This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our north-central Pa. newsletter, Talk of the Town, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s near-total ban on Sunday hunting has long had the support of farmers and outdoor groups, but crop-hungry deer and swing district lawmakers could tip the state toward lifting restrictions.

The debate over hunting on Sundays isn’t new in Harrisburg, but this year something changed: The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau dropped its longstanding opposition to the practice, potentially clearing the way for a shift.

Farmers like Mark Duda made the trade association change its tune.

Duda’s Farm is a family-owned operation in rural Fayette County that’s more than 30 years old. It’s known for its local roadside stands, and supplies grocery stores in Pittsburgh and northern West Virginia. Over the years, the family has added a retail market and seasonal attractions, such as hayrides and corn mazes.

The expanded business model wasn’t enough, though. Last year, Mark and his brother Andrew filed for bankruptcy — and Duda pins most of the blame on four-legged pests.

“We might lose everything, and one of the biggest reasons is the deer,” he told Spotlight PA.

Crop damage, mainly due to deer and birds, resulted in more than $600,000 in losses last year, Duda said. The animals have wiped out entire fields of corn, green beans, beets, and pumpkins. He estimated at least a million dollars in losses already this year.

Sunday hunting could minimize some of the damage, Duda said.

Farmers have long been skeptical of Sunday hunting, saying they value having a day when hunters can’t trespass on their land or knock on their doors in the early morning asking permission to shoot. But increased concerns over crop damage have changed thinking among some, and were a driving force in the Farm Bureau’s decision to drop its opposition to Sunday hunting earlier this year.

Fayette County Farm Bureau President Darrell Becker told Spotlight PA that Sunday hunting probably won’t solve crop loss, but that it’s worth trying.

“Are we going to protect farmers and our food chain, or are we going to protect deer?” he said.

Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting ban is at least 200 years old, and makes exceptions for hunting crows, coyotes, and foxes during open seasons. Other exceptions were put in place by a 2019 law that allows hunting on three Sundays a year: one during the rifle deer season, one during the archery deer season, and a third decided by the state Game Commission.

Eleven states have a total or partial ban on Sunday hunting, according to the National Rifle Association. These bans are remnants of so-called blue laws that dictated when private citizens could engage in certain activities. Usually, they have a religious bent and bar people from engaging in an activity on Sunday, Christianity’s holy day.

Hunters have pushed lawmakers to remove the ban, arguing that it discriminates against them. Those who support expansion also say that more time to hunt could encourage more people to purchase licenses for the activity. Revenue from those sales helps fund habitat improvements and other conservation efforts.

Lawmakers are considering it. However, in Harrisburg, they aren’t just thinking about balancing the needs of farmers and hunters — their calculations are also political.

Debates over Sunday hunting in the General Assembly historically fall more along cultural than partisan lines. But the topic has taken a partisan bent this year as two swing district lawmakers in competitive reelection battles have campaigned on the issue.

Those two legislators, state Rep. Mandy Steele (D., Allegheny) and state Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie), have dueling Sunday hunting proposals. Laughlin’s passed his chamber and made it through a House committee; Steele’s has passed the House and awaits action in a Senate committee.

For either member, having their name on the final bill would be a campaign promise kept as they try to win over voters in the opposing party. And their respective parties both consider their seats to be important for maintaining their majorities.

Republicans hold a 28-22 advantage in the state Senate, while Democrats control the 203-member state House by just a single vote.

Steele and Laughlin’s bills are similar: Both would remove the Sunday prohibition and empower the Game Commission to regulate hunting days.

The bill also would strengthen existing trespassing penalties (although Laughlin’s are weaker); require one member of the Game Commission to represent “the interest of agricultural commodities”; and create a database to link farmers dealing with pests to hunters willing to take aim at the problem.

As of this week, Laughlin’s bill appears to have an edge. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said in a statement that the issue has “many different viewpoints which cross party lines.”

“The voices of our membership have been heard, and we have sent the House a product the Senate finds acceptable,” Pittman said. “We await the House taking action on this important matter.”

For hunters, the issue is more a matter of fairness than power.

Hunters United for Sunday Hunting has lobbied against Sunday hunting restrictions for years.

“Hikers, bikers, ATV riders — all of the nonconsumptive users — have the ability to recreate seven days a week. The only people who don’t are hunters,” Kevin Askew, executive director of the advocacy group, told Spotlight PA.

For Cody Ammerman of Philipsburg, hunting is more than a hobby. It’s a way for his family to get meat in rural central Pennsylvania. But finding time — especially when navigating school and work schedules — can be challenging, he told Spotlight PA.

A lack of free time was among the main reasons people who participated in a 2022 Game Commission survey said their hunting decreased. Most respondents — 60% — said they hunted on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the second day of firearms season.

The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, meanwhile, is trying to balance two disparate goals. The state’s deer population is stable overall, according to harvest numbers from the Game Commission, but culling helps manage herds. If the number of people hunting in Pennsylvania goes down, deer will likely increase. But many farmers still consider hunters, with their early morning visits and tendency to trespass, a nuisance.

As a solution, the bureau demanded some concessions in any law allowing Sunday hunting in exchange for its neutral position. These include stricter penalties for trespassing and requirements that at least one member of the Pennsylvania Game Commission be a farmer. Both bills contain those conditions.

The debate isn’t limited to farmers and hunters.

Vince Phillips, a former lobbyist for the Pennsylvania State Grange — an agricultural and rural advocacy organization — noted that a full repeal of Sunday hunting is opposed by outdoor and recreational groups that support a gunshot-free day for hikers, bikers, and others.

Those groups include the Keystone Trails Association and the Pennsylvania Equine Council.

But with more farmers now in favor of Sunday hunting, “opposition has withered,” Phillips told Spotlight PA.

As for the current political tug-of-war over Sunday hunting, Phillips said that Laughlin has a long history of advocating on this issue within rural areas, and said Steele has a political interest as “a vulnerable first-timer in an area where Trump got votes before.”

“Politics and policy always have a symbiotic relationship,” Phillips added.

SUPPORT THIS JOURNALISM and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at spotlightpa.org/donate/statecollege. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results.