Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Game Commission unveils overhaul of Hunter Access Program, plans online reservations and tiered access
Summary
Staff presented a redesign of the Hunter Access Program that adds three access tiers, mapped property boundaries, a reservation system, and optional landowner portal; agency plans to pilot in Southwest region and go live by July 1, 2026.
Pennsylvania Game Commission staff presented a major redesign of the Hunter Access Program on Wednesday, proposing a three-tier access system, an online reservation platform and a public-facing mapping interface intended to reduce landowner–hunter conflicts.
John Tauscher, private land section chief, described the Hunter Access Program as “one of the largest truly voluntary access programs in the country” and traced its history from experimental cooperative programs to the consolidated hunter-access model in use today. At its peak the program enrolled about 2.6 million acres; staff estimated current enrollment at roughly 1.8 million acres and said more than 9,500 individual landowners and organizations participate.
Under the proposal, properties would be categorized into three tiers based on landowner-specified access:
- Tier 1: open access, no reservation required; - Tier 2: reservation required and controlled through…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
