PA’s wildlife doesn’t need Sunday hunting
Tom Venesky Outdoors
Times Leader
August 24, 2008

There’s something very noticeable in the woods during the first Sunday of the rifle deer season.

Quiet.

After a week of almost constant pressure from the approximately one million hunters pursuing deer, it’s almost like the woods and wildlife take a deep breath on that first Sunday. For that one day, the shooting stops, treestands sit empty and the woods are vacant.

It’s a good break for wildlife.

But it might not last.

The National Rifle Association has an article in its September issue of American Hunter called “Why Pennsylvania Needs Sunday Hunting.â€

I won’t speak for the state, but I’ll tell you why Sunday hunting isn’t needed as far as wildlife and hunters are concerned.

There are few issues that divide hunters as much as Sunday hunting. It’s the subject of many debates at deer camp and those who are pro-Sunday hunting do have some valid points.

Still, all the arguments I have heard so far have yet to change my mind.

I’m not for it.

Here’s why:

We have almost one million hunters out in the Pennsylvania who can hunt deer statewide for 73 days from Oct. 4 to Jan. 10, including 12 Saturdays.

That’s a lot of time, and a lot of pressure on the deer herd. Aside from the Monday opener of rifle season, the majority of deer hunters are in the woods on Saturday. Considering most people don’t work on Sunday, a similar amount will be in the woods on that day also, adding another high-pressure hunting day to an already lengthy deer season.

That added pressure will not only impact deer, it will affect other wildlife as well that will have to deal with the intrusion for seven days a week.

An extra day of hunting will also require an extra day of enforcement from Wildlife Conservation Officers. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is in no position to hire additional WCO’s beyond what the agency allows for now. Where are the WCO’s going to find the time to patrol on Sunday? Will overtime be available? Is it affordable?

An equally significant impact is the threat from private landowners to post their land if Sunday hunting is allowed.

The biggest threat comes from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and its 44,000 members. The bureau has said if Sunday hunting is allowed, many of its members will close their land to hunting.

That’s serious, considering some of the best hunting is found on farms.

Sunday hunting proponents argue that the extra day to hunt will attract more children to the sport.

I disagree.

All it will do is give those who already buy a license an extra day to hunt.

Getting children involved in hunting goes far beyond being able to do it on a Sunday. The more effective approach is already being taken with mentored youth hunts and special seasons for junior hunters.

There are plenty of hunters who work long hours and long weeks. No doubt Sunday hunting would benefit them, but such measures need to benefit the resource – wildlife, first.

If they don’t then they shouldn’t be implemented.

Convince me how Sunday hunting will benefit deer, turkey, rabbits or pheasants, and you’ll change my opinion on the matter.

If you are undecided about the issue, take a walk in the woods on the first Sunday of rifle deer season and see what things are like.

So, why is it that Sunday hunting is banned? Why not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday?

As far as helping wildlife is concerned, no hunting on Sunday, lures them into complacency so more are killed on Monday.

I have killed critters all days of the week lots of them on sunday. I never had one ask me what day it was.

The old blue laws of course ! But PA has lots of hunters so much so that they've had to introduce limits on antler size like the three or four point minimum.
Here on the border they are smart enough to swim back and forth across the river depending on whether the PA or NY season is open !

The way I understand it, (And I could be wrong!) Sunday hunting was originally banned in most, if not all, of the states it was banned in to prevent intoxicated gunmen from entering the woods after a Saturday night of drinking. It was an alcohol issue, not a game issue and certainly not a religious issue. Not my state, not my business, certainly don't have an opinion on it, just trying to help.

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So, why is it that Sunday hunting is banned?

Leftover blue laws that were designed to enforce religious observance.

Nice to see the NRA-ILA advocates Godlessness

The Truth About Sunday Hunting: Why Hunters Shouldn`t Be Treated as Second-Class Citizens

In the early days of America, so-called blue laws restricted many activities on Sunday. In recent years, however, state governments have recognized that the people`s right to choose for themselves what they do, or don`t do, on Sunday is more consistent with America`s founding principals. Present day bans on Sunday hunting are the last holdouts of these blue laws, and hunters are questioning why they are being treated differently from their fellow citizens.



