

09:14 - that have been working really hard to solve some serious issues for farmers.

09:19 - Just to give you a little bit of background on Hunter sharing the harvest,

09:22 - for those of you that aren't aware where Pennsylvania's venison donation program,

09:26 - another thing that a lot of people maybe don't realize is

09:28 - that we're a standalone five and one C3 charitable organization.

09:33 - We work so closely with a lot of the folks you see here at this table

09:36 - that sometimes the understanding is that maybe we're

09:39 - an arm of Department of Egg or the Game Commission or something like that.

09:43 - We're not we're a standalone organization.

09:45 - So to to execute our model, which is basically

09:50 - to provide an avenue for hunters to donate deer at no cost to them.

09:55 - So to be able to accomplish that model, as a nonprofit, we have to raise

09:59 - funds to be able to to support the growth in that type of program.

10:02 - And I'm happy to announce that from year to year,

10:04 - we always seem to be here or around this time of year announcing a new record.

10:08 - And you're going to hear it here first.

10:10 - The 2025 26 or 20 24 or 25 hunting season

10:15 - saw a total of 283,786 pounds of venison donate,

10:21 - donated from a total of 7794 deer in the state of Pennsylvania.

10:27 - And one of the things that I know Governor Shapiro talks about a lot

10:31 - is wanting Pennsylvania to be first

10:33 - and I keep trying to reassure him every chance I get to see him,

10:36 - that his state is first in the nation when it comes to wild game donation.

10:41 - There's no state in the country

10:42 - that comes close to the kind of numbers we do here in Pennsylvania,

10:46 - and that's something that Pennsylvania hunters should be proud of.

10:49 - And in, in growing numbers, it's something that

10:52 - the ag community can, can start to rely on, too.

10:55 - As we continue to improve relationships between the hunting community

10:59 - and the agricultural industry,

11:01 - we're seeing a lot of that type of growth coming through our program.

11:05 - So I started in this role about four and a half years ago, and we've

11:08 - always done our best to keep track of data to the extent possible.

11:12 - So when a hunter is filling out a donor receipt at the processor,

11:15 - we want to find out a little bit about, you know, was that deer an antlered deer?

11:19 - Was it an antlerless deer?

11:20 - Was it harvested during rifle season or archery or one of the special seasons?

11:25 - And in recent years, we've tried to capture things

11:27 - a little more granular, like, was this an ag tag deer?

11:30 - Was it a deer? Was it a depredation permit?

11:34 - So we can start to see that data better.

11:36 - And when I started four years ago, crop damaged deer were numbering in

11:40 - maybe 100 to 200 deer a year

11:42 - that we could identify as being related in some way to crop damage.

11:46 - And in this past season,

11:47 - I don't have the exact numbers, but it was just shy of 2000 deer,

11:51 - so you can see the kind of growth we're seeing in that area alone.

11:55 - And that's a good thing, because what we're doing is that

11:58 - means hunters are finding out about these programs.

12:01 - Farmers and hunters are starting to have a dialog.

12:04 - They're starting to work on a relationship and start to address

12:07 - what we hear is the number one issue that the ag community

12:11 - will identify as affecting their bottom line in one way or another.

12:15 - It's crop damage, typically from deer, that's taking away from their yields

12:19 - and taking away from their profits each year.

12:21 - So we want to continue to be able to be here.

12:23 - And we've we've been we've been with hunters

12:26 - in all aspects over the years and including things

12:30 - like the AG Tag program and D map, and so we're committed to that.

12:34 - That's why we accept deer from August 1st through April 15th each year,

12:38 - so that we can accommodate each of those seasons where hunters are out there

12:41 - on ag lands, harvesting deer and helping solve a problem.

12:45 - So but, I'm just happy to be here, happy to once again

12:49 - announce some great numbers.

12:50 - And I'm excited about the fact

12:51 - that we're all continuing this discussion, and especially that

12:56 - is getting an opportunity to really reach out to the ag community

12:59 - and sort of let you know what we're about

13:01 - and what we're doing here, because traditionally, we haven't so much

13:04 - had that conversation as we've been having in the last few years.

13:07 - So thank you very much.

13:09 - Well, thank you, Randy.

13:11 - All right.

13:11 - Next up is a deputy executive director, Deer Gustafson.

13:14 - By moment he has some PowerPoint slides for us.

13:16 - I do. Thanks, Andy.

13:18 - And what a great day it is to be here representing the Game Commission

13:21 - on behalf of, Director Steve Smith at AG Progress

13:25 - Days to talk about all the progress that we have made.

13:28 - Indeed. Right.

13:29 - You've heard these these gentlemen already talk about progress.

13:32 - Well, I'll get a little more specific here in a few minutes, but I'd really like

13:35 - to kind of take a step back in time to a little over a year ago,

13:39 - when leadership of the Game Commission changed,

13:42 - we had an opportunity to kind of renew and rebuild some relationships

13:46 - with with the folks here at this table and, and other other partners.

13:51 - And what we saw

13:52 - was a hunger for, for our partners

13:55 - to get us to really understand and see what they were dealing with.

13:59 - So, I'm proud to say that our staff all the way up to our executive director,

14:03 - even our commissioners, we have one of the in room

14:05 - commissioner, Bob Swann, from up the northeast part of the state.

14:07 - Thanks for being here, Bob.

14:08 - You know, commissioners, executive director,

14:12 - deputy directors, we're out and about at Farm Bureau meetings.

14:16 - At wildlife meetings.

14:17 - We were traveling across the state listening to the concerns

14:20 - and the heartfelt plea for help, that people were dealing with out there.

14:25 - And it really hit home really hard at the end of the summer.

14:29 - And we said, you know, we've got to figure out

14:31 - how to expand existing programs, maybe create some new programs

14:35 - that you're going to hear about here in a little bit.

14:36 - And just overall, how to better work together,

14:40 - as you've all talked about, to, to handle this balance of wildlife and agriculture

14:45 - and the, you know, the Game Commission has always been focused on hunters first.

14:50 - And that's our mission to manage wildlife through the use of hunting and trapping.

14:56 - And what an awesome opportunity to use the greatest hunting tradition

15:01 - state in the country to help achieve those goals of managing wildlife

15:07 - and balance with everybody else's concerns across the agricultural community.

15:11 - So, just super excited, you know, that first, town hall

15:16 - we did in January, we started talking about these things in February.

15:19 - We had another conversation and it continued.

15:22 - And we were all we were all saying the same things to the right people.

15:26 - And I think maybe this is the first time in a long time that that's happened.

15:29 - We all had the same message to the legislators to get them

15:33 - to get us some help.

15:34 - So without any more discussion of opening

15:38 - comments, I'll jump into a few things specifically that have happened.

15:43 - You know, here just in the past year

15:45 - and really in earnest in the last eight months, like you said, Chris,

15:49 - you know, and I think it's important to understand

15:52 - just, just what is the game Commission's mission?

