A Not-So-Scientific-Survey

by Thomas K. Remington

On Thursday, January 22, 2004, the Maine House of Representatives passed a limited version of a Sunday hunting Bill that now needs to go the Senate for a vote. At the time of this writing, I was still awaiting the voting on that Bill. The proposed legislation is limited in that it would restrict any Sunday hunting to an extreme northern section of Maine where the only thing that lives there is “Big Foot”. It is basically uninhabited, which isn’t so bad, but the hunting would be restricted to small game only and that would be specified small game during, of course, the open season on such game. So, with the legislation pending, I thought it would be fun, to say the least, to take a look at what Sunday hunting really is and what it might mean to some people.

First, my perspective on Sunday hunting! We live in a world of contradictions and the subject of Sunday hunting is no exception. A ban on hunting on the “Lord’s Day” is a carry-over of the so called “blue laws”. Blue laws were an attempt years ago in Maine and in most states around the country, to help preserve Sunday as a bona-fide Sabbath. As we all know, most of those laws have since been repealed and the ban on Sunday hunting is one of very few left here and elsewhere.

I have never been much of a believer in making a law for the sake of making a law particularly when it comes to a law that is going to “force people to obey that law” or in this case, this ban would “cause people to go to church on Sundays” like they should. We all know that doesn’t work. I liken it to a law prohibiting driving after suspension. Not that the law isn’t necessary but it sure doesn’t stop anyone from driving after suspension.

Let’s take a look for a moment at some of the other contradictions in our laws around the country before we get out our microscope to examine Sunday hunting. You can’t buy alcohol on Election Day! We don’t want people voting when they are under the influence of alcohol. It might affect the outcome! Yikes! Without that law we may have been under the rule of H. Ross Perot. Hmmm! Maine was the only state that Perot won. I had better go check the laws again to make sure they do in fact ban alcohol sales on Election Day. OK, I’m back. Yes, they did and still do. The intent is good, I guess, but drinkers either don’t have the mental capacity or are never sober enough to keep a six-pack of Budweiser in the refrigerator just in case they forget that the first Tuesday of November is Election Day. A recent survey showed that drinkers of Budweiser were more prone to forgetfulness than those who drank Samuel Adams on a regular basis. That same survey showed that switching brands does not change the genetic make up of your memory cells. In case you are wondering, Florida prohibits the sales of alcohol on Election Day too so that isn’t the reason why voters or election volunteers can’t count although Budweiser is preferred 10-1 over any other brand of beer there. It is much more complicated than that. It has more to do with how badly you want something and how creative you can get. If Jeb Bush had been Governor of Iowa, they wouldn’t have known how to count either unless they still used the different color dried corn cobs as the ballot of choice. Then the elections official would have been color blind. Oh, never mind.

This same theory holds true for Sundays as well. Most states prohibit sales on Sunday mornings. This somehow makes us all much more righteous. I know I see God much more clearly at least until shortly after noon. But citizens do get their priorities straight. In Florida during football season, they moved the time that you are allowed to purchase beer and wine up to, I believe, 9 a.m. on Sundays during home football games of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so tailgating can take place without any hitches. Oh yes, the mighty dollar at work. I know you are probably either laughing or completely disgusted but think about it a minute. This is important stuff! You know you can’t tailgate without beer! Remember, they can’t think far enough in advance to plan ahead. That’s why Floridians are always getting caught in hurricanes.

Here is one of my favorite “holier-than-thou” laws. In Mississippi you can’t buy alcohol at all on Sundays. Praise the Lord! Oh, I forgot to mention that the law doesn’t apply if you are at any of the States many gambling casinos. In Mississippi, fortunately they don’t drink much Budweiser and they remember to stock up on wine for communion at the local churches on Sundays. And speaking of gambling, here’s one that applies to many states across America as well as Maine. This past November, Maine residents rejected a bid by the Indians to build a casino somewhere in the southern part of the State. Voters cited several reasons for voting it down; among them were reasons of ethics and morals. That’s rich. Many voters also believed that the crime rate would soar but despite those engrained beliefs carried on through generations, they voted to approve the use of slot machines at horse race tracks where gambling has been going on for years. Maybe the Indians need to start opening up horse tracks. But the kicker is the States stance on gambling; they don’t think it is in the best interest of the residents to have that kind of easy access to high stakes gambling. I want to know how this State and others around our nation justify government run lotto games.