The majority of hunters will agree that the biggest obstacle to hunting, and the biggest obstacle to recruiting new hunters, is lack of access and opportunity to hunt. By restricting Sunday hunting, states are not only limiting opportunities for today`s hunters but are making it harder to recruit new hunters to carry on our proud heritage. Anti-hunting groups understand this, that`s why they oppose lifting Sunday hunting bans--they don`t want a new generation of hunters to enter the field. This opposition to Sunday hunting is in fact opposition to the future of hunting itself.

Restrictions on Sunday hunting treat hunters as second-class citizens. Other outdoor activities are allowed on Sunday, including fishing, hiking and golf. By restricting hunting and not other activities, state governments are sending a not so subtle message to hunters and non-hunters alike that there is something wrong with hunting, that it isn`t as legitimate an activity. This message ignores the fact that hunters contribute billions of dollars to the benefit of wildlife, both through license fees and excise taxes paid on firearms and ammunition.

There are compelling reasons why Sunday hunting should be allowed:

* Sunday hunting has no detrimental effect on wildlife populations. The 43 states that allow some form of Sunday hunting have healthy wildlife populations in those areas that can sustain them. In fact the states with the most abundant game populations allow Sunday hunting. Those states that have recently removed prohibitions on Sunday hunting have not seen a negative impact on game populations. Allowing Sunday hunting will give state wildlife agencies more flexibility in managing populations. The extra day a week for hunting will give the agencies the ability to increase hunting in areas of overpopulation by encouraging hunters to go afield.
* The most common reason that hunters stop hunting is lack of hunting opportunity. Hunting opportunities are largely decided by two factors: accessible land and available time. Since most hunters work Monday through Friday, a ban on Sunday hunting cuts their available hunting time in half.
* Sunday hunting is an excellent way to recruit new hunters. Many young people have school or athletic obligations on Saturday. Allowing Sunday hunting means that parents can spend time hunting with their son or daughter, passing on a heritage that is so important to America. With the myriad of activities that compete for the attention of young people today, a restriction on Sunday hunting means many of them never take up the sport.
* Sunday hunting will bring an economic benefit to many rural areas. Every day that hunters are in the field, they spend money on gas, food, lodging and the dozens of other incidentals that go along with a day`s hunt. The ripple effect of this spending can have a major impact on a rural town or county.
* Out-of-state license revenue can grow as a result of Sunday hunting. Few hunters will take extended hunting trips to a state that won`t let them hunt one day of the week. These out-of-state hunters pay higher license fees that benefit the game department and also spend even more money on incidentals than in-state hunters.

Current Sunday hunting bans:

Currently seven states entirely prohibit hunting on Sunday for wild game; they are Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and Connecticut. All of these states have considered legislation to lift the bans in recent years. Repealing the Sunday hunting bans has been actively supported by the wildlife agencies in Maine and New Jersey.

Four states allow limited Sunday hunting: Maryland allows hunting on two Sundays during deer season; South Carolina allows Sunday hunting on private land only; North Carolina allows Sunday hunting on some federal installations; in 2001 West Virginia enacted legislation that allows Sunday hunting on private land, but each county can hold a referendum to ban Sunday hunting; currently 14 counties allow it.

Recently several states have recognized the folly of Sunday hunting bans:

New York: In 1996 New York opened Sunday hunting on three Sundays during deer season. Within five years the law was changed to allow all Sunday hunting, except on specifically designated lands.

Ohio: In 1998 Ohio passed a bill allowing a test of Sunday hunting on public lands for a period of three years. In 2002 the legislature made Sunday hunting permanent without opposition from groups that had concerns when the test began. The state wildlife agency supported the change.

Michigan: Sunday hunting was banned on private land in certain counties, but in 2003, all Sunday hunting closures were repealed. The bill was supported by the state wildlife agency.

