Recently, hunting bans and stricter hunting regulations have been topics of debate in New Jersey, Maine and New York, Baker said. Amendments similar to the one proposed in Pennsylvania guaranteeing the right to hunt and fish have been enacted in 11 other states. "We are finding that with all of these bans coming closer to Pennsylvania now, and either through statute or through litigation, it could realistically threaten Pennsylvania's sportsmen and women," Baker said.

But some say the bill is unnecessary.

"I think it's completely useless to have it in the constitution," said Jessica Parry, president of the Alliance for Animal Rights, a Penn State group.

Adding a hunting and fishing amendment to Pennsylvania's Constitution could loosen restrictions on those activities. Hunting and fishing should be restricted as much as possible, Parry said. "The reason they're doing it is because they want to have longer hunting seasons and less restrictions on them," she said.

Because similar bills have been defeated in other states, it is doubtful that Pennsylvania's bill will pass, Parry said. "I don't believe it's necessary that it has to come to this, that we have to have a constitutional amendment to preserve the right to hunt and fish," said Mark Haffley, a member of the hunting interest fraternity, Tau Phi Delta.

Instead, the focus should be on educating the pubic about the necessities of population control, Haffley said. "The best plan of action is education."

The recent hunting bans in nearby states justify adding an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution because of the strong hunting traditions in Pennsylvania, said Ralph Saggiomo, president of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, a 45,000-member group that is backing Baker's proposal.

"You don't wait for a rainstorm to fix your roof," he said. "It's like taking tourism away from Las Vegas."

The economic benefits of hunting and fishing in Pennsylvania as well as the importance of population controls motivated state Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, to vote in favor the bill. "We have to be realistic that hunting is also a humane manner to keep our deer population in check," he said.

To become a constitutional amendment, the bill would have to be passed by the General Assembly in two successive legislative sessions and then voted on in a public referendum. Voters could have their say as early as 2005. "There's not an immediate threat, but what a lot of people are failing to recognize is it is a lot easier to address these issues before there is a crisis than when there is a crisis," Baker said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.