Sunday Hunting

Shouldn't be hunting on Sunday. You need to be in church learning how to handle poison serpents, praying and repenting so you aren't a sinner and get bit.

I was always under the impression that the "No hunting on Sundays" was based on the premise that Sunday was a holy day and thus the no hunting on Sunday had religious roots. Since there is supposed to be separation between church and state, you would think that government regs against hunting on Sunday would be unconstitutional.

Yup, just a hold over "blue law." Really no point to it, beyond that we have traditions of liking to tell people what to believe and how to go about practicing those beliefs.

And, now?



"...we have traditions for everything: how to how to eat, how to sleep, how to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered, and always wear a little prayer-shawl. This shows our constant devotion to God. You may ask, how did this tradition start? I'll tell you. I don't know. But it's a tradition. And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is, and what God expects him to do."



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Of course, it really should be SATURDAY hunting that's prohibited...

Since there is supposed to be separation between church and state, you would think that government regs against hunting on Sunday would be unconstitutional.

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Dry counties too.
And alcohol sales on sunday.

No church meetings held on any public land I've hunted before so I don't see why it is just for private land. I would think since there is a seperation of church and state that you would be able to hunt on Sunday on public land. I think it is a ridiculous law and there is absolutely no justification for it.

We have a lot of deer and usually not enough days to hunt. The ban on Sunday hunting is dated in my mind.

Worse, in md where I am stuck now, most of the season here is archery only so it's not like you're going to disturb the neighbors. md allows it but it's county by county and I'm so lucky to be in one which doesn't allow it.

Most people can't take a weekday off to hunt so the weekends are it for them. To take away 1/2 of a person's hunting days is wrong in my mind.

Ohen Cepel said:

Most people can't take a weekday off to hunt so the weekends are it for them. To take away 1/2 of a person's hunting days is wrong in my mind.

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I also wonder how much impact on income for gas stations, restaurants and LGSs there is because of the Sunday ban.

Absent doing some sort of harm to a person, "Blue Laws" are an infringement on Liberty and personal freedoms.

Me, I have little or no interest in other folks no-harm actions.

Hunting on Sunday harms no person.

The Constitution of The United States makes no mention of separation of church and state.

I think the law was written to ward off poachers while landowners were known to be in church.

The Constitution of The United States makes no mention of separation of church and state.

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Nevertheless, what we've come to call a "separation" between church and state is a fundamental precept of good government, and clearly a matter dear to the hearts of the founders.

If someone prefers not to hunt on Sunday I'd be pretty upset if they requiring them to do so. If someone wants to hunt on Sunday it seems pretty silly to deny them the right to do so.

The Constitution of The United States makes no mention of separation of church and state.

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Not in those exact words, but it is certainly what the founding fathers had in mind.

Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

I believe Jefferson wrote those words were written in a letter to a church, not in the COTUS. I think his intention was to assure that the gov't wouldn't choose an official religion.


I often wonder what the founders would think of the state of separation that we are currently in.


...anyway, I hunt on Sunday. I even did it by accident in Oklahoma once with a pair of bird dogs within sight of a state highway. I should have read the non-resident rules BEFORE I went hunting.

I think the law was written to ward off poachers while landowners were known to be in church.

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Yepper, because poachers were much more likely to obey laws on Sunday than on any other day of the week.

"I think his intention was to assure that the gov't wouldn't choose an official religion."

You are correct. He wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom first, based on his experience in Virginia with the Church of England - they collected the taxes for the state government and performed the only official weddings.

www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/religious_freedom

"Under the English Act of Toleration, adopted in 1689, Protestants who were not members of the Church of England enjoyed some limited religious liberty, but in Virginia they were required to pay taxes to support the clergymen of the Church of England, and their marriage ceremonies had to be performed by Church of England ministers. Thomas Jefferson's eloquent statement of the principles of separation of church and state and of complete religious freedom was originally drafted in 1777 as the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. Although it was introduced in the General Assembly on June 12, 1779, it did not pass. James Madison, without whom it probably would never have been enacted, engineered its passage in the General Assembly in 1786 and thus shared with the state's dissenters the credit for detaching the church from the state in Virginia. "


A lot of people I've talked to about Sunday hunting think there will be folks deer hunting EVERY Sunday year 'round. They don't know about hunting seasons.

Most of the "blue laws" went out in Alabama back in the 60s and 70s. I don't recall a time when I couldn't hunt on Sunday though it is entirely possible. My grandfather taught me to love the outdoors and he was a devout Christian so we didn't hunt or fish on Sundays anyway until I was old enough to go on my own.

I know a lot of people that devote ALL of Sunday to family time. Church, Sunday Dinner, family time and then church in the evening. I certainly will not argue that as being a bad thing since most kids today could benefit from spending more time in church and with their parents.

We generally avoid snake handling in Alabama.

Regardless of the intentions, the No Sunday Hunting was based on a Christian belief that Sunday was the holy day. These same laws were written by Christians at a time when that religion was about all there was. Like so many archaic hunting regs written before most of us were born, there is no longer a foundation or real purpose to them. Problem I see with many of them is tradition. Wisconsin has been trying to establish a more liberal gun hunting season with opening dates no longer established by the celebration of Thanksgiving. The biggest opponents are long time deer hunters.

A problem I see with no hunting on Sundays is that folks have recreational time available to them on Sunday. Those same folks find something other to do than hunt on those days off. As with most hobbies, folks have so much time and so much expendable income. Soon they spend all weekend doing a hobby because they can.....and hunting suffers along with the recruitment of new hunters.

Growing up, I hunted duck on Saturday then we would hunt quail Sunday morning. I see nothing wrong with Sunday hunting.

No hunting on Sunday is ridiculous. I work all week and Saturdays are my day to take care of all the chores around the farm. Sunday is generally the only day I can hunt. I would rather hunt than go to church. Should be up me, not the government.

I don't hunt (or fish) on Sundays for religious reasons, but I think having a law against it is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I've seen both sides of this situation in Pennsylvania.I grew up in Lancaster County.The Amish and Mennonite farmers will not allow sunday hunting on their land and their non Amish neighbors don't want to hear gunfire while attending church.After I left the farm,I worked many 6 and 7 day weeks in factories which left very little time for hunting.I can drive a couple hours into the public land in the mountains where a shot wouldn't be heard by anyone in church.

I don't hunt (or fish) on Sundays for religious reasons, but I think having a law against it is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

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It is the same for me. I choose not to hunt, fish or even shoot on Sunday as that day is Holy to me and I reverence it. I have no problem with others doing as their conscience and state laws allow.