None of these states have experienced the horror stories forecast by opponents of hunting. The states continue to have healthy wildlife populations. Hunters continue to behave in a responsible and safe manner. Church attendance remains unchanged. Landowner-hunter conflicts have not increased. In sum, Sunday hunting has had nothing but a beneficial impact on these states and the future of hunting in them.

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So, the reason is blue laws; not exactly the separation of church and state.

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Sunday hunting was originally banned in most, if not all, of the states it was banned in to prevent intoxicated gunmen from entering the woods after a Saturday night of drinking.

That sounds like a statement from the Prohibitionist minded types of that era pushing that agenda.

And one that would be repeated by HSUS, PETA and Co. today.

I'm not saying you're one of them jdunlap,

But seriously now, "drunken gunmen" ?

I hunt in PA and have found the Sunday hunting ban both positive and negative to my hunting experience. If I had to put in my "vote" I'd elect to do away with it for several reasons:

1. The ecomnomy is getting worse. People need to work to pay the bills. Many aren't as fortunate as others to be able to take vacation to hunt. Those hunters should be able to hunt on Sundays.

2. Youth hunters. Even if Sunday hunting added just a few thousand new hunters to the sport it would be worth it.

3. Game. My opinion is that the game wouldn't notice. There are still plenty of sportsmen out repositioning stands, cutting lanes, scouting, etc. on "no hunt" Sundays. There's also plenty of gunfire in the hills from the many sighting in their firearms. There is far less pressure overall on a bad weather day.

4. Weather. If you can only hunt Saturdays because you work all week, or go to school all week, and a big storm hits on Saturday it is less likely that you'll go hunting.

5. Farmers bluff. I fully support all farmers, but I'll call their bluff on this. I know they want to get their point across and could even restrict hunting on their property, but does anyone think that they'd bring hunting on their land to a grinding halt? Would punishing the hunters because of a game commission decision really accomplish anything? I also know quite a few farmers that benefit from having hunters on their land, either with a few $$, an invite to camp for a good meal, someone to give them a hand, someone who actually walks the entire property and keeps an eye out for the farmer, etc. The deer, bear, and turkey crop damage alone would lead me to think otherwise.

6. Pressure. Would Sunday hunting lead to a drastic increase in hours afield, or would it just distribute the hours over 7 days instead of 6?

I'm neither strongly for or against, but in the long run I wish they could settle it by a vote from the licensed hunters. I live in NY, where our next battle will be over crossbows - but that's another story...

At one time in PA, stores weren't even open on Sunday.

Don

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Originally posted by Skinner.:

Currently seven states entirely prohibit hunting on Sunday for wild game; they are Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Whoever researched this info got it wrong for Pennsylvania. Foxes, crows and coyotes are allowed to be hunted on Sundays. Crows are ONLY allowed to be hunted Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday has traditionally been a day of rest. Personally, I don't allow others access to my properties on Sunday. Six days a week of hunting is enough.

The argument that hiking, fishing and golf are Sunday sports doesn't hold water. All of them are pretty much silent endeavors. Well, except for the multitude of duffers constantly yelling 'Fore' at their contemporaries.

I would vote to keep the (mostly) Sunday hunting ban in effect.

My vote would be to allow hunting on Sunday. I would personally use this option hunting whitetail during the bow season.

Allow it, if you don't want to hunt on Sunday STAY HOME, don't tell me what I can and can't do. Pretty funny how the rest of the country manages thier game just fine with sunday hunting. BTW, there are nearly as many hunters in Michigan as PA. the rest of us that don't have time to hunting during the week would sure like the extra time available.

I also agree why does it have to be sunday? Why not Monday or Tuesday? All the bunny hugers I talk too say they want to be able to enjoy the woods one day during the week and not worry about being shot. I tell them they almost 9 months to do that.

Blue laws need to go.

It is like Texas having wet and dry counties, it originated thru the religious influence of Sunday being a day of rest, and yes it is exactly like the Blue Laws which were finally done away with for the most part here in Texas.

