The controversial shift from a Monday deer opener to a Saturday opening day in 2019 infuriated many deer camp members while making participation easier for hunters who couldn't get off work or school on Mondays.
An independent survey commissioned by the state Game Commission has found that 67% of Pennsylvania deer hunters support the Saturday-after-Thanksgiving start to the firearms deer season.
The opening day had been linked to the Monday after Thanksgiving since the early 1960s, when it displaced the previous opening-day protocol. Plummeting hunting license sales in Pennsylvania and nationwide prompted game commissioners to create more opportunities to hunt, believing the move would boost the sale of licenses, which fund most of the state's wildlife management expenses.
