Trending
The statewide bear season opens next Saturday, followed by the beginning of the regular deer season the weekend after that.
Each of these ranks among the most popular events for many Pennsylvania hunters each year. Having worked in the sporting goods business for many years in my younger days, I well remember lots of busy days in November as hunters lined up to buy every piece of gear imaginable in preparation for the upcoming hunting season, from a pair of gloves to a new rifle or scope. Although I somewhat enjoyed being part of the fray back then, I can't say I miss those hectic days leading up to deer season anymore.
After more than 50 years of hunting, I rarely need to do much shopping for new gear before deer or bear season, so I don't know if November is as frantic now in the sporting goods departments as they were back in the 1970s and 1980s. Even if the checkout lines aren't too long, many hunters are likely to be frustrated this year by a drastic ammo shortage. The casual hunters who typically wait until a couple of weeks before deer season to buy a box or two of ammo are likely to find none available this time around.
For almost a year now, most popular calibers of rifle and handgun ammo along with shotgun shells have been scarce to nonexistent on the store shelves. What few boxes of ammunition that do show up for sale here and there are often priced almost double or more than for the same stock before the current shortage. Most dealers have been imposing limits like two boxes of ammo per customer to help ration limited supplies among more shooters. But even then, any new ammo inventory is typically snatched up within hours of being put out for sale.
What is the cause of the current ammunition scarcity? That's a good question, and one that seems to have many complex and interconnected answers. One of the primary reasons some experts have cited is the emergence of about 7 million new gun owners during 2020. If each of those folks purchased just 100 rounds of ammunition for their new firearm, that could amount to an additional demand of 700 million rounds of ammunition. While that certainly is a big block of ammo, it only represents about 7.8 percent of the 9 billion rounds of ammo that are produced in the U.S. each year.
Other factors in the mix include Remington, one of the country's largest ammunition manufacturers, filing for bankruptcy and closing its large ammunition factory in Arkansas. That facility has subsequently been purchased by another company, reopened and restored to full production. Shortages of raw materials has stymied other manufacturers. The chronic shortage has also provoked hoarding by many gun owners, which worsens and prolongs the situation.
So when will the ammo supply return to normal? There is no easy answer to that question as well. Most industry experts are predicting another year or two for things to sort out on the supply side. Even then, prices are not likely to revert to their former levels, so even when ammunition finally becomes readily available again, expect to pay more to shoot.
New trout opener set
At its quarterly meeting on Oct. 25, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) passed regulations to establish the first Saturday in April as a single statewide opening day of trout season. This change will take affect in 2022 with trout season opening on April 2 throughout Pennsylvania. For generations, the Pennsylvania trout season opened statewide in mid-April. In 2007, the PFBC established a separate regional opening day for trout season in 18 counties in the southeastern part of the state. Due to concerns regarding COVID-19, the PFBC reverted to a single statewide opening day both the 2019 and 2020 trout seasons.
Returning to the traditional single opening day for the entire state prompted the PFBC to take a second look at the separate regional trout opener. Based on angler feedback and input from various PFBC staffers, the decision was made to return to one trout opener statewide and set that date each year for the first Saturday in April, two weeks earlier than the traditional first day. The statewide Mentored Youth Trout Day was also set to occur the Saturday before the opening day of trout season each year going forward. For 2022, that date will be March 26.
The commissioners also voted to approve a Trout Slot Limit program. In 2014, the PFBC placed experimental slot limit regulations on a 7-mile stretch of Penns Creek in Centre County downstream of the village of Coburn. Under these special regulations, trout 7 inches or longer but less than 12 inches can be kept or killed with a daily limit of two. All trout smaller or larger than the slot lengths must be released. Trout population surveys conducted in the special regulation area revealed an increase in the numbers of larger wild brown trout since the slot limit regulations have been in place.
Based on the success of the experimental program on Penns Creek, the new Trout Slot Limit program can now be considered as a management tool on other suitable waters in the state. Under the program, waters will be designated as All-Tackle Trout Slot Limit or Artificial Lures Only Trout Slot Limit depending on the objectives for the specific waterway.