PA House Bill 1431 - Repeal ban on Sunday Hunting

[Jdeck09]

Good luck yall! We finally got sunday hunting on public a few years back! Game changer!

 

[Jethro]

Foxes or Yotes under the furbearer hunting section?

Crows too if it’s fri, Sat, or Sunday. Ground hogs also if you’re ambitious

 

[CMP70306]

Crows too if it’s fri, Sat, or Sunday. Ground hogs also if you’re ambitious

No groundhogs on Sunday except for the 3 special Sundays.

 

[Jethro]

No groundhogs on Sunday except for the 3 special Sundays.

We’ve changed topic to hunting on Christmas, not specifically Sundays

 

[roadrunner]

Sunday hunting ban seems misguided to me. As they say ‘Better to be in the woods thinkin about God than sittin in church thinking about huntin’

I could see how doubling the available time for hunting on the weekend would trigger some changes in seasons though

They also say "the road to hell is paved with rationalization".

Just as easy to be in church thinking about God as it is about hunting. It's a choice really.

The difference is, sitting in church shows you're willing to give something up for Him...

 

[Q_Sertorius]

They also say "the road to hell is paved with rationalization".

Just as easy to be in church thinking about God as it is about hunting. It's a choice really.

The difference is, sitting in church shows you're willing to give something up for Him...

If you aren’t legally allowed to hunt on Sunday, then you aren’t giving anything up by being in church.

If you want to show the world your faith, feel free to do so by voluntarily giving up hunting while us godless heathens go hunting.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

 

[KurtR]

They also say "the road to hell is paved with rationalization".

Just as easy to be in church thinking about God as it is about hunting. It's a choice really.

The difference is, sitting in church shows you're willing to give something up for Him...

I can think about god in the field and appreciate all creation with out giving money to build another fancy church.

 

[roadrunner]

If you aren’t legally allowed to hunt on Sunday, then you aren’t giving anything up by being in church.

If you want to show the world your faith, feel free to do so by voluntarily giving up hunting while us godless heathens go hunting.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

Testy, testy...once again someone takes something out of context to "prove" a point. Congratulations?

I can think about god in the field and appreciate all creation with out giving money to build another fancy church.

What makes you think you have to give money to go to church?

 

[KurtR]

Testy, testy...once again someone takes something out of context to "prove" a point. Congratulations?



What makes you think you have to give money to go to church?

They are always asking for money every time you go. The Lutheran church I was a confirmed in will excommunicate you if you dont donate. I don’t have a problem with church it’s the grifters running them that have soured my opinion of modern religion. Catholic church always needing more money here for more building why doesn’t the Vatican kick some of those billions over to them.

 

[mitchellmountain]

Back in the day for the majority of people hunting was a past time, something you did for fun when it was convenient. Small game was plentiful, deer were a nuisance that farmers wanted gone and people were more respectful than they are today. An accidental trespass and a respectful first meeting is how we met life long friends and got started hunting in the area we have been hunting for the better part of half a century. The other reason is that the farmer was over run with deer and the additional tags and man power we brought during hunting season would kill more deer and reduce his crop damage.

However in our case bucks aren’t the reason we post our land, it’s the fact that hunting is the main reason we own our property and since we have a ton of time, effort and money tied up into improving the property we want a say in who gets to hunt it. And we don’t mind sharing the land, we let the neighbors hunt and outside of the 3 owners there have been 26 or more people that have hunted the property over the years with a core group of 10 coming up twice a year.

Additionally part of our property is sensitive to pressure and walking through certain areas can bump the deer off the property entirely. As a result we like to have a handle on who goes on the property as someone bumbling around one afternoon can screw up the hunt for the guys coming up and hunting the following day.

Not to mention the safety aspect, when we hunt we know exactly who is where and are in regular contact to know when people are moving. With the number of drives we do knowing where people are is paramount to keeping everyone safe and those who don’t follow the rules are not invited back. Somebody randomly walking onto the property would not be known to the group nor would they know where anybody is leading to a high likelihood of an accident.

Take for example the guy who was put on a hot stand and told to stay there till someone picked him up, he got bored after an hour so he wandered over the ridge saw some deer and took a shot at them but didn’t get one. What he didn’t realize is that in that timeframe he was nearly killed by my brother who was the driver set to walk out to him and had deer run between them. He did not know the other guy had moved but luckily he didn’t shoot, those deer did run between the other guy and another stander and the guy however did shoot directly in the direction of another stander. Luckily he hit the ground or a tree between them, since that was the second time he left his position he was not invited back.

I get your reasoning and am not even arguing the validity of your points, that being said it does not change the fact that as this trend had exponentially spread across the state opportunity has plummeted. Adventure is a huge component to the enjoyment of the sport, especially for the youth, and the fact is their chance to roam and explore has been hamstrung. Unless this trend turns around, we will continue to see Hunter recruitment dwindle, at least in PA and NY. Out west is different because there is so much land available, but because so many of us eastern hunters head there for adventure those hunts are changing too.

