O’Brien: Bag this blue law
Allow Sunday hunting in Virginia
By Matthew O’Brien
O’Brien is administrator of the Facebook group “Legalize Virginia Sunday Hunting for All.” He lives in Suffolk.
Deer hunting season is here.
Soon we will gather around campfires with friends, discuss today’s and tomorrow’s hunt with good ribbing about a missed shot or praise about the trophy that has been harvested, make long treks on foot or four-wheeler out to a favorite secret honey hole, stand around in deer camp and in hunt club cleaning sheds, meet a new group member, work as a two-man team to drag a big doe out of the back of the property, ride on long truck rides to the hunt with nothing better to do but talk.
November 9, 2011 - 7:45 AM
Sunday hunting is already legal in Virginia….you do it with a hook…it’s called fishing. I have heard every conceivable argument for allowing Sunday hunting, and none of them out-weighs my desire to have one day a week, during the various deer seasons, that I don’t have to wear blaze orange just to go for a walk in the woods.
Many NASCAR fans take off as much as a week, from work, to chase the race. If you are so strapped for hunting time, and are truly an avid hunter, plan your vacation during deer season. My brother-in-law does just that, and his employer loves the idea. It makes it easeir to schedule other vacations in the summer.
If you want to extend your deer season, buy a bow, or a smoke-pole (black powder rifle, they have a separate season of their own.
By the way, I AM a hunter. I hunt doves and squirrels, and my desire is just as strong, but Sunday is their day. Is it the hunt, the kill, or both, that makes you want Sunday? If it is the hunt, take a camera, that’s legal on Sunday. If it is the kill, go to a hunting preserve, where the prey is confined. If it is both, go to a hunting preserve in a state where Sunday hunting is allowed.
Their are already enough hunting accidents in Virginia without providing an extra day. Squirrel and dove hunters rarely kill one another…we shoot up, not out.