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Your opinion and experience on hunting on a Sunday?

bowhuntr09 said:
Dogs aren't allowed on Sunday for private or public if this public portion passes. The Va Dog Hunters alliance was actually against Sunday hunting and actively lobbied against it on private several years back.
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That's funny because when I owned my farm, they ran the **** out of dogs on Sunday until the warden was spotted and they left them running and ran home. Happened every year. What's that old saying, you can't outrun a radio. Works for the bad guys too! Guess those guys weren't part of the alliance.
 
bowhuntr09 said:
https://vahda.org/PDFs/SundayHuntingPositionPaper.pdf
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Thank you for the information. I'm conflicted about most of their points, but I'm only going to comment on the non religious arguments. Can't say I agree with them, I can understand them but the non-religious positions seem more in line with private property owners' benefit instead of the whole hunting community in general. I would go down and list counterpoints but each his/her own I guess.
 
slonstdy said:
Here in NY you can hunt seven days a week and twice on Sundays, lol.
I'm fortunate to have a work schedule that gives me plenty of days off during the week so I rarely hunt on weekends. In my mind, serious hunters plan when to hunt and make the time to do so regardless of the day of the week. Weekend warriors are the type that want to impress their social circles by calling themselves hunters... I've got a couple of "friends" that are in this category and have met a few other "hunters" who never get out and actually hunt.
I say ban Sunday hunting, hate on...
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nah, there are plenty of serious hunters who have work responsibilities m-f most weeks of the season.
 
HuumanCreed said:
Thank you for the information. I'm conflicted about most of their points, but I'm only going to comment on the non religious arguments. Can't say I agree with them, I can understand them but the non-religious positions seem more in line with private property owners' benefit instead of the whole hunting community in general. I would go down and list counterpoints but each his/her own I guess.
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This argument was when Sunday hunting was originally being debated. Luckily that passed and we have Sunday hunting (without dogs) for all private property with some exceptions for proximity to churches. This new bill< which i believe is now waiting on the governors signature will open public lands to the same rules.
 
When I first heard about a prohibition on hunting on Sundays in some of the New England States, I was initially shocked, but it makes sense considering the puritanical origins of the state governments. Understand, I am not criticizing here. I just thought it was really tough on most people who wanted to hunt because I would guess that the majority of people who have full time jobs are Monday through Friday and that would kill half their chances to get out on their days off. I mean, it is their day off. Here in Mississippi, we have blue laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sundays so blue laws are not unheard of here.

I am self-employed and so I hunt mostly during the week and work most weekends during the season, especially when gun season starts. I usually hunt a few Sundays a season. If we had that here and I had a Monday through Friday job, I'd try to work it out on the front end so I could come in on Sunday and work so I could have Monday off to hunt or just do 4 ten-hour days and be off Friday...or find a new job.

I guess to me what it boils down to is it should be up to the individual if they want to hunt on their days off or engage in other activities, church or otherwise.
 
Gator said:
That's funny because when I owned my farm, they ran the **** out of dogs on Sunday until the warden was spotted and they left them running and ran home. Happened every year. What's that old saying, you can't outrun a radio. Works for the bad guys too! Guess those guys weren't part of the alliance.
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I got pictures on my cell cam just this weekend of dogs with numbers and tracking collars on still out running deer in March. They do it all year regardless of the law.
 
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bowhuntr09 said:
I got pictures on my cell cam just this weekend of dogs with numbers and racking collars on still out running deer in March. They do it all year regardless of the law.
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No doubt. We have some straight up outlaws around here that run dogs from October 1st to January 31st...and I'm sure beyond. It's not all dog hunters but quite a few around here. The outlaws are just that and the game wardens and county sheriffs are trying to catch them in the act. I think Sunday mornings seem to be their favorite time to let the dogs out and run people's land assuming they are at church. They put them out on one road and post up on the next road over and run the dogs across private they don't have permission to hunt. It's a game to them. I overheard one of them telling the guy at the hardware store about all of it one day a few years ago. It went something like this. Dog runner: "Them boys done kilt nine deer this mornin'." Man at counter: What sort of deer? Dog runner: "Hell, they wuz deer!". Man at counter: "Where did they kill them?" Dog runnner:" the middle of the black top road!".
 
I grew up in PA and was not a fan of no Sunday hunting. Sometimes we were able to get out weekday evenings, but it was a big detriment to anyone working M-F.

I live in a state now that allows Sunday hunting and I usually hear a good bit of shooting on Sunday opening weekend, but not as much as the previous day. Whether that's because there are fewer hunters or just less to shoot that day, I'm not sure.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
bowhuntr09 said:
I got pictures on my cell cam just this weekend of dogs with numbers and tracking collars on still out running deer in March. They do it all year regardless of the law.
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The club behind my property just hosted a “fox hunt” this past Saturday. 392 dogs turned loose in one cutover really caused a ruckus around here. Buzzards been circling the cutover behind me since then, prolly a dead deer or two.
 
BuckTown said:
The club behind my property just hosted a “fox hunt” this past Saturday. 392 dogs turned loose in one cutover really caused a ruckus around here. Buzzards been circling the cutover behind me since then, prolly a dead deer or two.
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The guys in my club do the fox pen hunts. And I’m pretty sure it’s club members running their dogs now in club land. What really irks me is when they do it in September and October to get tuned up for gun season in November.
 