15:54 - And again,

15:56 - we are we are charged with managing over

15:58 - 480 different species of birds and mammals in the state of Pennsylvania,

16:03 - not just the ones we shoot, but all the other ones too.

16:06 - So it's a big responsibility.

16:08 - But one of our biggest areas of focus

16:11 - is using hunters and trappers to manage wildlife populations.

16:15 - And in fact, by law, that is our responsibility.

16:18 - And it's not just about us, it's about the future generations, too.

16:21 - It's about the future generation of hunters and sportsmen

16:24 - that so many of our commissioners and staff believe so much in.

16:27 - But it's about the future generations of farmers

16:29 - and how they're going to be able

16:31 - to manage their land and their farms and hand them down in a good condition,

16:34 - to the next generation.

16:35 - So when we look at some of the huge accomplishments

16:39 - that we've had just in this past year,

16:41 - and I can't read that one, so I probably got to turn this way,

16:43 - the prohibition on Sunday hunting, and I think

16:47 - maybe some folks don't even understand really how impactful that might be.

16:50 - But what this does is it allows our Board of commissioners

16:54 - to now set seasons and bag limits for wildlife

16:57 - without regard to a limitation of an arbitrary day of the week.

17:01 - We can allow people to get out and enjoy hunting

17:04 - when they have the opportunity to do so.

17:06 - But it also held steadfast to a few things that Chris mentioned,

17:12 - you know, making sure we strengthen trespass penalties

17:15 - because we want people to have the confidence

17:17 - in who's coming on their properties

17:19 - and when they're allowed to be there and when they're not allowed to be there.

17:21 - So it did that. It increased trespassing fines.

17:24 - It requires written permission to be on private lands on Sundays.

17:27 - One other thing it did also was it codified in the law that the use of deer

17:32 - urine is a permissible thing that won't then be regulated by the Game Commission.

17:39 - There was

17:40 - also another law that got passed just before Sunday hunting,

17:43 - and it was Senate Bill 518, I believe, introduced by Senator Rothman.

17:46 - That became act 26 of 2025.

17:50 - And that was really to help provide more crop damage solutions.

17:54 - One of the things we heard about a lot was, hey, it's hard to get in

17:57 - touch with the game commission if I have to take deer for crop damage.

18:00 - I don't want the deer to spoil.

18:01 - How can I deal with them?

18:03 - How do I make sure I report them so that you get all the information

18:06 - you need in the game commission?

18:07 - So it's it's going to engage that agricultural interest

18:11 - on the board of our commissioners.

18:12 - It codifies in law that one of our commissioners must be

18:15 - well versed and involved in the practice of agriculture.

18:19 - And we have a proud farmer, Alan DeMarco, from up in Lycoming County,

18:23 - on our board right now.

18:25 - It also

18:26 - expands the crop damage reporting and delivery.

18:29 - It's creating an opportunity for farmers to call or use

18:34 - an online method, to be able to report a crop kill,

18:39 - and then to be able to take it to

18:42 - a, hopefully a cooperating processor.

18:45 - Right.

18:46 - So that that deer can be used and put into the food stream.

18:50 - We don't quite have that online reporting system exactly

18:53 - refined and perfected just yet, but we're making great progress really fast.

18:57 - So a couple other things.

19:00 - And I really,

19:02 - I really want to make sure we talk about these different programs for, for what

19:06 - they really are and draw a very clear difference between a couple things here.

19:11 - The AG tag program, what many people that have been around a while,

19:14 - known as the old Red tag program,

19:17 - that's a hunting program.

19:19 - That is where farmers can enlist the help of licensed hunters

19:23 - to come out and take additional deer off their farms.

19:26 - We streamlined that.

19:28 - We added a tremendous number of days.

19:31 - It used to be that that AG tag program only allowed for a small window

19:35 - in the late summer, and then a window in the spring.

19:38 - We open that up and said, you know what?

19:40 - We have these problems on these places.

19:41 - We need to get these deer issues dealt with.

19:43 - AG tags now going to run from October

19:45 - for or I'm sorry, August 1st through April 15th continuously.

19:49 - It's going to overlap with hunting seasons.

19:51 - So if you got tags to use on a farm, a hunter can come out there

19:55 - and use those tags on your farm even during hunting season,

19:57 - and take those additional deer off the landscape.

19:59 - So we felt like that was, you know, a common sense, smart move to open that up.

20:05 - But additionally, that might not be enough.

20:09 - And we recognize that.

20:11 - And we've had some longstanding programs where farmers

20:15 - can shoot deer for crop damage if they can demonstrate losses.

20:19 - Well, we've also heard from our farmers that that's a really tough thing

20:22 - to be out there working in the fields all day.

20:24 - Then have to get up in the middle of the night

20:25 - and go out and shoot a bunch of deer and then have to take care of them.

20:28 - So we have the agricultural depredation permit,

20:32 - where a farmer can apply for a permit and get others

20:35 - to act in his capacity, essentially under the crop damage laws,

20:40 - to be able to take additional wildlife for crop damage.

20:43 - We've streamlined those permitting processes,

20:45 - both for ag tag now and for the crop damage program.

20:50 - We removed requirements for producing a deed.

20:52 - You simply have to buy your signature.

20:54 - Or when you apply your certifying that you have the authority to do so.

20:58 - So we're trying to make it easier while still not lose

21:00 - the integrity of the program.

21:02 - We still want ag tag to be first in line.

21:06 - We want our hunters

21:07 - to be the first thing that farmers think of when they need help.

21:10 - Let me let me enlist hunters.

21:15 - And on that,

21:17 - the next phase is a new program that we've stood up.

21:22 - And I don't know if any of you know how state government works,

21:25 - but not much happens in six months.

21:28 - So from our last time we got together as a group in January,

21:32 - this genesis of this idea, of a certified Hunter program came came about

21:37 - and proud to say with with Tyler's leadership helping run the program,

21:41 - we had certified hunters on August 1st out there

21:45 - on farms, helping farmers deal with crop damage issues.

21:48 - So I'm going to let Hunter or, Tyler run with with this and talk about

21:52 - a new program that we're piling this year that was just stood up.

21:56 - Tyler Stoker on the floor is obviously yours.

21:59 - Excellent.

22:00 - Thanks, Andy.

22:00 - Thanks, Dave.

22:01 - Hey, happy to be here at I Progress Days.

22:04 - It's a great day and honor to be up here and part of this panel.

22:08 - I'm going to jump into the certified Hunter program.

22:10 - But before I do that, I think it's important.

22:12 - You know, just listening to the four gentlemen speak, I just constantly hear

22:16 - partnership and communication, and, this program wouldn't exist without that.

22:21 - There's been a lot of thought and, just just groundwork laid

22:26 - through, really

22:27 - the conduit of our agencies working together,

22:29 - which is, which is

22:30 - able to get this program up and running and it really can be

22:33 - a beautiful thing when everybody works together for a common goal and a solution.

