Unified Sportsmen Of Pennsylvania Suing PGC Again
June 17, 2008
Not successful in their first attempt to sue the Pennsylvania Game Commission to stop their implementation of the deer management plan, the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania got the go ahead from a state court to sue the PGC. PGC now has 30 days to reply to the charges.
In essence, USP claims that PGC did not use scientific evidence in the issuing of antlerless deer permits resulting in drastic reductions in deer numbers. They want this to stop until such time that PGC can prove they are following the law in issuing the permits.
Game Commission Executive Director Carl Roe says he welcomes the opportunity to explain the procedures they use.
‘We look forward to ?the opportunity to have our many expert witnesses expound on the scientific basis and soundness of our management plan,” Roe said. ”At the end of the trial, we are confident that this debate over the scientific validity will be resolved once and for all.”
The deer management plan PGC has implemented has been a controversy since day one with no real end in sight. Some see the plan as a good thing while others complain of too few deer. With the onset of another lawsuit, others are complaining that USP are just wasting the PGC’s money, which is mostly collected from license fees, fearing it will result in increased fees.
It will probably be months before the case will actually make it to the courts.
Tom Remington
After a little internet searching, reading, and checking up on this stuff I found it’s a pretty well established product in Canada and hails from Quebec where they have this funny habit of speaking a lot of French. Thus the name, Jig-A-Loo, and the company’s claim it derives from a saying they have up north, “I’ve got it!” 
The information that will be given out by pgc was BEGGED for by several organizations, both sportsmen and other stakeholder groups and pgc wouldnt open up the books. Now they will be forced to.
Whatever happens, I hope that everyone gets to the bottom of this and puts it all to rest once and for all. The longer this goes on, the more trouble it is causing. I still hate to see it end up in the hands of lawyers and courts but I guess if that’s what it takes, then so be it.
As frivilous as this lawsuit is, I’m glad this fringe group of malcontents is finally going to have to put up or shut up. This group was formed by a handful of guys who didn’t agree with the majority of another large club. they haven’t been a friend to the sportsmen or pgc since, and 25 years later they’re still disagreeing with the majority. Though they claim to be a majority, their lawsuit could only collect 13,000 signatures which is like one 100th of a percent of the people and not even 1% of the sportsmen. Their individual membership is just over 2000 people, but with club memberships which include anyone belonging to those clubs, they claim (depending on what day of the week0 about 30,000. Still being one of the smaller clubs when affiliated clubs are included. they count on the exploitation of the uninformed hunter and their emotions.
I’ll be surprised if the suit goes far before the usp runs out of money. In their hast to make the news they overlooked the cost and the need for “experts” to agree with them. Already the head guy is out job shopping, directors are quiting, and there’s a scramble to find money to pay their lawyers. Word on the street is they have accepted money from fund for animals.
But nonetheless, I believe that when the judges see the facts and experts presented by the game commission, and nothing more than personal opinions from you average joe off the street from the usp; it will be short lived. Then hopefully this club will dry up and wither away and the division of hunters and outdoorsmen they’ve caused will start the healing process. But keep in mind that door they’ve opened for bringing lawsuits against hunting and wildlife agencies will never be closed again! And we have about 10 people to thank for that.
I think the law suit and going to court is a little much, but I also think It was a bad move to have the regular antlerless season two weeks long.And at the same time as buck season.
GMOCK - Please don’t take this question wrong. I am not being a smartass! Could you explain in your opinion why having 2 weeks and at the same time as bucks is a mistake?
I hunt in Maine and both seasons have always run at the same time. Is it because of the number of hunters in the woods?