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How does affirming private property rights affect the future of hunting in Pennsylvania?
It is leading to fewer game wardens on the ground.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has announced the end of the state's Deputy Game Warden Program. More than 100 part-time or volunteer workers are seeing their service come to an end. That cuts the number of wardens almost in half, dropping to just the 155 full-timers.
Do the math. With 67 counties, that means there might be just two wardens, maybe fewer, per county.
The move comes after a unanimous July ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that addressed the way wardens often work. Previously, wardens used a legal concept of "open fields doctrine" to enter private land without a warrant. The new ruling makes clear that private property is private whether it is a house, a car or 50 acres of unfenced woodland.
"It was not the sole reason, but it did play a role," commission spokesman Hunter Kauffman said.
The ruling would make it more complicated for wardens who have been walking onto private property to assess for violations to do their jobs, but not impossible. It would require the same kind of acknowledgement of legal boundaries that police officers encounter: Recognizing private property and getting a warrant.
Kauffman said it was "unfair to put those burdens" on volunteers.
Upcoming hunting seasons will show whether this is a smart recognition of limitations in the face of a legal ruling or the commission is cutting off its nose to spite its face.
It's worth noting that this was not a decision of the actual commission. Kauffman noted it was the kind of administrative decision that fell to staff level. It will be interesting to hear feedback on the move from the commission itself when it meets next month.
The court's ruling addresses the wardens' history of overstepping legal authority, albeit within the parameters of a doctrine that appeared to make it permissible.
If the commission objects to the dissolution of a program that provided nearly half the wardens in the field, it would be an example of the administration overstepping, even though it would be within its traditional role.
But parsing who gets to do what is looking in the rearview mirror. What should be addressed going forward is what happens next.
How will the commission fulfill its responsibility of providing safe hunting with half the staff?
"There is a much larger plan for the commission, and long-term, there may be a good solution to this. We don't know about that yet. I think that's part of the problem. There's a little bit of a vacuum of information," National Deer Association CEO Nick Pinizzotto said.
It's a good thing the agency is making changes based on direction from the court. It also could be a good thing to have a plan for the future. The deputy warden program was more than 120 years old. Everything, even hunting, changes over time.
But if people don't have information, that can be a problem, and as Kauffman said, it can be unfair to put those burdens out there.