22:36 - And I think that's what we're working for here for a certified Hunter program.

22:40 - So we, as Dave mentioned, we kick this pilot program off.

22:44 - We're able to start on August 1st.

22:46 - And really what it is, it's at its core, it's a program designed to connect hunters

22:51 - with landowners that are experiencing agricultural deer damage issues.

22:55 - At its core.

22:57 - Our ragtag program is great.

22:59 - It solves a lot of needs.

23:01 - But there's also some gaps that we identified that we thought, hey,

23:04 - how can we better facilitate that partnership between hunters

23:09 - that are not

23:09 - only willing to hunt, to farm, but maybe harvest multiple and last year

23:13 - and continue to hunt a farm year round to landowners that that truly have

23:18 - an extreme need, not just a need for a couple hunters per year,

23:21 - but maybe a crisis level amount of deer damage happening to their crops and

23:27 - we noticed we didn't have a great medium

23:29 - to facilitate that partnership between the hunters and the farmers.

23:32 - So through that,

23:34 - we we started talking with with the Farm Bureau

23:36 - and our agriculture producers and say, you know, what would you want a program

23:40 - to look like and what would you need to allow hunters back on your land?

23:43 - And then we spoke to hunters, you know, particularly hunters that were involved

23:46 - in a ragtag program and hunters that like to harvest multiple deer.

23:49 - And we said, hey, what could be enhanced with our current programing?

23:52 - How could we get you a field more to harvest more deer?

23:56 - And through that, we we identified a few barriers,

23:59 - but one permission being one is how do we get these hunters,

24:02 - you know, permission through a program to access this land?

24:05 - And then there were some barriers on the game commission side.

24:08 - Right.

24:09 - How how do we get the right tags to a hunter where finding the tags

24:13 - and getting the permission and the coupons from rag

24:14 - tag isn't a major barrier before they can get a field.

24:18 - So fortunately, we've had some great found

24:21 - framework laid out for a new Hunter access program at the Game Commission

24:25 - that we were able to tap into and utilize some technology where we have a

24:31 - an entire program where hunters can go on and see these certified lands

24:35 - that the agriculture producers have have already

24:37 - went over their parcel information for.

24:39 - They can access that, reserve it.

24:40 - The farmer knows who's on their land, the hunter knows where there to be,

24:44 - and the regulations laid forth by the landowner.

24:48 - So kind of the requirements and expectations.

24:50 - So when we spoke with hunters and we said, you know, hey, what what would you need

24:55 - to, to be a field more and what are the common barriers?

24:58 - And, you know, those hunters said, well, we need a better mapping tool,

25:02 - something that we can see in real time and where to hunt and understand

25:06 - how to connect with those landowners on a whim.

25:08 - And then the landowners said, hey, we we don't want

25:12 - just maybe Johnny Public out on our land with no vetting source, you know, so

25:16 - how can we create a vetting process

25:19 - to where the landowner feels comfortable?

25:22 - You know, to give that responsibility to a hunter to show up at five a

25:26 - am and pull in park by their barn and go out and hunt on their land.

25:30 - So we sat down with landowners and any landowner that's in this program.

25:33 - We visited their farm and we've looked over, hey, what is your parcel data show?

25:38 - Where is your deer problems?

25:40 - Where do you want these folks to park?

25:42 - You know, are there species of game harvest outside of Antlerless deer

25:45 - that you want these hunters to engage in hunting practices on?

25:47 - Is there any time of year that you want or don't want hunters specifically,

25:52 - you know, a common dominant concern I hear is, hey,

25:55 - I really need hunters on my property, but I have some family that comes in

25:59 - and hunts for the right, you know, can can we pause that during that time

26:02 - and still open it up for the other seven months in the season

26:05 - and through some technology, we've been able to do that.

26:07 - So our landowners still retain full control over their their land.

26:11 - They can set rules,

26:12 - they can set regulations, even time periods that they want to hunt.

26:15 - And for the hunters, it's great because after

26:18 - their certification process, they're able to access all of these lands.

26:21 - We remove some barriers from from a tagging perspective and how they access.

26:25 - So they were getting an eight and a half month

26:26 - season to hunt some of the most game rich properties our state has to offer.

26:30 - So it's really been a win win in that regard.

26:33 - Our hunters on the front end from their vetting procedure,

26:36 - they have to meet three prerequisites to background check, a game law check.

26:39 - And we actually check how long they've been hunting for the last five years.

26:42 - They have to have a hunting license.

26:44 - We send them a 100 question exam.

26:46 - That exam is about 50% regulation and then 50% landowner relations.

26:52 - You know, we try to talk with farmers.

26:53 - Hey, what are the common complaints or things that, you know, that

26:57 - hunters have done on your property, maybe, or accidents that have happened

27:00 - that we could mitigate on the front end?

27:01 - And that's what those other 50 questions are really baked into.

27:04 - Some of these hunters

27:06 - haven't had the opportunity to maybe be on a farm or a farm prior to this.

27:09 - They might be hunting game lands their whole life.

27:10 - So what are some things

27:11 - that we can kind of upskill them on before they get on your farm?

27:15 - So passing score for that's an 85%, and then they actually have to come out

27:18 - to a shooting range

27:19 - and demonstrate that they can shoot both safely and effectively.

27:23 - So we have a rifle component in archery component, a shotgun component

27:26 - that they can become certified.

27:27 - And then and only in that point, would they be able to access your land

27:31 - that's enrolled in the certified Hunter program.

27:36 - But just want to throw the timeline up there?

27:38 - Yeah.

27:38 - As we mentioned, we, you know, this this was an idea that we really began

27:42 - to run with in March.

27:43 - So I'm proud of where we're at to this point.

27:46 - We've had hunters out and be very successful this past weekend.

27:50 - I'm getting calls from from farmers and hunters literally every day,

27:54 - telling me about

27:55 - the hunters are very excited that their freezers full here in August.

27:58 - And the farmers are very happy

28:00 - to hear shooting and harvesting taking place on their land here so early.

28:03 - So, the early returns are great.

28:05 - We're piloting here in the southwest region exclusively for 2025.

28:09 - We're already getting some good ideas and good feedback on how we can

28:12 - take this to a larger portion of the state and how we can really expand it.

28:16 - But early returns on the pilot program have been really beneficial for us.

28:20 - So we are very excited, to say the least.

28:25 - Just some expected outcomes.

28:26 - You know, we, we're hoping to continue to foster a stronger relationship

28:30 - between, you know, the Pennsylvania hunter and the agriculture producers

28:33 - across our state.

28:34 - And, you know, one of the, indirect consequences of this is,

28:40 - you know, I'm getting calls from from farmers saying, you know, I haven't

28:43 - haven't had a back strap in a long time.

28:45 - And a hunter offered me one and cooked it up, and it was really good.

