I may not be a gimp but I am an old lady!!!

You ain't no stinkin' old lady!  Come on, woman!  You're faster than me too!

Jamie, I'm ahead of Sue by like 20 miles right now.  I doubt I will be for long, so I gotta get my bragging in early! 

Wanted to add that in our state the whole issue has come up mainly for two reasons--general hunter numbers are trending downward so there is of course less money to support all that the DNR does and there have been an increasing number of user conflicts on the state's public hunting lands. Examples would be people geo-caching on these lands during the hunting season and interfering with hunters and of course then complaining about it. People around the Madison area using the PHG's as a conveniant dog park and running their dogs loose during the ground nesting season of pheasants. Let your imagination wander as to what people will do on these so-called publc lands. I've watched a couple training sled dogs in Dec on an area I hunt south of town. They were just zig-zgging all over the habitat. The list is endless. I can roll with most of this stuff as I want things to stay open in general but people behave like arrogant jerks at times so in the end these are hunters lands and if they get closed up to the general non-paying public, so be it.

Thanks for the background, DD.  Quick questions- is this land tax-exempt?  Also, is the quasi-public Commission publicly funded by the state, either in part or in whole?  If yes to both, then, in my view, this is public land, supported by the citizens of PA.  I understand the hunters maybe more  invested, just like a forester may be more invested in the State Forest system.  If this is the case, then I do think access should be open to all.  Short seasonal restrictions seem reasonable, too.

 

As far as I know the land is tax exempt. I could be wrong, but I don't believe that any of the Game Commission's budget comes from general funds. The Game Commission and most hunters resist that as they don't want to open that political can of worms.

I didn't realize that WI also had hunting lands that were totally supported by the hunters so maybe this system is not so unique to PA after all. Jame had posted on the PA runners group some information that the Keystone Trails Association put out, and apparently they had donated several tracts of land to the Game Commission. I feel the trails on those tracts should be kept open for all except the three weeks of regular rifle bear and deer season and that should have been stipulated in the transfer agreement.  I would also like to make sure that the major trails that pass through the Commission's lands are kept open as well. Overall it's a complicated subject and Harrier details the Hunter's point of view rather well.

This may be a bigger problem then is some states because the Game Commission does own 1.4 million acres. The State Forest system is about 2.2 million acres.