As one of the other responders stated, if a person does not want to hunt on Sunday, that is Their businees, but it should not be mandated by the state that those that want to hunt on Sunday can't. JMO.

I left Pa In 1977 for the Air Force and a chance to move away from religious Nuts that would not allow hunting on Sundays.
I find it funny how the ones I knew from there would come to Wyo and not think twice about hunting on Sunday here.

PA is a crazy place. I lived in Ohio most of my life and hunted PA almost every year because there were almost no deer in Ohio at that time. The counties I hunted were polluted with tiny deer. No way to get a doe tag. I heard hunt clubs would buy them all up and throw them out to prevent killing does. Many of the deer I killed were infested with leg worms from over population. Gun season was a joke so I stuck to archery. Elk county deer were no bigger then a medium dog. Hunting regulations were so crazy you would think Obama made them. When the compound came out they wanted you to unstring it when in a car or after hours???? HOW?
Now I live in WV and do not go back to hunt but I know a lot of farmers in PA's southern mid state. I also belong to a PA shooting club and know a lot of hunters. To even see a deer is amazing in the area. Farmers shoot them all year to protect crops. They gut shoot them so they run into the woods to die so they don't have to be removed from the fields. Then in hunting season they complain to high Heaven that there are no deer. The first ones they blame for the lack of deer are the hunters.
How can Sunday hunting hurt PA? With almost no chance at a deer on Saturday in a lot of the state, I don't see how another day will harm the herd! In some other areas they NEED more hunting days. The PA game commission has made nothing but a mess out of hunting there. Pockets of high density populations and vast areas with almost no population.
To deprive the working man out of a day of hunting so someone can walk in quiet woods during deer season when they have the rest of the year to do so is nothing but showing a liberal anti hunting streak. And if you pay attention, PA is very liberal.
I say to allow sunday hunting and stop giving farmers free rein to shoot every deer they see in their fields. They are stealing from the hunters with the blessings of the game commission.

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Originally posted by Tom Venesky Outdoors:
...We have almost one million hunters out in the Pennsylvania who can hunt deer statewide for 73 days from Oct. 4 to Jan. 10, including 12 Saturdays. ...

And still the number of "Deer vs. Vehicle" collisions continues to rise. Perhaps doubling or tripling the length of the Season would help. Or having the option of as many Doe Tags as a person desires - as is done in KY.

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That added pressure will not only impact deer, it will affect other wildlife as well that will have to deal with the intrusion for seven days a week.

The poor trees might not get HUGGED enough!

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An extra day of hunting will also require an extra day of enforcement from Wildlife Conservation Officers. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is in no position to hire additional WCO’s beyond what the agency allows for now. Where are the WCO’s going to find the time to patrol on Sunday? Will overtime be available? Is it affordable?

This Tree-Hugger apparently believes the Game Wardens spend no time in the woods on Sunday. I feel sure the Poachers would love that situation. Completely uneducated about Game Wardens and writing about them as if he knows EXACTLY what they do and when they do it. Pitiful!

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There are plenty of hunters who work long hours and long weeks. No doubt Sunday hunting would benefit them, but such measures need to benefit the resource – wildlife, first.

The Deer simply need a good Dose of "Lead" to help the herd. And that can't be administered effectively with folks out of the woods.

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Convince me how Sunday hunting will benefit deer, turkey, rabbits or pheasants, and you’ll change my opinion on the matter. .

The only people who ever truly benefit the Game are the Hunters. All the Tree Huggers in the world never do 0.001% of what Hunters do to protect and help Wildlife.
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As for Hunting on Sunday, I see it as a personal choice. If you like it, do it because it won't hurt the Game. Or if you prefer not Hunting on Sunday, I see no problem with that either.

Simply another issue designed to separate Hunters and Gun Owners into different camps so we will be at odds with each other.

