by Karen Mehall Phillips, NRA Media - Thursday, July 10, 2025
Who says a “watched pot” never boils? After a decades-long push, Pennsylvania hunters marked a historic victory today as Gov. Josh Shapiro signed House Bill 1431 into law to repeal centuries-old restrictions on Sunday hunting. The move brings Pennsylvania in line with the majority of states across America that embrace Sunday hunting’s role in strengthening rural communities, wildlife management and the economy in a state where close to a million hunters celebrate hunting as a family tradition to the point schools close for the opening day of deer season.
“This new law is about real freedom: the freedom to hunt, the freedom for families to pass down traditions to the next generation, and the freedom for the Pennsylvania Game Commission—the experts who know our hunters and our wildlife best—to set hunting seasons that work for today’s Pennsylvania,” said Gov. Shapiro, in an official statement at the Blue Ridge Sportsman Club in Dauphin County. Joining him were Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) Executive Director Steve Smith, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and legislators, hunters and shooters who were present to commemorate the moment.
The victory is a long time coming as Pennsylvania hunters, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and other hunter-backed groups have tried to lift the Sunday hunting ban for decades. As this NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum (HLF) website and American Hunter reported in 2020, the NRA played a vital role in getting an initial Sunday hunting bill passed, though it covered only a few pre-selected Sundays each season. While minimal Sunday hunting opportunities was better for hunters, their families, the economy and the state’s Hunters for the Hungry program than no Sunday hunting at all, the goal remained getting Pennsylvania to join the majority of states nationwide that support Sunday hunting.
Hunters’ optimism over repealing Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting restrictions spiked in early June when House Bill 1431 was approved by the House Game and Fisheries Committee and forwarded to the House where it passed by a vote of 131 to 72 on June 11. The Senate passed it on June 26 with a vote of a 34-16. Now in the home stretch, the bill was then sent back to the House for a final vote on concurrence and passed on July 7 with a 142-61 vote before heading to Gov. Shapiro for his signature.
While NRA media outlets remain NRA members’ and hunters’ go-to sources for news, on a personal note, I was excited to call a few of my Pennsylvania relatives firsthand—all hunters—in Cambria County, Pa. After listening to their relief over finally lifting Sunday hunting restrictions, I went online to check out one of the region’s media outlets in particular: WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Pa.—the channel I watched alongside my grandparents when I visited from Maryland on my childhood summer vacations. My grandpap was a coal miner, a PGC game warden and a hunter who I know would be so pleased that Pennsylvanians are about to have more opportunities to pursue a lifetime of hunting enjoyment. In its news report, WJAC-TV underscored how the new law is not only supported by the PGC but by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and sportsmen’s groups. This is common sense as it bolsters opportunities for hunters and their families while keeping wildlife populations in check and increasing revenue from hunting license sales that, in turn, aid wildlife conservation initiatives. While the new law is official, it won’t take effect until Sept. 7—just in time for the fall hunting seasons.
From the NRA’s perspective, with Pennsylvania being one of the nation’s top states when it comes to the sheer number of licensed hunters, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action recognizes how this new law “preserves Pennsylvania’s sporting heritage and is a vital hunter recruitment tool in attracting the next generation of hunters.” Allowing an extra weekend day is an opportunity for young Pennsylvanians to be introduced to hunting while supporting America’s R3 movement to recruit, retain and reactivate hunters and secure hunting’s future.
In standing with hunters, the NRA is quick to underscore hunters’ role in wildlife management. It regularly notes that the states with the most abundant game populations are among those that allow hunting on Sundays. This is because hunters are a tool in keeping wild game populations in step with habitat carrying capacities so their numbers do not outpace what the landscape can sustainably support.