28:47 - Or, you know, I'm having hunters say, hey, you know, I offered to paint,

28:51 - you know, this lady's fence.

28:52 - She said she could use some extra help or whatever the case may be,

28:55 - but it's just great to see a sense of community around sportsmen and women

28:58 - and our agriculture producers across the state.

29:01 - And I was even taken aback at how quickly that's happening.

29:04 - So to continue to foster those relationships and,

29:07 - and hopefully make, a significant impact for agriculture producers

29:10 - with the deer damage problems that they're facing in conjunction

29:13 - with the other programs that we have here at the agency,

29:15 - I think gives us a lot of runway into the future, and we're looking forward to it.

29:21 - Okay.

29:21 - Thank you.

29:23 - All right.

29:23 - So this is the time in our program when we're going to ask you

29:27 - for questions for our esteemed panel.

29:30 - And we would like the questions, of course, to be in conjunction

29:34 - with this particular topic.

29:35 - And so I can see some questions.

29:38 - They might be challenging questions.

29:40 - And so do do we have anybody you always like to ask a question.

29:46 - I'm not surprised.

29:48 - Wow. Thanks, Sandy I don't know what that's supposed to mean.

29:51 - Thank you.

29:52 - This presentation was really, really informative.

29:54 - I don't I have one question right now.

29:56 - There might be more as I'm going over everything in my head.

29:59 - But, you know, you said farm sign ups is open now,

30:02 - is there a partial requirement for that, or is there any requirements on the

30:05 - farmers part that they have?

30:07 - They have to have something on their farm specifically.

30:11 - Not hard and fast right now.

30:12 - I mean, we've really started from a marketing perspective

30:15 - with our farms that are enrolled in the Farm Bureau

30:16 - or have been in our ag tag program in the past.

30:19 - So we're we're using the agricultural tag program as kind of a standards

30:23 - to get into the program here for the pilot.

30:25 - But if you're an agricultural producer, you're typically I meet those standards.

30:28 - Okay. Gotcha. Thank you.

30:31 - I do want to call out for Range Leadership Council.

30:34 - So I think it's like 80% of them are shooting sports people, which

30:38 - when I learned that earlier this year I was very excited by that.

30:41 - Okay.

30:42 - Any other questions from the audience?

30:44 - Any. I just did.

30:47 - I'd like to just add to that a little bit. Right.

30:49 - Because I think you have to kind of understand,

30:53 - I was a little nervous about how our farmers were going to handle this.

30:57 - Right.

30:57 - It's it it was kind of like, you know, farmers

31:01 - don't like access, like giving access up a lot of times.

31:05 - But, I was able to go

31:08 - go with, Tyler to one of our Farm Bureau members.

31:12 - And, it was really interesting because the farmer farmed land was his son.

31:18 - He had,

31:19 - his dad came out and sat in the chair,

31:22 - and mom came out and sat in the chair.

31:25 - And they came this discussion about, so where do we want them to hunt?

31:29 - Where do we want them to park?

31:31 - It became like a family, conversation.

31:34 - And then they're like, well, you know, our family comes and hunts on

31:38 - on these days.

31:39 - Well, you need to block that up.

31:41 - So, you know, Tyler's over there taking notes and moving things around.

31:45 - And and it's really cool on how you as

31:48 - a farmer have total control, total control

31:53 - of when you want someone there and when you don't.

31:56 - And it's it's one of those systems that as,

31:59 - as they refine it, it just gets better and better.

32:02 - And I see our farmers seeing how it's working and are excited

32:07 - because it it really is a tool they needed for a very, very long time.

32:12 - And so I just commend Tyler for his his work on that.

32:16 - And I don't think anybody could just go out and do that.

32:18 - But, he does a really amazing job of connecting with our farmers.

32:22 - Thanks, Chris.

32:25 - Okay.

32:27 - We have fantastic.

32:31 - That makes my job very easy.

32:33 - Oh, you do?

32:35 - Okay, Bill, before Washington County

32:39 - and I'll speak on behalf of the new program.

32:42 - I am enrolled in Tyler's, project,

32:48 - and I can speak on behalf of that.

32:51 - And I wasn't hesitant at all to become involved in it.

32:56 - And it is working exactly.

32:59 - I thought there would be glitches.

33:01 - So far, there has been none.

33:03 - I have had people hunting the farm.

33:06 - I get an email from the game commission

33:09 - that I have someone that's going to be coming into the farm.

33:12 - I've had all the participants text me

33:16 - and tell me they're coming one at 6:00 in the morning.

33:21 - That's okay. That's fine.

33:23 - And, those hunters I've met, two of them become good friends with them,

33:30 - and everything has worked out perfect.

33:33 - And now those hunters not only have permission through

33:37 - the Certified Hunters program on my farm, they have permission on my farm any time.

33:43 - Because they are upstanding hunters that I can tell

33:48 - they park where they are supposed to

33:51 - and they have given them additional permission.

33:54 - So so far the program has worked out fantastic so far.

34:00 - Thanks, Bill. Appreciate it.

34:02 - Thank you.

34:03 - You can pay him later.

34:05 - Okay.

34:06 - We got a comment on the back here.

34:08 - All right.

34:08 - Great.

34:17 - My name is Steve Marsh.

34:18 - I'm also from Washington County.

34:20 - I'm a little bit on the other side of the fence on this prairie and meeting.

34:23 - I'm, hopefully one of the future, participants in this program.

34:29 - Me and Tyler have been exchanging emails, for the leadership in this room,

34:34 - looking from being a hunter, I just moved in the Washington County.

34:39 - I had no idea where to go.

34:40 - This is a great program.

34:42 - We need to keep this going for the sports side of it.

34:45 - For the hunters.

34:46 - I spoke with a couple members of the game commission down here.

34:49 - Don't do that, Kubota about this.

34:51 - So I appreciate the communication.

34:54 - Tyler, you've been great here.

34:56 - Looking forward to the program.

34:57 - But one suggestion I have from this side of the fence, not being from the outside,

35:03 - is a little bit from the marketing in when I was looking into this program.

35:07 - I understand it just getting started, but if you can just get some general isms

35:12 - out there to the public,

35:13 - how many farms are enrolled not necessarily addresses property lines,

35:17 - that kind of stuff, and might generate some more interest in the area.

35:21 - I'm in touch with that community very heavily in that area.

35:25 - The more I ask, the more faces I get.

35:28 - What the heck are you talking about? Just.

35:31 - I understand it's just starting, but it's just one of those things

35:33 - because some of the hesitation is, I got to do this exam.

35:38 - I got to get to do the shooting.

35:40 - But, I mean, am I going to invest my time and never going to get a chance to maybe

35:44 - go to this gentleman's farm?

35:45 - It is a little bit of a risk.

35:47 - Just something you might want to think about overcoming.

35:50 - Yeah, I appreciate it.

35:53 - I think I mean, I I'm going to challenge the panelists on this question.