I'm all for lifting the ban on Sunday hunting in PA for several reasons:

1. In 15+ seasons in the PA game fields, I've never seen the game "take a breather" on Sunday when no one was in the woods. I think this over-personifies wildlife based on our own human tendencies to relax on the weekends. Deer don't have day jobs... Wildlife is, in reality, under constant pressure for survival; that's why it's called wildlife.

a.) A subnote to the above - yes, PA does have over 1 million hunters in the woods during the first day of deer season (hell yeah). After that, the number dips incredibly low. This is not the constant scourge of the woods during hunting season the antis would have you believe. The pressure on the animals is not a factor in this decision, IMO.

2. PA is a working-man's state. Thankfully, many of our jobs will give us the first Monday of rifle season off because they know we're going to take it anyway! We've only got so many vacation days, and we can't use them all for hunting. Giving us another hunting day on the weekends would have a very positive impact on the popularity of the sport. It also allows kids who are still in school more of an opportunity to hunt. Parents tend to get pissed when you miss school to go hunting (I know!).

3. Farmers won't close down hunting on their lands. Call their bluff. Many of them are grateful to have responsible sportsmen hunt their land to reduce wildlife populations that would otherwise prove detrimental to their crops. If they have issue with this, I'm sure some contribution ($$, help, etc) would smooth things over.

4. Whoever mentioned deer vs. car collisions had it right. An extra day of hunting would do still more to reduce the incidence of this problem.

5. ONCE in all the hunting I've done have I seen a WCO in the field (and it wasn't during deer season). No matter how many officers the Game Commission has, they can't patrol the whole state. This is a non-issue.

6. This won't hurt the wildlife population. Other states (42 to be exact) allow Sunday hunting, and their populations are fine. No matter how many days in the field, there are still bag limits on game; shoot your limit and you're done. An extra day of hunting simply gives hunters more of a chance to fill their bags and control the population the way the Game Commission intended.

7. Resisting Sunday hunting simply gives the antis more leverage and precedent against us. It's a hard enough fight as it is; we don't need to give them any more ammo.

I've hunted in PA my whole life, and I'd like to continue doing it - as much as possible.

Very good and true comments but I can add one more---ETHICAL HUNTERS DO NOT NEED A GAME WARDEN!
Law breakers do not take breaks for Sunday or at night either.

Funny thing.

In Nebraska and Iowa, Sunday hunting is allowed but stats show most deer are shot on Friday and Saturday.

Many guys stay home on Sunday to go to church, watch the game, or sleep. But then many guys can go after work and hunt for an hour or two also.

Let there be Sunday hunting. I am a very serious Christian, and on hunting season I go to church on Saturday night (one pastor even called it his "blaze orange" service).

There is a small group, admittadly, who view Saturday as the proper day of rest. To restrict Sunday hunting takes the whole weekend away from them. So, to be fair to everyone, including the moslems, we need to shut off hunting on Friday (moslems), Saturday (jewish), and Sunday (christians). Probably need to cut it off every day to appease one group or another.

We, all of us, need to get the Government the hell out of legislating morality. That's all the Blue Laws were/are; the Government telling us what is morally right. And that is wrong at all levels!!!!
I grew up in Pennsylvania, and as a kid in the late 1940's and 1950's, was not allowed, by law, to hunt Sundays. It is up to the people of Pennsylvania to get that straightened out.
The guys above have stated very well what's wrong with this in detail, so I'm not going to repeat what they said.
If I want to hunt on Sundays in Michigan, which I do in fact, I go hunting.
Get the Government the hell out of my religious life. Telling me what is wrong for me to do based you your religious views is arrogance at it's finest (worst).
As I said above, at one time in PA, I couldn't go to the store on Sunday; they were, by law, required to be closed.

Don

Extra pressure on the deer my ass.

there are so many deer you are NOT allowed to shoot that you just watch them wander by.

Basically if you don't have a doe tag you'd better plan on eating beef in many areas.

The simple fact is that those who aren't fortunate enough to have unlimited vacation time the two week rifle season for Deer in PA doesn't mean two weeks, it means twelve days, and in reality most people only actually get to hunt the first monday (opening day) and the two saturdays.

