While Pennsylvania lawmakers consider a proposal to make the poaching of wild game a more serious crime, some sportsmen say an important deterrent is still missing.

Although House Bill 2205 -- introduced last week -- calls for stiffer fines and jail time for the unlawful killing of deer, bear and other wild game, it does not provide for Pennsylvania's enrollment in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, a nationwide law enforcement network aimed at keeping violators who have lost their license in one state from hunting in others.

Aside from New Jersey, Pennsylvania is the only state in the region -- and one of just nine states nationwide -- that hasn't joined an agreement many see as an essential weapon against poachers who thrill-kill, sell on an underground market, or are obsessed with antlers and other trophies.

"People [whose licenses have been revoked] tell us they'll just cross the border, and a lot do cross state lines," said New York Department of Environmental Conservation law enforcement lieutenant Mike O'Hara, who helps enforce his state's participation in the compact. New York joined a year ago.

On two occasions, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has urged lawmakers to create legislation that would bring the commonwealth into the compact, but it has been rejected each time. Although the Game Commission helped craft HB 2055, mention of the compact was deliberately left out of the current provision. While the bill could be amended in at any point in the legislative process, Rep. Ed Staback (D-Lackawanna, Wayne), who is sponsoring HB 2055, said addition of the cross-border agreement is unlikely.

"The compact is a whole different concept," said Staback, who chairs the House Game and Fisheries Committee, which will hear testimony on poaching Wednesday. "It has some merit, but it is controversial at best and we're trying to keep HB 2055 away from controversial language."

One of the most powerful opponents of the compact is Rep. Robert Godshall (R-Montgomery), who has worked to defeat it.

"The compact looks good from the outside," Godshall said. "But it's hard to defend yourself in an out-of-state case."

Godshall said he asked the Game Commission to keep the compact out of HB 2055.

"It would have been a poison pill in the current package," said Rich Palmer, the Game Commission's top wildlife protection official. "But we know there's a broad-based coalition of sportsmen behind it. We are going to let them carry the issue [for future legislation.]"

Rep. David Levansky (D-Elizabeth), a member of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, said he supports the compact but understands the strategy of leaving it out of the current bill.

The compact, he said, is based on a proven concept.

"It's called 'reciprocity' and it's very common with motor vehicle violations. If you get a DUI in one state and you move to another state, you don't get your record wiped clean. Game violations in one state ought to be considered in Pennsylvania, too," he said. "If a poacher from West Virginia, Maryland or New York comes here with a suspended license, then it ought to be suspended here, too."

Nevertheless, Levdansky said wrapping the compact into the anti-poaching bill could kill the broader legislation.

"It might be wise to keep the compact out of current legislation if significant opposition still exists," he said.

But Levdansky said that with 50 new House members, as well as several new members of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, a stand-alone compact bill might pass independently if proposed at a later date.

Stan Rice of Waynesboro, an avid hunter and chat-room moderator at a popular hunting-related Web site, said he has lobbied every lawmaker in Pennsylvania via e-mail about the need to put Pennsylvania into the loop.

"I've been hunting in 2C in Fayette County for the last four years," said Rice. "Between there and my home area, I'm calling the Game Commission once a day about a hunting violator. We turned in a bunch of people from Florida one time who turned out to [illegally] have a bear. It's time Pennsylvania got with the program."

State Rep. Mark Gergely (D-White Oak) thinks the time may have come, too, but said some other changes need to happen.

"If the Game Commission wants the compact, it should be ready to implement an automated point-of-sale license system. That would make information sharing more feasible for officers in the compact," he said. "The commission could use the money from the higher penalties it is seeking to implement an automated system."

A member of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, Gergely said he isn't opposed to the compact, but needs to know more.

"If you're guilty in Wyoming, you're guilty in Pennsylvania," he said. "But one of my concerns is uniformity of laws and penalties. Are the punishments the same from state to state?"

Colorado was one of the first states to join the compact. Tyler Baskfield, a wildlife officer with the state's Division of Wildlife, said it is an effective deterrent.

"A significant number of people who come here to steal our elk and deer can pay big fines. But when they face losing their hunting and fishing rights for a lifetime, that hits them even harder than jail time," he said. "It gives us more muscle with chronic abusers."

New Jersey officials have considered the compact, but have no immediate plans to join, said Darlene Euhass, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which has wrestled with high-profile commercial deer poaching operations in recent weeks.

"We've discussed the compact," said Euhass. "We recognize it has value."