35:56 - So obviously we're having this forum today as a means of publicity, publicity

36:01 - for everything we've done.

36:02 - What more do we need to do to connect with the agricultural community

36:06 - and with the hunting and outdoor community?

36:08 - What are what are your ideas on that?

36:12 - I'll jump in with one right away.

36:13 - You know, HSA just done such a great job with what they do.

36:18 - But as these programs grow,

36:23 - as we see those numbers go from a couple hundred to a couple thousand,

36:26 - maybe to even more than that, from crop kills,

36:29 - that we want to see go into the food stream.

36:33 - As we see hunters being willing to kill more and more deer to,

36:36 - to help do their part for managing

36:38 - not only the wildlife resource, but the agricultural resource.

36:42 - We need to strengthen this ability.

36:46 - And there's there's a piece in there, the processors.

36:51 - Right.

36:51 - And we've talked we've, we've started having these conversations already about

36:55 - how can we help a small business like a processor that,

37:00 - you know, maybe does agricultural processing, beef and pork

37:03 - and things like that, but maybe doesn't, and maybe they'd be willing to jump in

37:07 - and open up their doors on August 1st,

37:09 - but they're not going to have enough deer to keep them rolling until deer season.

37:12 - So, you know, what can we do in that space?

37:15 - I think that's where our focus is starting to turn now.

37:17 - You know, Tyler's programs running. We're learning.

37:20 - We're hoping to

37:21 - I think we're on a great glide path for that to grow and expand in the future.

37:25 - Now it's like, where's the gaps?

37:27 - And I think from our perspective, I think that's a gap

37:29 - that we want to continue to talk about. How can we help help that?

37:35 - Yeah, we just had a couple things.

37:37 - One is, I mean, there's been so much,

37:40 - conversation over an extended period of time about hunting.

37:45 - Right.

37:45 - And I think the sooner you can have some early sort

37:48 - of signs of success on the metrics, right?

37:52 - More deer, more hunters, more pounds more something,

37:55 - to give really confidence to all of this work, you know,

37:59 - that's going into this, was real

38:02 - and it's actually showing a result whether it's in,

38:06 - in a region or a county or, whatever the demographics are.

38:10 - So I think that's really important.

38:11 - I mean, this, this went to the very, very highest levels

38:15 - of trying to get attention about this.

38:17 - For a very long time.

38:19 - Everybody seemed to have their own sort of, you know, motivation around it.

38:24 - But I think it's the coalescing of a number of objectives

38:28 - that came together that's really important.

38:30 - And telling that story in, in whole, I think, is also important.

38:35 - Right.

38:35 - And that coalition keeping that coalition together final would be

38:39 - and I appreciate the shout out on on 100 share in the harvest.

38:43 - Just because one of the

38:44 - things that we've bumped into is where do you get these deer processed?

38:48 - And if you're off season. Right.

38:51 - That's a really, really important.

38:52 - We have a lot of folks who want to participate,

38:54 - but they're only going to do it in the normal season.

38:57 - Normal being defined as normal a hunting season.

39:00 - If not, open it up.

39:01 - You've got to find someplace to get these deer processed.

39:04 - So we put a lot of effort on in that as part of a farm bill.

39:07 - And a small meat processing, but there's still gaps, as noted.

39:12 - So I think that's a A on the list.

39:14 - And again, I would argue this coalition was pretty effective.

39:18 - You know, we had results.

39:21 - Let's put the effort into

39:22 - how do we fix some of the issue of, of meat processing generally.

39:27 - But also, the deer processing for us nature.

39:30 - So, Randy, I think that's a call for you to talk.

39:33 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

39:34 - No, we have been

39:38 - very excited about these

39:39 - changes and the growth in this, in this opportunity

39:42 - to work together with these different, groups that traditionally we hadn't.

39:46 - But, yeah, we're we're sort of we're still in

39:50 - somewhat of an early stage of where all of this develops.

39:53 - And again, it's it's come at a pretty rapid pace

39:55 - and it's been moving in the right direction.

39:57 - But, as Andy and some others have have referred to,

40:00 - we've still got some hoops to work through.

40:02 - There's some logistical issues and so forth.

40:04 - You know, when we look at some of the areas

40:06 - that have some of the, the worst problem with crop damage in the state,

40:10 - some of those areas also are ones that would fall into what we would call

40:14 - or what the game commission, identifies as a DMA or a disease management area

40:19 - for where it's been detected, and they're trying to control that.

40:23 - So one of the things that our organization takes a little step further

40:27 - than what would be required for the general public, to consume deer,

40:32 - they're you're allowed to consume a deer, that you harvested within a DMA.

40:36 - You're not absolutely required to have it tested.

40:38 - And even if it tests positive, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not.

40:42 - You're not prohibited from eating that meat as a

40:45 - as an individual harvesting that meat for yourself.

40:48 - For our program, because of the fact that we sort of

40:52 - we sort of look at ourselves as serving a little bit higher demand

40:56 - because of the fact that we're providing a food source

41:00 - to the charitable food industry.

41:02 - So, in other words, this is a group of people who are receiving this protein

41:06 - and they're not sort of making a consumer decision,

41:09 - like you and I would make standing

41:10 - at a grocery store deciding whether we want to buy something or not.

41:14 - So we hold ourselves to a higher standard.

41:17 - So with things like we require deer that are harvested

41:21 - within a DMA to be quarantined and then tested for,

41:26 - and when

41:27 - a negative test result comes back,

41:29 - that's when it can be released into the food system.

41:31 - So this is another area that we still need to work toward,

41:34 - and it folds into a lot of different things like

41:38 - testing and turnaround times and and different options

41:41 - for testing that may be in the pipeline down the road and so forth.

41:45 - And access to the information.

41:47 - There's a communication vehicle that has to happen there, too, between the Hunter

41:52 - and the processor to report those test results and things.

41:56 - So there are things like that

41:57 - that we really haven't had an opportunity to really dig into yet.

42:01 - But for our program, those are the type of things that

42:04 - that we look at as some more things we need to to

42:07 - look at as a group and address and find some solutions to.

42:12 - I think

42:12 - to answer the question about how do we get the word out

42:16 - if you haven't walked up and down the street here,

42:19 - you know, as farmers really like to talk,

42:22 - there's a lot of talking going on from the Farm Bureau side.

42:26 - We've been in a holding pattern because we want to make sure

42:30 - that before we go out and really publicize it,

42:34 - and we've done some things together that that are really, really cool.

42:37 - And, and I can't wait to talk about it. Right.

42:40 - But it's, it's about getting the bugs worked out right,

42:43 - getting things to a place where we don't end up with a farmer who's upset.

42:47 - Right. That's not a good way to start.

42:50 - So as soon as we feel comfortable

42:54 - that we're all in agreement that we're ready to roll,

42:58 - we're going to unleash our farmers.

43:01 - We'll have will our communication director.