That's THREE days of hunting for those that aren't either unemployed or Self Employed.

TWO extra days of work for the government job game enforcement people? My heart bleeds for them, they'll just get two DIFFERENT days off somewhere else... if you actually believe that they didn't have SOMEONE out looking for the sunday poachers.

Here in PA opening day is almost a "state Holiday"
because most schools are closed as well as some government offices.

AD

OORAH, common sense rears it's beautiful head!

Another point of view. I hate that I can't hunt Sunday. I am in a service trade. HVAC. Saturday has become a normal business day, especially in the busy beginning of heating season (October until Christmas.) I loose a lot of money just taking a Saturday off to hunt, let alone a weekday. I can hunt deer somehow in PA from Sept 20 until well into January, but in reality, it will probably be about 6 days.

Most people work these days, women, too. We all have less time to hunt. Kid are busier at school and activities. The modern lifestyle and economy is bad for hunter recruitment and retention, making deer management harder.

It also makes me mad that I'll go to jail if I hunt on Sunday, but your 14 year old can probably get an abortion on a Sunday without your consent! But thats my religious view, that is not pertinent to this discussion.

Growing up in the west, we used to read about those sorts of things and all of the goofy gun control laws and laugh . . . Glad that we knew of no such goofy legislation.

I was thinking how even lefty liberal minnesota lets us hunt on sunday when I realized minnesota has a blue law;
no off sale alcohol on sunday.
Lucky I only live a few miles from wisconsin

Perhaps the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should allow night hunting too, to cater to those folks who work the day shift? That's when all the deer are out anyway, cloaked in darkness.

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Originally posted by onefunzr2:
Perhaps the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should allow night hunting too, to cater to those folks who work the day shift? That's when all the deer are out anyway, cloaked in darkness.

You know that in Europe, that is when most deer sized game is hunted right? It is legal there, and has been for 100's of years.

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I was thinking how even lefty liberal minnesota lets us hunt on sunday when I realized minnesota has a blue law;
no off sale alcohol on sunday.

Well here in CA, not only can you hunt on Sunday, but you could do a honeymoon hunt to celebrate your same sex marriage, buy booze on the way home and then smoke medical marijuana to ease your pains.

As long as you use lead free bullets in the condor zone.

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Originally posted by Skinner.:

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I was thinking how even lefty liberal minnesota lets us hunt on sunday when I realized minnesota has a blue law;
no off sale alcohol on sunday.

Well here in CA, not only can you hunt on Sunday, but you could do a honeymoon hunt to celebrate your same sex marriage, buy booze on the way home and then smoke medical marijuana to ease your pains.

As long as you use lead free bullets in the condor zone.

You guys REALLY have it good in CA??? LMAO

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You guys REALLY have it good in CA???

We actually do in terms of hunting and fishing, lot's of opportunities for a variety of game.

On the map above I live in one of the two GREEN states - Maryland. There has been a lot of debate here for about ten years. Surprisingly perhaps, much of the oposition comes from hunters! Mostly it is the hunters from the rural areas while most (I said MOST) of those in favor are from more urban sections. The greatest argument in favor is the time factor. I know this is an issue for many who squeeze hunting in between all those other activities so important these days but I still remember not that many years ago when men scheduled their annual vacation during deer season and spent a week away from home hunting. Limits were much smaller, success was much lower and rules (bucks only etc.) were much, much more strict. Today we can kill more than thirty deer in Maryland. In some counties antlerless deer are "unlimited." We can hunt from mid-Sept. till the end of Jan. There is plenty of time for convenience I personally don't feel we need to hunt on Sunday to.
Another factor that PA has even more of than MD. is Menonites and Amish. Can't speak for Amish but I know Mennonites don't allow Sunday hunting and most of the active farms in my neck of the woods are Mennonite owned! Show up there on Sunday with gun in hand and you probably wont be welcomed back.