By Marcus Schneck | mschneck@pennlive.com
The Great American Outdoor Show, which opened for its nine-day run on Saturday, February 1, at the Pennsylvania Farm Show and Complex Center in Harrisburg, is steeped in heritage.
The show, although under a new name since 2014, is itself a long-standing tradition. Until a dispute over military-style rifles and accessories killed the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in 2013, it had been an automatic, near-holiday notch on the calendars of families throughout central Pennsylvania and beyond since 1956.
The National Rifle Association, which resurrected the show in 2014, is built around the heritage of gun ownership, shooting and the outdoors.
The sports on which the show is based – hunting, fishing and shooting – are largely based on family heritage and often continued out of a sense of connection to the heritage.
But, beyond the 1,500 exhibitors at the show, the roots of all that heritage are changing. Sunday hunting, new styles of game management, declines in some game populations and the reintroductions of others, game-threatening disease, efforts to bring new hunters and anglers into the sports, and more have fostered discontent and disagreement.
More: Your Guide to the Great American Outdoor Show
Although those new divides originate largely outside the show, they can be found walking the 650,000 square feet of the farm show complex.
“No, I’m not OK with the way things are going at the (Pennsylvania) Game Commission,” said James Dann, 68, of Newport, as he checked out a display of goose calls. I had asked him how he felt about the changes coming to Pennsylvania hunting and fishing, things like opening deer season on a Saturday, targeted removal of deer to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease and trophy-trout programs of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
“They destroyed deer hunting in Pennsylvania. Almost nobody wants to come to camp for deer season anymore.” Dann is a member of a deer camp in Potter County, where he said only five hunters out of a membership of 22 came to camp November 29-December 1 for the opening of deer season.
Edward Green, 36, of Mechanicsburg, has seen the same impact on hunters at the Lycoming County hunting camp his grandfather and some friends built decades ago.
“I’m good with most of the changes, but I know a lot of guys aren’t. We don’t get much of a gang these days,” he explained. “And since my son started hunting, I don’t go up for deer. The older guys spend the whole time complaining about hunting conditions and I don’t want to kill his fun. He thinks hunting is great and he’s always ready to go out.”
Victor Cramer, of Millersburg, commented, “Starting deer on Saturday is a great idea, and this year we get both Saturday and Sunday. How is that a bad thing?
“I’ve been hunting and fishing for like 30 years, and I don’t think things were ever better. I even got a bobcat this year. I never thought we’d be able to hunt bobcat in Pennsylvania.”
More: New gear you can see and try at Great American Outdoor Show February 1-9
Jim Ellison, 41, of State College, noted, “I guess doing things they way we always did them is nice. But things are changing, and we need to do things to change too. If we want to have hunting and fishing down the line, we need new people and we need to solve our own problems.”
In contrast, Henry Bernardi, 73, of Carlisle, said, “I don’t even go trout fishing any more. With all the extra early days for the kids, there’s nothing left for the real first day. And, now there are no pheasants and they want us to buy a special license to hunt nothing. Forget that. And, deer hunting isn’t even worth getting up early.”
And, yet, he hasn’t missed more than two or three first days at the outdoor show. Bernardi laughed, “I’m still a hunter and a fisherman. I may complain a lot, but I want to see the new stuff.”
More: Here are 18 outdoor shows you can attend in Pennsylvania in 2020
Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
The Great American Outdoor Show, which opened for its nine-day run on Saturday, February 1, at the Pennsylvania Farm Show and Complex Center in Harrisburg, is steeped in heritage.
The show, although under a new name since 2014, is itself a long-standing tradition. Until a dispute over military-style rifles and accessories killed the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in 2013, it had been an automatic, near-holiday notch on the calendars of families throughout central Pennsylvania and beyond since 1956.
The National Rifle Association, which resurrected the show in 2014, is built around the heritage of gun ownership, shooting and the outdoors.
The sports on which the show is based – hunting, fishing and shooting – are largely based on family heritage and often continued out of a sense of connection to the heritage.
But, beyond the 1,500 exhibitors at the show, the roots of all that heritage are changing. Sunday hunting, new styles of game management, declines in some game populations and the reintroductions of others, game-threatening disease, efforts to bring new hunters and anglers into the sports, and more have fostered discontent and disagreement.
More: Your Guide to the Great American Outdoor Show
Although those new divides originate largely outside the show, they can be found walking the 650,000 square feet of the farm show complex.
“No, I’m not OK with the way things are going at the (Pennsylvania) Game Commission,” said James Dann, 68, of Newport, as he checked out a display of goose calls. I had asked him how he felt about the changes coming to Pennsylvania hunting and fishing, things like opening deer season on a Saturday, targeted removal of deer to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease and trophy-trout programs of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
“They destroyed deer hunting in Pennsylvania. Almost nobody wants to come to camp for deer season anymore.” Dann is a member of a deer camp in Potter County, where he said only five hunters out of a membership of 22 came to camp November 29-December 1 for the opening of deer season.
Edward Green, 36, of Mechanicsburg, has seen the same impact on hunters at the Lycoming County hunting camp his grandfather and some friends built decades ago.
“I’m good with most of the changes, but I know a lot of guys aren’t. We don’t get much of a gang these days,” he explained. “And since my son started hunting, I don’t go up for deer. The older guys spend the whole time complaining about hunting conditions and I don’t want to kill his fun. He thinks hunting is great and he’s always ready to go out.”
Victor Cramer, of Millersburg, commented, “Starting deer on Saturday is a great idea, and this year we get both Saturday and Sunday. How is that a bad thing?
“I’ve been hunting and fishing for like 30 years, and I don’t think things were ever better. I even got a bobcat this year. I never thought we’d be able to hunt bobcat in Pennsylvania.”
More: New gear you can see and try at Great American Outdoor Show February 1-9
Jim Ellison, 41, of State College, noted, “I guess doing things they way we always did them is nice. But things are changing, and we need to do things to change too. If we want to have hunting and fishing down the line, we need new people and we need to solve our own problems.”
In contrast, Henry Bernardi, 73, of Carlisle, said, “I don’t even go trout fishing any more. With all the extra early days for the kids, there’s nothing left for the real first day. And, now there are no pheasants and they want us to buy a special license to hunt nothing. Forget that. And, deer hunting isn’t even worth getting up early.”
And, yet, he hasn’t missed more than two or three first days at the outdoor show. Bernardi laughed, “I’m still a hunter and a fisherman. I may complain a lot, but I want to see the new stuff.”
More: Here are 18 outdoor shows you can attend in Pennsylvania in 2020
Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.