43:03 - He'll he'll start out and and we're going to get the word out.

43:07 - You're going to need to hire about 6 or 7 more tilers.

43:10 - Because you're going to need them because our farmers who know about this

43:14 - are really, really excited about the opportunity, to be able

43:18 - to help mitigate that problem.

43:20 - So, so I think give us a little time, we don't want to be.

43:24 - We'll be too quick on the trigger.

43:26 - But so far, it sounds like we're, we're doing exactly

43:30 - what we set out to do was to try to make a difference.

43:34 - You know, just chime in here.

43:35 - An opportunity to meet with some outdoor owners, hunting organizations

43:38 - in western Pennsylvania, just outside of Tyler's target area.

43:41 - And they were like,

43:42 - we're hearing this is going on, and we really want to participate in this.

43:46 - How can Tyler grow in the area where it's being implemented to start?

43:50 - So there's a lot of interest in this.

43:52 - Any other questions from the audience?

43:57 - Thanks.

43:58 - First of all, I appreciate the presentations.

44:01 - Great information on appreciate all of your guys's time here coming.

44:04 - And, you know, sharing the information.

44:06 - My question about it seems like this.

44:08 - This program is being really successful so far in the very short amount of time

44:11 - that, that, that it's been, you know, involved in being implemented.

44:15 - So what's your timeline of seeing that evolve and possibly,

44:19 - you know, moving

44:19 - just from the southwest region to kind of move that area to, you know,

44:23 - having it available for the farmers and hunters to have all across the state

44:26 - what's your what's your timeline for that?

44:28 - And when you kind of envision that seeing, it's kind of a hard question.

44:30 - But when you kind of envision seeing that,

44:33 - you know, when, when that might happen, it's a great question.

44:36 - If for right now it is a pilot program here for for 2025.

44:41 - So, we anticipate having some great data as we close out the year 2025.

44:46 - And then as we look into 2026 is when I would anticipate

44:49 - seeing more expansion and marketing push behind this.

44:52 - The early returns have been very positive and appreciate all the kind words.

44:56 - We just want to make sure we, again, don't rush into it,

44:58 - and we lay the groundwork for this to be a long term, successful solution.

45:01 - But, so I would, I would say early 2026 is when I would anticipate

45:06 - pushing more out.

45:09 - Okay.

45:10 - Any other questions from the audience? Oh, fantastic.

45:13 - This could be a new forage program.

45:16 - And for the first year,

45:19 - being that

45:20 - this is just a pilot program, yet has there been any exploration into like,

45:24 - sort of capping the amount of Hunter participants in the CHP program or like,

45:28 - so you don't have certain

45:29 - properties booked out like years in advance, like some vacation places or,

45:33 - or is that just a non-issue at this point in the project? Yet?

45:37 - You must be a hunter.

45:39 - Yeah.

45:40 - It's a great question.

45:41 - Again, are there there are so many individuals that went

45:45 - into the building of this program to make it a success.

45:48 - And and one of those teams is, is our IT

45:50 - team and our and our current Hunter access team.

45:52 - And they had a foundation built for us to tap into that was

45:56 - was really instrumental.

45:57 - So we have a reservation system where hunters can build,

46:00 - basically reserve a farm up to 14 days in advance

46:03 - and we cap the number of hunters per day to a safe effect, you know,

46:06 - an effective number of hunters.

46:08 - So for right now, the number of hunters really hasn't been an issue.

46:11 - We haven't been fully booking out these farms.

46:14 - Could I envision down the road where we have to find that right

46:16 - balance of number of hunters to proper acreage?

46:18 - I do, and that's kind of the beauty of the pilot.

46:21 - After six months, we'll see. Did we have enough hunters?

46:23 - Do we need more hunters in this area

46:25 - or less, whatever the case may be, how did our reservation system function?

46:29 - We're really trying to strike the balance of enough pressure

46:31 - and harvest on these farms, but also keep the success rate

46:34 - for our hunters high when they reserve that farm.

46:38 - Okay.

46:39 - Any other questions?

46:42 - You guys are trained really?

46:45 - Just passing.

46:46 - We have questions for everyone.

46:47 - Do you know, I know chronic wasting disease had been mentioned.

46:51 - Can people I don't know if there is, if this has come up,

46:55 - but if there is chronic wasting disease detected on someone's property,

46:57 - would they be able to participate in this program or would

47:00 - they be asked to do something else until it is no longer an issue?

47:04 - Yeah. We're not excluding right now.

47:07 - If a property is in a DMA, I will say we don't have any farms currently enrolled.

47:11 - Somerset County is technically part of the pilot,

47:14 - so we have some farms that are right on the fringe.

47:16 - I'll also say that we have,

47:19 - we have something in the works where we can increase our testing

47:22 - with our certified hunters on these farms,

47:23 - even if they're not necessarily in a DMA that we're working through right now.

47:26 - So there's some, maybe more to come there and how we can,

47:30 - you know, expand our current capabilities and insight.

47:35 - Yeah.

47:36 - Okay.

47:38 - Any other questions on this is the dangerous part.

47:43 - All right.

47:43 - So we have this beautiful backdrop which I'm seeing for the first time

47:47 - that has sort of a John Deere.

47:50 - But there are other animals that eat farmers crops.

47:54 - And that actually I get a lot of calls about bears.

47:57 - I would say bears are probably the number number two larger animal

48:02 - that I get calls about.

48:03 - So I can and I have had bear sausage so

48:06 - I could go into the charitable food system through our program.

48:09 - That's what your program.

48:10 - But you know, where where we, handling all of the animals that impact farmers.

48:16 - So any thoughts on that?

48:19 - I can

48:19 - I can talk a little bit specifically about the bear issue.

48:22 - You know, it was I don't know how many, several years ago.

48:25 - We track the number of nuisance bear complaints.

48:29 - We track the numbers of complaints of crop damage issues from bears.

48:33 - And when we look at our different wildlife management units,

48:36 - we we saw an uptick in certain places.

48:40 - Three, three a, for instance, which is route six in north, the New York

48:43 - state line is a long kind of skinny east west running WMU.

48:47 - It that's my home turf up there.

48:49 - That's where I grew up. I'm very familiar with it.

48:51 - And there's a lot of bears roaming around up there.

48:53 - And we had a time period where the conflict was just unsustainable.

48:57 - So our our great bear biologist said, you know what?

49:01 - We can add some additional seasons

49:03 - to allow farmers some more opportunities to harvest bears.

49:06 - We did that for several years.

49:07 - We added a muzzleloader season. We added an archery season.

49:10 - We had an expanded extended rifle seasons

49:12 - where you could shoot bears during deer season.

49:14 - So but we did that by select

49:17 - moose where we knew we had issues and problems.

49:20 - So by doing that, we were able to reduce those numbers of complaints significantly.

49:26 - And in a fairly short number of years, to the point now where we've scaled back

49:30 - some of those seasons because we just don't have the number of complaints again.