Now that you have an absolutely clear picture of the many contradictions in our laws, let’s go take a closer look at Sunday hunting. What would be the reasons to pass a new law versus leaving it the way it is? Do you think passing this limited and temporary bill will ultimately lead to hunting on Sundays anywhere in Maine all year long? In states that do allow it, like Texas (that’s where Bush is from and the Dixie Chicks are ashamed of) Sunday hunting has gotten out of control. If you drive through Dallas on Sunday morning on the way to church (that’s a code word meaning football game), you’ll see hundreds of hunters walking the streets; armed! But really though, it is doubtful! Even states that do allow Sunday hunts have some restrictions; even if it is 4 deer, 12 hogs, and 2 turkeys as your daily bag limit. There have been many reasons to prohibit hunting on Sundays so let’s throw out the lame excuses and entertain any good ones.

Out the window go the religious reasons! Religion is a personal thing and it is between you and your god as to what you do with your Sundays. I choose tailgating with Sam Adams. Now that’s a contradiction if ever I saw one! You can add to that one that hunters would kill all living creatures and Maine would have no wildlife. You mean it would closely resemble New York City? Bogus, unless you think the Fish and Game Department is dumb enough to forget about the years of research and countless efforts applied toward wildlife management and let it go sour; which you may and if you do you probably also think that being a cowboy (from Texas) is a bad thing. If you put on one of those ten gallon hats, the next thing you will want to do is land an airplane on a boat. Another bad excuse is that the woods will be overrun with hunters. “Since when,” I ask? In Maine, no one goes there to hunt anyways. The weather is too bad and the wildlife have all left and gone to Pennsylvania. The anti-moose hunters wanted to ban moose hunting in certain areas because it would conflict with the leaf peepers; and they have completely forgotten about animal rights. Don’t they think that the moose want to leaf peep too. I have lived in moose hunting areas and never saw a moose hunter driving in a red neck pick-up truck let alone in the woods- nawh, no good.

Please let’s not even entertain the argument of animal rights. Unless you just hate hunters and guns and I can understand why some of you might not like all hunters. They can be a bit on the crazy side come the first part of November. Some of them I just don’t like but I guess I shouldn’t work to pass a law so they can’t hunt just to tick them off. Our wildlife needs to be managed whether we like that concept or not and sometimes that management requires limiting populations. Mother Nature has done this for years and in our eyes she can be very cruel with diseases and the like. She’s kind of like one of the very first terrorists in a way. She would wreak havoc with diseases of mass destruction. Those are right before our eyes now happening in many places and we refuse to see them either; no smoking gun! (I know. Bad choice of words) There is a small town in Texas that is fighting the Wildlife Department’s efforts to rid an area quite heavily populated of an unhealthy herd of white tail deer. As residents move into areas, they plant gardens and nice green lawns; all wonderful feed for these deer. If you haven’t seen some of Texas’ prairie land, it would be difficult to understand why the deer migrate to these areas in the suburbs. A large population of deer is fighting for limited food and most animals are starving to death and becoming disease ridden and residents are fighting the efforts of wildlife managers to trap them and euthanize them and feed the prison population. Is this what is best for the animals to just let things be?

Let’s quickly run through other aspects of arguable reasons for passing such a bill. Revenue: some argue it would bring millions of dollars into a much needed economy. Not needed evidently. There is too much money to make at the track. “I have to work six days a week and Sundays is my only day free”, is one excuse: understandable but what about your wife and kids”. Don’t worry! They have Sunday jobs at the track; even the 11 year old who will be subjected to the evil types who frequent gambling places (my grandmother). Registered guides argue that their business is in need of a kick in the pants and this passage would help. I say why don’t they just go get real jobs like the rest of us? Who do they think they are? They whine and complain more than professional baseball players.

That is just some of the pros (?) of passage of a bill to allow the Sunday hunting. Let’s look at some of the reasons to not pass it. Let’s start by just asking one simple question: Is it necessary? Probably not! And that may be the one and only big reason to not pass it. Don’t get me wrong. I think that is a viable point to argue; if you’re a loser. In some instances I see people having a legitimate defense when it comes to them wanting to be in the woods too during certain times of the year. But when you go into the woods during those “certain” times of year, you never see any of these people out there. Is there a difference in walking in the woods wearing hunter orange carrying and not carrying a gun? Like, what? If you have a gun you can shoot back? Maybe hunters will “accidentally” shoot only unarmed walkers. I guess this is where compromise and limitations will come in. So, here’s the compromise. You want to hunt on Sundays, drive to the far northern reaches of the State of Maine, get your bag limit of 4 ruffed grouse-don’t screw up and shoot a spruce grouse- and drive back home and be happy that you could do that. While you are there, take a look around and see if there are any WMDs up there hidden. In case you are not from Maine, WMD stands for Wildlife Management District. What were you thinking?