 

[MSmiley]

Imagine working 60hours a week, or night shift all week, with 1-2 weeks vacation a year, and being told you can only hunt 50% of your weekend. That’s the norm where I grew up, and the reason most people I know don’t buy a license anymore. Gives you 1 day, maybe 2 to catch the rut in archery. Rifles seasons have changed throughout the years, some years it meant 1 day for buck season.
1. It’s not like out west. People aren’t recreationally hiking on farms. You might see a hiker or biker on a popular public, well worn trail after the leaves fall. They also get every Sunday of the years it’s not hunting season. so other outdoor users is a poor argument in PA.
2. If you don’t like door knocking for farmers on Sunday, make the law no door knocking for farmers on Sunday. Doesn’t mean no Sunday hunting. If a farmer doesn’t want Sunday hunting, tell the people you give permission “don’t come on Sunday” - another poor argument.
3. Sunday is for church - well Saturday is Jewish sabbath. First amendment, you do what you want and I’ll do what I want on sundays.
The only reason I can imagine someone not being for hunting on Sunday is that they themselves don’t want to hunt on Sunday and don’t want someone else doing something when they arent, or they aren’t pro hunting.

 

[CMP70306]

I get your reasoning and am not even arguing the validity of your points, that being said it does not change the fact that as this trend had exponentially spread across the state opportunity has plummeted. Adventure is a huge component to the enjoyment of the sport, especially for the youth, and the fact is their chance to roam and explore has been hamstrung. Unless this trend turns around, we will continue to see Hunter recruitment dwindle, at least in PA and NY. Out west is different because there is so much land available, but because so many of us eastern hunters head there for adventure those hunts are changing too.

States like Wyoming and PA are so drastically different that it’s hard to even compare them. For starters PA is only 45% the size of Wyoming so they are already at a disadvantage. PA has approximately 3.4 million acres of land open to public hunting, Wyoming has 31.4 million.

Wyoming has around 132,000 hunters and a total population of 587,000, meanwhile PA has 840,000 hunters and a total population of 13 million. And that’s down from the 1.3 million hunters at the peak we had back in 1983, if you took all the land in PA and made it public hunting land back then it would work out to around 29 hunters per square mile. Even with our reduced hunter numbers today we are still looking at 18.74 hunters per square mile which is nowhere close to the 1.34 hunters per square mile in Wyoming.

The one advantage we have over Wyoming is the sheer availability of big game in the form of whitetail deer, there are more deer in this state now than at any other point in history.

If adventure and seeing new land is the driving goal there are still 3.4 million acres of public land available in some pretty large tracts so it’s not like there isn’t opportunity to be had. It just isn’t immediately out your doorstep like it used to be back in the day.

 

[MTtrout]

That said, i think there is some wisdom in the fact religion and family have gone together for a long long time. Fathers are overwhelming the ones that foster and promoting hunting to the next generation. I dont think people need to be confrontational to the PA hunting and farming crowd that is not for sunday hunting. Looks like they are going to take the L here. Just leave it that. Sunday hunting will happen, no need to rub it in their faces.

Based on your statement, the only thing I find confrontational is fact that a father would feel he has right to tell another father they can't spend their Sunday in the hunting blind with their kids.

People should be as gospel as they want but their holiness should have no say on other people’s lives.

 

[roadrunner]

They are always asking for money every time you go. The Lutheran church I was a confirmed in will excommunicate you if you dont donate. I don’t have a problem with church it’s the grifters running them that have soured my opinion of modern religion. Catholic church always needing more money here for more building why doesn’t the Vatican kick some of those billions over to them.

Then no loss to lose Lutheran membership because you don't pay your dues is it.

Not all are like that...

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Besides the religious aspect you can also look at it as a day for non hunters to enjoy the public lands without gunfire. I honestly don't care if this passes or not. They have a few Sundays open during the season. Even if this passes, some Federal lands like the Water Gap don't allow any Sunday hunting.

Hunting season is short,they have the rest of the year!
Plus if we can’t hunt why the hell would anyone else get the right to enjoy the outdoors.

 

[plebe]

Hunting season is short,they have the rest of the year!
Plus if we can’t hunt why the hell would anyone else get the right to enjoy the outdoors.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

View attachment 895836

Ha!
You did get me there.
I was just thinking about my deer season.
Anyway way that law sucks.
Let everyone do what they want with there time in the outdoors.

 

[plebe]

Ha!
You did get me there.
I was just thinking about my deer season.
Anyway way that law sucks.
Let everyone do what they want with there time in the outdoors.

Lol. We often see things mostly from our own POV. Myself included. I’m sure there’s trail runners, bird watchers, dog walkers, nature lovers, etc. who struggle with blinders too.

A lot of people already do what they want no matter what, and that’s part of the problem as well, imo.

 

[plebe]

What a strange, archaic law. How about no golfing on Sunday? No yard work on Sunday? No watching sports on Sunday? No shopping on Sunday? No wahing your car on Sunday. You apply this to anything else and the absurdity quickly reveals itself.

I’ve never even seen anybody golfing, doing yard work, watching sports, shopping, or washing their car in the PA public forests where I hunt.

I’ve seen dog walking, hiking, running, trail maintenance, bird watching, fishing, and what looked like surveying.

If I encounter golfers while still hunting, is it proper etiquette to let them play through?

 

[EP357]

It's very simple, if you don't want to hunt Sundays then don't.
It should be a choice like going fishing or anything else