Public hearing on Sunday hunting June 9, 6:30pm in western pa

[WhiteFeather]

If you are FOR or against the legislators changing the law giving the option for the PCG to use Sunday hunting as a management tool here is your chance to address the legislators directly on this subject.

Come and make your voice heard

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/CO/HM/COHM.HTM


Thursday, June 9, 2011
6:30 PM

GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE

Public hearing on Sunday hunting.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort
The Wintergreen Room
777 Waterwheel Drive
Seven Springs

http://dailyitem.com/0200_sports/x54...Sunday-hunting

December 6, 2009

Making the case for Sunday hunting
By Don Steese
The Daily Item Sun Dec 06, 2009, 07:49 AM EST

Since The Daily Item felt that the issue was important enough to devote a front-page story to it, let’s take a closer look at Sunday hunting. Since a survey showed most people are against it, most of you won’t like what I have to say, but somebody has to give the other side of the issue. I’ve often stated that most of the arguments against Sunday hunting can be easily shot down. I’ll take them oneby- one, and do just that.

Argument No. 1: “Sunday should be reserved for going to church services.” Depending on your religion, your Sabbath day might be another day of the week; are we going to make hunting illegal on those other days too? Besides, if Sunday hunting were legal, the people who attend services would likely still attend.

Argument No. 2: “The game needs a break.” This is wrong on so many levels, I don’t know where to start.

Giving game animals one day a week off doesn’t make any difference to the animals at all.

Do people actually think that animals that have been chased for months on end are going to think, “Hey, it’s Sunday, we can go back to our regular routine today.” Sorry, animals aren’t human and don’t have our reasoning ability.

The longer and longer seasons have much more impact on throwing game animals off their regular routines than allowing Sunday hunting would, and I don’t hear much clamoring for shortening the seasons.

If you’re still convinced that the game needs a day of rest, let’s give them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Argument No. 3: “Landowners need a day off from having hunters on their properties, and will post their land if Sunday hunting is allowed.” Those landowners could very easily post their land against Sunday hunting. I’d bet the Pennsylvania Game Commission would even provide the posters.

Argument No. 4: “People like to use the state game lands for other uses; they need one day a week during the hunting seasons to bike, hike, ride horses.” Sorry, hunters paid for the state game lands with their license money, and their needs come first. If you treat us real nice maybe we’ll let you have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. But you work on those days, you say? So do most hunters, and you’re OK with keeping them off the game lands on one of the few days they don’t work and could hunt. You’re more than welcome to find some land that is posted against Sunday hunting and ask permission to pursue your passion there.

The state could even designate parts of the state forest system as non-Sunday-hunting areas.

You could then use those without fear of being shot, (which is a much overblown fear, in my opinion.) I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, legalizing Sunday hunting wouldn’t affect me personally much at all. I’m lucky enough to be retired and can hunt on any day I choose.

I probably wouldn’t even hunt on Sundays, as there’s likely to be fewer people in the woods during the week. I’m also very much in favor of varied uses of our outdoor resources. I’m not anti-hiking, birdwatching, mountain biking, snowmobiling or horse riding. However, in my opinion, the Sunday hunting ban simply makes no sense. It’s allowed most everywhere else, and where it’s not, it probably soon will be. I just happen to think it makes a lot of sense here, too.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports...nse-ar-808208/

There are no easy answers. I sympathize with landowners who just want one day of peace a week during hunting season, but I also feel for the father I quoted in my column whose sons are limited to one day of hunting a week because they have school Monday through Friday.

Here's a thought: Open up Sundays to hunting ... and close Wednesdays. Or Tuesdays. Or whenever. That would give those on the Monday-through-Friday grind twice as much time to hunt. More people surely would hunt on Sundays than currently do on Wednesdays, so there would still be an economic boost from the change, and landowners, birdwatchers, etc., would still have a quiet day in the woods.

Is it perfect? Probably not. Working nature lovers, for instance, might not like it. But middle grounds rarely are perfect. It won't please everyone. Then again, if there's one thing we can all agree on it's that we all rarely agree on anything. Why should Sunday hunting be any different?

For the record here are the states (43 states) that now allow some form of sunday hunting as you can see PA is one of the few that don't.