Whether you would believe me or not, I am not making a case one way or the other about Sunday hunting. To me it doesn’t matter that much. If it is what is best for the majority of the people of any state, then that is what should be done. In Maine’s situation, I would be looking more at the economics of the issue. For anyone who lives there or has lived there in the past, you know that Maine’s economy is not the healthiest in the country and they do need help. Taking advantage of what God has given can certainly enrich us in many ways not just economically.

Now for the not-so-scientific survey part of this story: I went out and asked hunters (yes, hunters as if you thought that would be a surprise) to respond to a question concerning Sunday hunting in their own states. I asked them to tell me from what state they live and if they have hunting on Sundays. I got responses from many states and I did not verify whether the information they gave me was fact or not. Some responders agreed to let me use their real names and others gave me nicknames but these are the unedited responses that I got to the following question:

The Maine House has just approved a very limited Sunday hunting bill relegated to about a 6000 acre area in remote northern Maine for only small game. I am going to do a story for Maine Hunting Today magazine about Sunday hunting and was wondering if you would help me out. There are two things you could do. 1) Post on this thread your State and whether your state allows Sunday hunting and if it is restricted or 2) email me at tom@mainehuntingtoday.com with any comments that you would like to make about the subject. If you wouldn’t mind my using your name and state of residence please include that as well.

Here are some of the responses I got and remember this is not scientific nor am I responsible for any of the individual’s stated “facts”:

Indiana has no Sunday restrictions for any type of hunting!!! The way I look at it, some of them creatures was born on Sunday so why not be able to hunt them on Sunday!!! My boss years ago said, Why are you getting you hair cut on a working day?? And I said cause it grew on a working day, And he said not all of it, And I said I’m not getting all of it cut off either!!!

Mark T
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(Powder24)

MD has no Sun. hunting, but they had on Sun. for bow this year and one for firearm. I wish they would because it sucks only having one day on the weekend to go and the wife always wants to do something on Sat.

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(Wingshot)

Colorado has no restrictions regarding Sunday hunting, like most of the Western States that I have hunted. Seems a little strange here, we still have several “Blue Laws” in effect, left over from Prohibition, where as the car dealerships and liquor stores are closed. We can’t buy a bottle of wine or a new truck, but we can hunt!!

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(Bill Bevins)

Out of 83 Counties in Michigan, there were only a few Counties that did not allow Sunday hunting, except a few Counties allowed Sunday Hunting with exceptions, that is the landowners could hunt their own lands but not lands of others….State land was open to Sunday hunting…..While it was illegal to hunt private land on Sunday in some Counties, most CO’s never enforced that violation, unless a landowner reported hunters as trespassing……Only recently, less then 90 days ago, that law has been changed to allow Sunday hunting with no restrictions…..This was a great win for the hunting community…..and it also makes the Law Enforcement People happy also….Its ok to use My name too….

Bill Bevins……

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(Preacher)

New York - Sunday hunting allowed for all open seasons

When it was first introduced there was a fair amount of folks against it, but for the working man it was a big win.

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(RL)

I don’t think there has ever been any restrictions on any hunting on Sundays in WI. I know there isn’t any now. RL

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(gobblr addict)

No hunting in North Carolina, never has been…We go to church and praise God for our success on Saturdays…gobblr addict

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(Mailman)

GA allows sunday hunting

SC allows it in my area on private land

The most important thing for me on this issue is that I am off tuesdays and sundays each week.

If I cannot hunt on Sundays, there is a good chance my children will not hunt.

They will hunt occasionally when I get vacation but will they be in it enough to be dedicated.

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(Triplebeard)

Texas is Wide Open!!! Hunt from opening day to sunset on the last day of season…..no restrictions!! You can shoot turkeys with anything from a BB gun to a Howitzer….long as its legal!!! (unless you’re hunting Easterns(turkeys) in E. Texas-some counties do have restrictions on methods and times-but since 98% of Texas is privately owned, I’ll head back to SC, GA or PA to hunt my Easterns!)

Now grandpa, he had this thing about hunting on Sundays, so did my daddy!! I used to have to sneak my shotgun out of the house or borrow a buddies to go hunt doves at his farm on Sundays. Now, since I’m grown, I still feel like somebodies looking over my shoulder when I’m out there on Sunday!! Funny thing is, I’ve injured myself 3 times while hunting…..and all were on Sunday!!!! Hmmmmm…….maybe they were right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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(jrogerso)

Just to add on what Powder said about Sunday hunting in Maryland. The two days that Maryland added were November 2nd for bowhunting and November 30th for rifle hunting, and this was only in effect for private land. You still aren’t alllowed to hunt on public land on Sunday’s.