Yeah, the dog runners sure give deer hunting a bad name around here. I was talking to a guy who lives up the road a while back and he offered up out of the blue how he hates deer hunters. I asked him some more questions so he would elaborate and what he really meant was that he hated dog runners. He was just painting all deer hunters with a broad brush. I explained to him that the majority of deer hunters were law abiding, contentious people and that most deer hunters were just as appalled by this lawlessness as he was. I think I got the point across, but he really hates dog runners.
 
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There's a whole heck of alot of hubbub about Sunday hunting. IMHO it's completely unnecessary and a tad ridiculous that so much conversation is generated, it's another day. I realize that pressure is a concern, but I've learned that the ONLY way to find the answers to your questions is to scout/hunt yourself, get your own eyes and boots on the ground. I say this because of perception. I hear all the time from my circle that the gamelands are too pressured to hunt, or that they'll never hunt weekends or what have you. Yet I rarely have encounters with other hunters. That's not to be pompous, I'm simply saying that my experience has been drastically different then many others. I don't have the luxury of limiting myself based off of what someone else's perception is. I hunt some supposed heavily pressured gamelands just outside pittsburgh, yet on this particular piece I have never encountered a hunter while I was hunting. You just need to learn your style and scout to your needs, you can easily develop a knack for avoiding other hunter even in high pressure situations.
 
I prefer sunday bc in Louisiana everyones at church and im in the woods lol but you can bet money if i hunt sunday afternoon and have to work monday ill be out late dragging and cleaning like clockwork happens everytime. And as far as pressure ive never seen more than 20 trucks in a WMA during bow season hardly anyone bow hunts especially public land. I do not step foot in the woods anymore during any rifle season and have quit rifle hunting altogether about 7 years ago.
 
HuumanCreed said:
I was a little surprised when I found out recently that Maryland was on a short list of states (11) that did not allow for hunting on Sunday. Left over of 'blue laws' that wanted to encourage church attendance. Well for the most part, recently the state has allowed for some private and public areas open for certain Sundays. Most of the states are north eastern, which make sense in a historical and demographic point of view. I'm not trying to open a debate if its wrong or right, just wanted to see who does and their experience on it.

So based on the assumption that most of the nation allow hunting on Sundays, do you do it?

If so, is there anything different about a Sunday hunt compared to Saturday? I assumed its more pressured than a weekday in general, but is it MORE than Saturday?

Specific question. I live in Maryland near the PA border but never crossed it to hunt, PA open 3 Sundays a year for whitetails, I am thinking about participating on a Sunday. Is this a bad idea because it's going to be 'orange army' X10 due to how rare a Sunday is open?
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There are two Sundays in archery season that should be okay.
 
harold wright said:
I go to church on Sundays, hunting can wait till another day
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I respect your response but have a little different perspective. Hunting season is a relatively short window of time each year for us to gather provisions for the year. But more importantly, I have been told by more than a few that I need to be in church on Sunday to spend time in the Word. I think a good many of those folks fail to recognize that the time I spend in the woods observing creation and learning its lessons IS spending time in the word considering it all was called into existence by God.
 
BTaylor said:
I respect your response but have a little different perspective. Hunting season is a relatively short window of time each year for us to gather provisions for the year. But more importantly, I have been told by more than a few that I need to be in church on Sunday to spend time in the Word. I think a good many of those folks fail to recognize that the time I spend in the woods observing creation and learning its lessons IS spending time in the word considering it all was called into existence by God.
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I usually try not to comment on faith because its so personal. But I do not quiet understand why going hunting and going to Church is 'one or the other'. I mean you are not required to be in church ALL DAY or JUST ONLY go to church. Or even a time requirement, I mean the chapel on military bases offer different time for services based on your denomination 1000 is Catholic, 1100 is Lutherans, etc etc. I'm not trying to be funny or smartass. Just do not see why you can't do both go to church and other activities which include hunting as long it is consider a 'rest' activity. If the argument is spending time with the whole family, I can understand that. My family like to go do things together after services, sometime picnic or a movie (pre COVID). But what if we want to do that in the wood hunting? What about fishing, is that not basically hunting for fish? Bow fishing?

Oh yeah, yes I am a weekend wannabe. I usually only hunt on a few weekend, a rare weekday if I plan it well and wife pick up the responsibility that is mine. Sunday would double my availability so I am for it.
 
HuumanCreed said:
I usually try not to comment on faith because its so personal. But I do not quiet understand why going hunting and going to Church is 'one or the other'. I mean you are not required to be in church ALL DAY or JUST ONLY go to church. Or even a time requirement, I mean the chapel on military bases offer different time for services based on your denomination 1000 is Catholic, 1100 is Lutherans, etc etc. I'm not trying to be funny or smartass. Just do not see why you can't do both go to church and other activities which include hunting as long it is consider a 'rest' activity. If the argument is spending time with the whole family, I can understand that. My family like to go do things together after services, sometime picnic or a movie (pre COVID). But what if we want to do that in the wood hunting? What about fishing, is that not basically hunting for fish? Bow fishing?

Oh yeah, yes I am a weekend wannabe. I usually only hunt on a few weekend, a rare weekday if I plan it well and wife pick up the responsibility that is mine. Sunday would double my availability so I am for it.
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Since you quoted my post, I will give my thoughts on your question. It seems to me to be one of two things, interpretation of scripture and/or legalistic expectation of denomination. A couple of things I believe to be indisputable fact are that every single church on the entire planet is consistent on one thing, every person in the building is a sinner and being a Christian is first and foremost the individuals perpetually evolving personal relationship with the Lord. I think it is highly important to find a church that fits you and be involved, more than just attending on Sunday but I dont believe attendance is required every time the doors are open.
 
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