If you’re heading afield Saturday, Nov. 30, you’ll be part of a group of hunters who are making history. The opening day of the firearms hunting season for deer had been the Monday after Thanksgiving since 1963. In April, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners voted 5-3 to change the date.

Some people really like the change, especially families with kids in college and all those people who lost a day of work on opening Monday. Instead of heading back to school on the Monday after Thanksgiving – without hunting – the students will be able to hunt on Saturday. Some people are virulently against the change, worried about a greater-than-normal influx of hunters hitting the woods.

It wasn’t long after the April meeting, and the announcement of the new opening date, that protests began. In an ironic twist, people who traditionally arrived at hunting camps on Sunday complained, because now they’d have to arrive Friday, interrupting family Thanksgiving plans and traditions.

And just because the firearms season is opening on Saturday this year, don’t think it’s a done deal for every year to come. The Pennsylvania Game Commission said several months ago that it will study the result of that change before deciding whether or not to continue it.

Yes, the new opening day will create more opportunities for hunters. The public eye will be on all hunters that day and throughout the season, which will be 13 days long instead of 12.

So, to keep this change in place we must do our best to police ourselves. Instead of focusing on getting a buck in our sights, we must keep safety as the foremost importance.

My young pup Scout was at the veterinarian, Dr. Ron Bernhard, Ringtown, in early November to get her first rabies shot. Dr. Ron (as he’s known) told me of two incidents of tree stand accidents he heard about during archery season.

In one, the hunter was climbing a ladder to a lock on stand while carrying his bow. With the bow in one hand, he was using his free hand to grab the next step. He missed on one of the grabs. Broke his back in two places and has two broken ribs.

In the other incident, a tree stand that had been in place for many years came off the tree. The webbing for the ratchet strap was so old and worn that it gave way when the hunter added his weight to the platform. He had not yet attached his safety harness to the tree and fell an estimated 15 feet. He also broke a few ribs and his thigh bone.

In addition to focusing on safety, we should focus on landowner relations, if hunting private land. Those landowners will most likely be home on Saturday – not at work as many might be on a Monday – and better able to keep tabs on who is coming and going on their properties. Respect no trespassing signs, and don’t enter a property where you don’t have permission to be.

As part of their study of the effects of the new Saturday opener, the Pennsylvania Game Commission Board of Commissioners will be checking to see if there has been an increase in license sales. They’ll also be looking at harvest numbers. When the season ends, they’ll be seeking opinions from hunters, as well as the non-hunting public.

The future of hunting in Pennsylvania is the hands of the PGC Board of Commissioners, and it’s also in the hands of each one of us who heads out to hunt opening Saturday.