I know you can hunt on Sundays in some of the West Virginia counties. It came up for vote on a county by county basis a few years ago and some counties passes the bill, while most voted it down. I’m sure you could find which counties those are on the WV DNR website.

Currently Delaware doesn’t have sunday hunting but that may be changing shortly… I hope so at least.

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(Bighill)

As far as I know there are no laws restricting Sunday hunting in Alabama on private land, but may be some for WMA’s, I’d just have to look it up. While I do know some folks that won’t hunt on Sundays because of religious reasons, I hunt when I can. The good Lord said to rest on the 7th day, well, I think sitting in a stand is R&R in my opinion

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(Gimphunter)

There are no restrictions on Sunday hunting in Illinois. We are allowed to hunt all Sundays in the entire state. Many nonresidents hunt here and usually they come on the weekends. Good luck and God Bless. Norm

“Without shooting,you wouldn’t have hunting. Without hunting,you wouldn’t have conservation. Without conservation, you wouldn’t have wildlife.”

You may call yourself GIMP and others may call you GIMP but you only are a GIMP if you let yourself be one.

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(BillC)

Pennsylvania allows no hunting on sundays ….except Crows and maybe coyotes…….strange choice. They do allow fishing on Sundays though……

Everytime it comes up for discussion, you would think someone tried to shoot the Governor……..

As much as I would like to hunt Sundays,…it may not be a bad idea keeping it closed in PA….In many areas that are under extreme hunting pressure, it gives the game a chance to get away, and live another day…..

if not, I fear you could wipe out entire flocks of turkeys, if a large camp broke them on Friday or Saturday and kept right on hunting that same flock and could still hunt on Sundays, they would keep those birds broke till the last one was killed……

Not my idea of a good time but I’ve seen it happen then those same camps wonder why no birds for the next couple of years….BIllC

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(Wordbird)

I’ll add to Bighill’s post about Ala. There are no restrictions on WMAs either.

Hunt safe,

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(pmaceman007)

Just another comment about PA. About three years ago, there was a lot of talk about it. Some said how more people work in the service industries now and don’t have traditional work weeks. That was one of the excuses to push for Sunday hunting here. I was all for it - signed a petition and typed a letter to my congressman - all that. Then I read an article in a PA Archery magazine. The editor said that you could estimate that 5-10% of people are die hard hunters or in favor of hunting. 5-10% are those psycho animal activists who look for anything they can to give hunters a bad name. Everybody else is Switzerland - don’t care one way or the other. There is an increasing number of people who hike, bike, birdwatch, etc. The rails to trails thing has become big, too. You start taking that away, or having these people get shot at or having there little family outings messed up then you swing them to the other side. I use Sundays for scouting now, and taking the kids out - with no fear of gunfire.

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(SG)

Missouri has no restrictions on Sunday that I know of. Our Firearms Deer season is only 9 days long and covers two Sundays. On the first Sunday my church is about all women and kids that are not old enough to go deer hunting. I dont remember there ever being any restrictions on Sundays…I am 35 and can remember back in to the 70’s….

SG

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(Solocam)

you can hunt on sunday in alabama,but you cant hunt the national forest on tue or wed.unless your in the wma then you can.

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(Kansas Kidd)

No restrictions in KS

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(Danny)

Mailman…Missouri treats sundays like any other day. There is no difference. Sunday is just another hunting day….keep your boxcall dry

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(Dave)

For your records……..

Alaska, a state we seldom hear from on this site, does not allow hunting on the day you “fly-in” to camp……otherwise, there are no day restrictions.

DaveA37

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(Jim)

Mississippi has no restrictions to Sunday hunting. I personally don’t hunt on Sundays but I think it should be a matter of choice. You can buy beer on Sundays as long as your in a food establishment and everywhere that allows gambling, the Casinos are open on Sundays so what’s the big deal about hunting on Sundays. After all even God leaves it up to you to decide whether your going to go to Church or go hunting on Sundays, so why should the State care? When you have people working a 9-5 job 5 days a week with little vacation benefits, when else are they going to have the chance to hunt? I think the NRA, BuckMaster, NWTF, and all of the other big name Hunting orgs. should pitch in some clout and cash and get it passed.

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Article by,
Thomas K. Remington
January 28, 2004