Sunday Hunting Fallout
December 7, 2006
This is the Bible Belt and the religious aspect is getting over played by the media and even getting picked up by outdoor blogs including the Black Bear Blog. Getting some Christian organizations to give news organization a sound bite was easy but if you think that is the only strong objection to this proposal you are wrong. This is a follow up to my initial post yesterday.
A big concern is also with other land users whether public or private. This issue was cited 77% of the time as opposition to the change where as religious opposition was cited 70%. Currently a good chunk of NC has about a 4 month long deer season (Sept- Jan). Other land users want to be able to utilize the land as well.
Hunters will argue that Game Lands are paid for through dollars spent by the to purchase licenses and taxes on equipment so they should have the lion share of the land use. This is partially right but in many cases our money has been pooled with other private organizations (Non Hunting) to purchase large tracts of land with the result of some of the land becoming Game Lands. I think it would be short sighted of hunters to downplay the partnership that purchased all the land.
A good majority of hunters in this study recognized this as a reason to oppose allowing Sunday Hunting. I’m not sure if this aspect of the opposition by other users was brought up but it’s the perception that hunting is an unsafe sport. Accidents get a lot of play especially if they involve firearms and lead to a perception our sport is unsafe. I think we as hunters do ourselves a disservice when we talk about how unsafe our sport is and further the false perception. Have you ever heard a hunter talk about how unsafe public hunting land is? Have you done it yourself? The facts are in NC you are far more likely to get killed or injured on private land then you are on Game Lands. Hunting as a whole is a much safer sport then football, basketball, and even golf.
Yes this does come down to a matter of choice, as stated many places, and who should have that choice? There is not enough support even among hunters to push this forward. National pro hunting organizations have certainly sided up on the side to overturn the law. I ask should they be listening to the hunters of this state or the nation?
Prior to the Commissioners meeting yesterday the ultimate decision rested with the legislators nothing that transpired yesterday altered that so we’ll have to wait and see what they do with this study.
Moose Droppings is a place that chronicles my journey, Ill explore new places and ideas Ill learn new things and Ill teach the things Ive learned to others. Join me on the adventure and hopefully it will help you in your outdoor endeavors.
I’ve always thought that if Sunday hunting is ever legalized it should be restricted to private land. Do you know how many states do/don’t allow Sunday hunting? It’s illegal here in Virginia, in West Virginia and only allowed on certain Sundays in Maryland. I’d alway thought it was legal in North Carolina until I learned from your blog it’s not. What’s the story in the rest of the country?
Many media outlets will tell you there are only 8 states that don’t allow Sunday hunting. While this is true it’s not totally accurate. There are 11 states that for all intent and purposes don’t allow big game Sunday hunting. Some of the 11 states have very limited Sunday hunting.
There is far more to the Sunday hunting debate than religion. It gets quite complex once you begin examining all the ins and outs.
So why aren’t the people with the religious objection against bird watchers and hikers using public land on Sunday? Shouldn’t they be at church or at home with their families instead of partaking in their sport?
Hey Sauceman thanks for stopping by. Some good questions I’m not sure how the religious leaders would address that.
[...] The Sunday hunting issue continues to dominate the conversations of many hunters across the state. Today I was part of a group that was interviewed by News 14 Carolina on the subject. Despite the fact the study shows that close to 3 out of 5 hunters support the restriction on Sunday hunting I was the lone voice at the gathering that supported the current law. Granted the interview was set up for 9am on a Sunday morning and many of my fellow supporters were probably in church or on their way to church. Many believe that the only reason to oppose changing this law is based on a religious view but that is not my biggest concern. As stated in earlier posts ( NC Wildlife Punts, & Fallout ) the biggest obstacle for me is the fact that we would be blocking a lot of other land users out. North Carolina enjoys some long deer season in the majority of the state. Firearm season runs most of Oct till Jan1st for the eastern third of the state the middle portion has November till Jan1st, the mountains has the shortest season running about a month. Adding Sundays will in effect deny many other land users ( Hikers, Bikers, Horsebackers, etc.) the opportunity to enjoy the land without fear of encounters with hunters. Land deals like we just recently saw with International Paper maybe jeopardized if other land users, that make up a good portion of non profit groups that partnered with wildlife, decided not to in the future. Those who support over turning the law will cite that much of the monies used are generated by hunters which are partially true. Excise Taxes collected on the sale of firearms and ammunition are given back to the state wildlife to support these types of projects. I know that not all those firearms and ammunition are bought are purchased by just hunters. [...]