49:33 - So I think with bears in particular, that's one where we have

49:37 - such good information on our population, we can we can track it.

49:40 - And see you by WMU.

49:43 - Where do we need to ratchet up the harvest or like in 2G in the big Northwoods?

49:47 - You know,

49:48 - maybe we can scale back and not have so much opportunity

49:50 - to harvest bears there because we just don't have the conflict.

49:53 - So for something like bears, it's, I would say fairly easy for us to identify

49:59 - the problem, implement a strategy, and within a couple seasons bring it back in.

50:06 - When it

50:06 - comes to things like raccoons and, you know, other other critters,

50:09 - it gets a little more complex and a little more difficult to.

50:12 - Okay.

50:13 - All right.

50:13 - I have a follow up question about other small animals.

50:16 - First Secretary Ryan, you want to comment on this or anybody else?

50:20 - All right.

50:20 - So here's the follow up question.

50:22 - Actually, I for a number of years, I followed Secretary

50:24 - riding around on his Urban Egg tour and our Urban AG tour.

50:28 - People are on that tour.

50:30 - Those farmers, they have a lot of trouble with animals too.

50:33 - Now they're generally smaller animals, ones that, no long at the ground level.

50:38 - Groundhogs and things like that.

50:40 - So what what are our control mechanisms that we have available in agriculture

50:45 - and through the Game Commission

50:47 - here in Pennsylvania for urban farmers, for those smaller varmints?

50:53 - Yeah, that's that's

50:54 - that's one area that I'm personally not super well-versed on.

50:58 - You know, I know we have cooperating nuisance,

51:02 - wildlife control people in a lot of parts of the state

51:04 - where they can come out and help with those issues.

51:06 - They're they're permitted by the game Commission.

51:08 - And and we work in partnership with them.

51:10 - There's, you know, there's permissions within the law to allow folks

51:15 - to remove, damage causing wildlife, whether it's a groundhog

51:19 - or a raccoon or whatever the case may be.

51:21 - So, I would say that if there's a question about that,

51:27 - ring up, our 800 number gets our dispatch, and no point in the right direction

51:31 - to our regional office where that local warden or

51:34 - that local regional law enforcement team will be able to tell you specifically

51:38 - with exactly what issue you have, what what you have available to help solve it.

51:43 - Hopefully, hopefully that's helpful.

51:44 - But our we have 2 to 2 800 numbers to call the game commission

51:48 - to get you to our central dispatch.

51:49 - Now, that those dispatchers are highly trained

51:53 - to direct those calls to the right places. So

51:57 - what about our largest game, Elk?

52:02 - I happen to be a registered elk guide, and I work for an elk outfitter,

52:06 - and I work with a lot of landowners up around

52:11 - our RL zones.

52:13 - And, I can sympathize with a lot of the farmers

52:16 - up around there with a lot of the damage.

52:19 - Of course, I've never been one to ever draw an elk license or tag.

52:24 - But and with that said,

52:28 - I see a lot of farmers with a lot of damage.

52:30 - You know, the bulls

52:33 - with these wrapped bales, all they need to do is spear.

52:38 - Spear them a couple times.

52:40 - We know what the damage can does to that.

52:42 - There goes the whole principle of having a wrap Bale.

52:46 - I've also seen a few people that still pick your corn

52:51 - and are still few up here to do that, and they still put it out,

52:54 - and there's bulls rake, the side of the cribs,

52:59 - and then the rest of the, the cows come in.

53:01 - And, you know, I've seen actually have farmers circle

53:06 - the cribs with their wagons

53:10 - just to keep the elk from, you know, raking, cribs.

53:15 - Get to show the corn out.

53:17 - I'm not saying it's a severe problem, but it is a problem for the farmers.

53:22 - Up, up in that area.

53:24 - And I, I know Jeremy personally real well,

53:28 - and we've

53:28 - talked about that, but I don't know if it's a can of worms

53:31 - that the game Commission can afford to dig into.

53:35 - Because where do you start and where do you finish on something like that?

53:39 - So I don't know what the solution is.

53:41 - I don't know.

53:41 - Jeremy doesn't have a great answer.

53:44 - He tries to regulate that with the appropriation of tags

53:49 - in this certain bad areas.

53:52 - So yeah, I think again, that's one where it's a targeted issue.

53:56 - We need a targeted solution. Right.

53:58 - And that's one where we would certainly encourage people

54:02 - dealing with that damage to call directly into us, get it, get our folks out there

54:06 - and find what works, whether it's, you know, somehow removing some something

54:11 - that's attracting the elk to the area or, kind of like bears with garbage.

54:15 - Right?

54:15 - But with elk, probably

54:17 - not feasible when you got big cornfields and wrap bales and things like that.

54:21 - So, I think each one of those situations is going to be

54:25 - unique enough that it's going to take a specific solution.

54:29 - You know, we actually have,

54:30 - our deputy executive director of field operations,

54:32 - who's our former North Central region director,

54:34 - and we have our North Central region director here in the room today as well. So,

54:39 - the fact that you brought that question up and we're getting it out in the open,

54:42 - it gives us something to work towards

54:44 - and pay attention to and and try to work to better solutions.

54:48 - So I appreciate I appreciate the question and the comment

54:50 - and I appreciate the recognition that it's not an easy, something to fix.

54:54 - Right.

54:55 - Thank you, Secretary Redding.

54:57 - Yeah, I the sense that at the time.

54:59 - But I'm curious at all of the deer behind us are doe

55:03 - right.

55:03 - Are there any restrictions in terms of the certified program to Doe,

55:08 - or is that a farmer or landowner restriction?

55:11 - Yeah, it's a good question. So the certified Hunter program

55:14 - is primarily targeting at least deer through that.

55:16 - Now that being said, when we sit down with the landowner,

55:20 - if they are willing to allow the the hunting of Buck on their property,

55:24 - which I would say about 80% of the property's enrolled are doing that so

55:28 - they don't have to utilize their antler buck tag.

55:29 - But yes, they could,

55:30 - they could harvest a buck and disease their antler tag on that property. Yep.

55:34 - But but just to be clear, if it's happening during the AG

55:37 - tag season, it's antlerless only. Yes.

55:40 - In the AG tag season, correct? Yeah.

55:43 - Okay, so we have five minutes left.

55:44 - And so I'd like to invite our panelists to each give us,

55:48 - just a closing comment and we'll start with Secretary ready.

55:54 - But I think

55:55 - the first of all, a note of thanks, and I think this conversation and just,

55:59 - general engagement and sincere sort of interest in solving

56:03 - the problem, has been,

56:06 - noticed and valued, very much,

56:10 - you know, seasons, are important to agriculture.

56:13 - Seasons are important to hunting.

56:15 - I think the seasons sort of converge here with, what we talked about today.