[dwalk]

I hope they have one of these closer to where I live. Unfortunately that is just too far for me to drive, on a weekday after working all day.

[dk99358]

I don't know where that map comes from but Pa. should be green, not blue as Sunday hunting is legal for some species.

Dale

[dk99358]

NOT groundhogs. From the hunting 2010 digest:

Sunday Hunting: It is unlawful to hunt wildlife, except foxes, crows
and coyotes, on Sundays.


Dale

[WhiteFeather]

No opinions for or against Sunday hunting?

Not even a comment sure it would be nice to have the option to go on Sunday... .

my children have games on Sat so i can't hunt much..or even take them out many times......

if it poors down rain on Sat got to wait to next weekend for a chance to go hunting again because I work Mon - FRi......

If sunday hunting was legal it would probably double my hunting time..... type of comment?

nothing?

[P89]

If they're so hell bent on "Deer heard management" then it would stand to reason that Sunday's would be open for opportunities to hunt.

BTW, If you have a furbearer's then you can tend to traps on Sundays as well.

[FNG19]

No opinions for or against Sunday hunting?

I think the Blue Laws in this state are asinine, and for that reason I'd like to see Sunday Hunting allowed. I don't hunt, though, so I don't really have an ax to grind. Beyond reducing the reach of Blue Laws, it's not an issue that matters to me one way or the other.

That said, my lack of passion for the issue is not an indictment of the issue itself. I highly encourage people who do hunt to make themselves known and jump on this issue. This impacts your ability to do something you enjoy (and, in present times, may depend on). If you can't be counted on to speak up about it, who can?

[FFEMT128]

No opinions for or against Sunday hunting?

Not even a comment sure it would be nice to have the option to go on Sunday... .

my children have games on Sat so i can't hunt much..or even take them out many times......

if it poors down rain on Sat got to wait to next weekend for a chance to go hunting again because I work Mon - FRi......

If sunday hunting was legal it would probably double my hunting time..... type of comment?

nothing?

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to attend this and to be honest I havn't hunted in a few years(mainly lack of time). Legalizing hunting on Sundays would provide an additional day for those who work M-F jobs. It would likely encourage more youth to enjoy the sport as the additional weekend day would provide the time needed by those who work M-F jobs to spend with thier younger children and teach them to hunt.

[ChuckS]

No opinions for or against Sunday hunting?

Not even a comment sure it would be nice to have the option to go on Sunday... .

If sunday hunting was legal it would probably double my hunting time..... type of comment?

nothing?

Okay, since you asked nicely I'll comment.

It's long past time to allow Sunday hunting. Many other states allow it, and any problems predicted never developed. So allow it already!

One concern I would have is the implementation...gradually introduce it over a couple of years. Why? Because of potential overharvest of game because it will increase the amount of time afield and thus increase harvest rates. I wouldn't want to even further reduce our deer herd (except in the isolated areas where excess deer numbers are a problem). If X number of deer are harvested in Y number of hunter-hours then how many would be harvested in ~twice as many hours?

My suggestion would be to allow Sunday hunting for all seasons except regular deer-firearms season for two years and determine harvest rates. Archery and muzzzleloader season have such a low percentage of the overall harvest that changes in hours afield and success rate can be studied to see how much that Sunday hunting could affect the regular firearms season. I only fear that 800k+ hunters doubling their time in the woods during the two-week dear season could have a devastating effect on the deer harvest numbers. So I would only urge the usual PGC caution (remember the two days of bear archery season, in the middle of the week no-less) when making the transition.

After analysis of the harvest rates, then introduce Sunday hunting for regular deer season. If the deer season needs to be shortened, due to overharvest, then put it up for a public hearing.

I would also add that close monitoring of the effect of Sunday hunting on the taking of other game animals should also be watched closely.

[smithwessn]

I frequently work 6 days a week, making Sunday my only day off those weeks. It would be nice to be able to do some hunting (aside from fox) those weeks. (not sure how the wife would feel about me spending my only day off in the woods instead of doing chores or spending time with her, but it's a chance I'd be willing to take. )

I agree with Chuck though, state wide deer hunting on Sunday would be a bad idea. Sunday hunting for deer in special regulations areas would probably be fine, but not for the majority of the state where deer numbers are down.