It appears that the folks who favor hunting on Sundays have crossed a major hurdle in the process of making it so. After remaining neutral on the issue for many years, the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries announced at their June 7 meeting that it formally endorses Sunday hunting. The new stance on the issue was a direct result of a public comment period that ran from Dec. 16 to April 1.
According to the official press release a significant number of the 1,200 people participating in the survey supported Sunday hunting. The public comment survey covered other subjects as well, including hunting and fishing license fee increases. The official release does not say a majority of participants in the survey favored hunting on Sundays, just a significant number. The press release also states that previous surveys of hunters showed support for hunting on Sundays and suburban landowners and rural farmers agree that greater opportunity to harvest nuisance wildlife is desirable.

Endorsement by the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries is not a guarantee that hunting on Sundays will become legal. That decision has to be made by the Virginia General Assembly and it is yet to be seen if the issue will be raised during the 2012 session. With the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries having a leadership role in presenting hunting and fishing regulations to the legislature it’s highly likely that the subject will come to a vote and could very well make it to the governor’s desk in the upcoming session. If the law is rescinded it will then be up to the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries to decide the date the change will take effect and hunting hours.

Forty-seven states have some type of Sunday hunting. Some limit hours and/or species. The ban on hunting on Sunday was originally part of the religious-oriented “Blue Laws” that date back to colonial times. These rules sought to set aside Sunday as a day of worship and rest by restricting labor and commerce. Another Blue Law that has been reversed is the restriction on shopping although some businesses still choose to stay closed on Sundays. The sale of alcohol in restaurants was reversed years ago and just recently a select few state-run Alcoholic Beverage Control stores are open on Sundays as well. All indications are that ABC stores statewide will be open on Sundays sometime in the future.

The reasoning behind allowing hunting on Sundays is mostly economical. Having a full weekend to hunt will attract sportsmen from other states as well as provide more hunting time for residents who need to travel some distance from their urban homes to find legal areas to hunt. Both of these scenarios would create more revenue for rural communities from lodging, restaurants, fuel sales, etc. There is also the need to control the wildlife population to consider. There are more deer in Virginia now than ever before in recorded history and bear are becoming more and more of a nuisance, as well. The only institution that could see a detrimental effect from Sunday hunting is the church. Perhaps the members of the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries will see it in their hearts to restrict Sunday hunting to afternoons only so we won’t have another excuse for not attending church on Sunday morning.