56:19 - So I think the just willingness to say, we worked hard to get here,

56:24 - got a lot of folks who are now supportive of more people,

56:28 - I think supportive of hunting

56:30 - because they saw the intersect between agriculture and crop damage and hunting.

56:34 - And so I think that's great.

56:35 - The next sort of frontier, for us, I think, is

56:39 - just sort of inspiring another generation to hunt.

56:43 - Ultimately, this is somebody

56:44 - who you get more days, you get more stock, you get more land, you get more people.

56:48 - Right?

56:49 - So hopefully that's part of the answer, right?

56:50 - That's what we're over after.

56:51 - So anyway, noted.

56:52 - Thanks to all for passing. Hospitable.

56:55 - Thank you.

56:56 - Well, thank you, Andy.

56:57 - And, it's it is actually been really an amazing

57:01 - last eight months as as we've made this journey together as a coalition.

57:06 - And, I just I can see big things as we move forward,

57:10 - because I know that as as we continue to be successful,

57:16 - knowing our farmers being on their farms

57:19 - and seeing the amount of damage that is occurring, I can tell you that

57:24 - on my farm, we don't have what I see

57:27 - in other parts of the state in damage.

57:30 - And so, not all places will need to have these types of programs,

57:35 - but when, when there is counties and areas that need it,

57:40 - we need to have the tools to handle it.

57:42 - And so, I just know that if we continue to work

57:45 - together, we'll continue to solve the problems.

57:48 - Put more money back in our farmers pockets,

57:53 - because when they plant that crop, they have an investment.

57:56 - And that investment needs to come back in, in some type

57:59 - of economic return if we want our farmers to be successful.

58:03 - So, my last comment would be is since the foray

58:06 - to have a shooting program,

58:09 - we should just do a roll them right into the master Hunter program.

58:13 - And we're going to get new hunters, new hunters into our program.

58:17 - So the next generation is sitting right here.

58:20 - It sounds like

58:21 - it's a great comment.

58:25 - Randy.

58:27 - Yeah, I just want to echo what everybody has said so far.

58:29 - I mean, we're very excited about this partnership.

58:31 - And we kind of at Hunter sharing the harvest.

58:33 - We kind of see ourselves as sort of a bridge

58:36 - or a conduit that kind of helps this whole function happen.

58:40 - We're we're we're helping to facilitate the process

58:43 - and what I have to keep going back to is just this fact that

58:48 - that when we look at people to for the opportunity to engage

58:52 - with this type of program and with our program in specific, what

58:55 - I like to keep driving home is this notion of hunting as social service.

58:59 - You don't hear that very often when it comes to

59:04 - talk about the hunting community.

59:07 - That's another opportunity where this whole thing becomes

59:10 - kind of a bridge, because now we're talking about hunters

59:14 - not only helping solve a problem for hunters, but also help

59:18 - manage the statewide deer herd, which is the game Commission's priority.

59:23 - But then to also be performing a social service,

59:26 - that's just something that's not typically associated with the hunting community,

59:30 - but it's so immense you can't even imagine.

59:33 - We look at the 284,000 pounds that were donated just last year

59:37 - in Pennsylvania

59:38 - alone, and over these last few years, I've become friends with a lot of people

59:42 - in a lot of other states that have similar programs.

59:44 - There's about 38 states in the country now that have some form of wild game

59:49 - donation program, and they're all facing similar issues.

59:52 - Everybody's facing crop damage issues.

59:54 - It doesn't matter

59:54 - whether you're in the South or the Midwest or the East or the West Coast.

59:58 - 965 It's an issue, and the numbers are staggering.

01:00 - 04.968 We're talking about millions and millions of pounds

01:00 - 08.071 of not only venison, but other forms of wild game

01:00 - 11.107 across the country that are feeding people in local communities.

01:00 - 14.010 And that's the hunting community. Do that, doing that.

01:00 - 18.748 And that's typically also in some form of conjunction with their ag community

01:00 - 22.719 and improving relations, because it's it's such an important topic.

01:00 - 25.688 So to me, we're very, very excited to be here.

01:00 - 26.823 But it's one of those times

01:00 - 30.393 in, in an organization's history and in a state's history

01:00 - 34.297 where we're we're forging a lot of new ground at a very rapid pace.

01:00 - 35.898 So it's exciting.

01:00 - 39.135 It can be a little scary, exciting sometimes the way I describe it.

01:00 - 42.972 But it is it's all moving in the right direction.

01:00 - 46.442 And we're just glad to be a part of it and looking forward to continued

01:00 - 50.747 discussions and the, I get to go last.

01:00 - 52.548 I don't know if it's a good thing.

01:00 - 57.387 But one of the things, one of the themes that I keep hearing about is values.

01:00 - 01.290 You know, we have hunters that value wildlife, and they certainly value

01:01 - 03.693 how they're going to use the tags they get to put in their pocket.

01:01 - 06.496 We've got farmers that value their crops.

01:01 - 09.632 We've got folks who need that value where their next meal is coming from.

01:01 - 13.369 And I think pulling this all together,

01:01 - 18.241 once we started really valuing each other and valuing and understanding

01:01 - 21.377 the needs of of all the other people that were parts

01:01 - 25.214 of what we're doing today, I think it lifts everything up.

01:01 - 28.918 I mean, you look at the value of a farmer engaging with a hunter.

01:01 - 33.222 If that hunter understands what that farmer needs, and they can value each

01:01 - 37.894 other's own needs separate from their own, it kind of everything works then.

01:01 - 42.331 So I'm just I'm really proud, you know, of where we've all come from

01:01 - 43.633 and where we're at today.

01:01 - 46.402 And I'm really excited about where we're going to be in a couple of years from now.

01:01 - 48.304 We want to

01:01 - 51.307 have one last word here signing more people up.

01:01 - 52.742 Yeah.

01:01 - 55.178 Go to game commission website certified Hunter.

01:01 - 58.481 No, I just close with,

01:01 - 01.751 you know, similar Dave is I'm here in just so much community.

01:02 - 04.787 And that's one of the blessings I've had is being able

01:02 - 07.056 to, to be out on these farms and talk with these hunters.

01:02 - 10.793 And, you know, we a community of hunters that's now engaging

01:02 - 14.363 with agriculture producers that they may have not understood fully,

01:02 - 15.298 you know, those two groups.

01:02 - 18.434 And then we have the ability to donate to our community through.

01:02 - 23.539 And then we look up here with this coalition, coalition of different agencies

01:02 - 24.307 all working together.

01:02 - 27.710 It just it fosters a great community and, proud to be part of it.

01:02 - 29.746 Well that's tremendous.

01:02 - 31.180 I really want to thank the panelists.

01:02 - 32.915 I'll give them a round of applause.

01:02 - 38.621 Is. Such

01:02 - 41.791 an awesome thank you for being here this afternoon.

01:02 - 43.793 Thank you. Thanks, Megan.

01:02 - 46.796 You know.

01:03 - 10.653 They.