Mass Sunday Hunting Bill making the rounds again

tele_mark

tele_mark

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
10,089
Likes
851
Location
New Ipswich, Finn-Land
Feedback: 19 / 0 / 0
http://www.lowellsun.com/sports/ci_5412621

It's time for sportsmen to be heard on Sunday hunting bill
By Bill Biswanger, Sun Outdoors Writer
Lowell Sun
Article Last Updated:03/11/2007 07:41:55 AM EDT

For years Massachusetts sportsmen have been cheated with the current ban on Sunday hunting. Now there is another bill sponsored by Rep. Anne Gobi that will make it legal to Sunday hunt right here.

Sunday hunting means dollars to the state economy. Millions of dollars will be spent here not only by residents but the non-resident as well. The reason is that Massachusetts is home to some 100,000 deer and has the best pheasant hunting program in all of New England. The whitetail population is larger than New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Hunters are buying non-resident licenses now but that number could swell into the thousands if the bill should pass.

Hunters will come here to spend their dollars. They will visit sporting goods stores, gasoline stations, restaurants, motels and more.

A letter I received last month from Larry Jones says even more. Here is some of what he has to say:

"It's time for us to be heard. Back in January, 2006 there was an article in the Hawkeye sporting paper that talked about House Bill #4517, sponsored by Massachusetts State Rep. Anne Gobi. The proposal before the Massachusetts legislature would allow Sunday hunting statewide and it would repeal the state's Sunday hunting prohibition. The bill was introduced on November 17 and was awaiting action. The bill went to some committee and died like so many other bills do in the Massachusetts legislature.

"Currently there are 39 states that permit Sunday hunting while 11 states prohibit or heavily restrict it. Sunday hunting provides an additional day in the field, which can be a great opportunity for sportsmen and sportswomen who work during the week and also work on Saturdays.

"Over the years I've heard many people say they don't buy a Massachusetts hunting license because they can only hunt on Sundays. So because of this they're forced into buying a hunting license from a state that allows Sunday hunting. This state is losing a lot of revenue because of this Sunday restriction. They're losing revenue from within this state as well as losing revenue from people out of state that would enjoy hunting in Massachusetts.

"I've heard from anti-sportsmen that the woods aren't safe during the hunting season. And they can only enjoy the woods on Sundays. Well, if you're a sportsman or sportswomen and hunt on Saturdays you have noticed that there's more people enjoying the woods that are not hunting then there are hunters on any given Saturday. So how can anyone say the woods are not safe during the hunting season? Then you have the environmentalist who seems to be opposed to most everything. Hunting doesn't hurt the environment. If anything it helps in many ways."

We are now in the year 2007 and Rep. Gobi is sponsoring that bill again. Some time soon it's going to be coming up for people to testify for the bill or against the bill. Please put your thoughts and I hope your support behind her and contact her office either by phone or e-mail. If this bill is going to pass it's going to need everyone's support. Let's show the Massachusetts legislature that sportsmen, sportswomen and non-sportsmen can stick together and work together.

State Rep. Anne Gobi's phone number is 617-722-2210. Her e-mail address is [email protected]

Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics just returned from his trip to the Galapagos Islands, where he charters for offshore sportfish for a couple of months. "The fishing was outstanding. Lots of marlin and other big game fish. It's hard to get back to reality!" he said.

Pete's report on the local scene was interesting. Headlining it was the fact that Charter boat Skip-a-Dory has found a lot of haddock up on the top of Stellwagon Bank, according to its Captain Chuck DeStefano. Pete also says that Dark Hollow Pond in Medford has been hot for huge bass -- up to six pounds and some outsized pickerel. Wright's Pond in Medford has also been doing well on both bass and pickerel, while Horn Pond in Woburn has some nice rainbow trout to 14 inches that are hitting mealworms, small shiners and small pieces of nightcrawlers. He says to fish near the outlet. A rarity for many ice fishermen would be to visit the lower Mystic Lake, where striped bass (yup, the saltwater kind) are being taken through the ice on tip-ups and shiners!

Bill Biswanger's e-mail address is [email protected]
 
Jim said:
1. Jews (who can't necessarily hunt on Saturdays for religious reasons).
Click to expand...

Wow, someone should sue the state on the basis of religious discrimination! Every hunter in the State would claim to be Jewish.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make plans for my new business selling blaze-orange yarmulkes.
 
Last edited:
I personally do not hunt, I can't see dragging my but to the woods in the wee hours of the morning to hunt for food when Stop and Spend is only a short drive down the street. That being said I see no reason at all for this obviously antiquated restriction. So even though it has only snowballs chance of passing I will call my local rep. with an affirmative opinion.
 
This bill is dead in the water. Even in Maine where deer hunting is so deeply rooted Sunday hunting has been banned for years. Too many people including hunters themselves want to use to woods during the fall season for other activities. I can't see with the antler-less permits in ME and MA why anyone would choose to hunt there with NH being so close by. NH doesn't have doe permits[yet] and if you hunt both muzzleloader/rifle seasons you get either 3 or 4 FULL weekends of either sex. If you want meat in your freezer this is called a no-brainer. If you are really serious about bagging a deer you'll consider taking a mid-week sick day to be in the woods when its less crowded and will avoid Sunday hunting at all cost. Too many hunters means too much human scent in the woods. The deer sense all the weekend hunting pressure and tend to bed down or stay in thick cover on weekends. They'll stay there unless driven out. Weekdays they let their guard down and you have a better chance of seeing one.
 
I believe it was Barrios, who was on WRKO a while back and referred to hunting as a "noble profession".

I'd like to see Massachusetts ban hunting altogether. Anything that can speed up the northward migration of decent-thinking folks is OK in my book.
 
http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2007/11/05/news/news/news13.txt

Ban on Sunday hunting may fall


By Toni Scott, Enterprise correspondent and Alice Elwell, Enterprise correspondent

BOSTON — Over the years, as Massachusetts lawmakers rescinded various bans on Sunday activities, state residents have been able to buy groceries, shop for furniture and purchase booze seven days a week. The next big target: hunting.

Under a bill now before the Legislature, a restriction dating back to Colonial days would be lifted, allowing hunters to take up their guns on Sundays.

“There is no actual reason why residents can't hunt on Sundays,” said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owner's Action League, or GOAL. “You can do everything else on Sundays.”

The bill is sponsored by Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, with the backing of GOAL. Rep. Christine Canavan, a Brockton Democrat, favors the change.

“I have always supported a person's right to hunt,” Canavan said in a phone interview.

Canavan said she supports GOAL and signed onto the legislation after calls from voters in her district.

“I've had constituents contact me, who want to be able to hunt on their off-time, but their work schedule doesn't allow for it,” Canavan said. “Many times people end up having to work on Saturdays. Opening up Sundays for them to hunt would let them still be able to practice the sport.”

Wallace said many hunters often have to travel to nearby states in order to hunt on their one free day. “We're left not being able to hunt and enjoy the outdoors in our own state because of this law,” Wallace said.

Hunting bans vary across the country.

*Six states besides Massachusetts prohibit Sunday hunting: Delaware, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and Connecticut.

*Four states allow hunting only on selected Sundays: Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina and West Virginia.

Opponents say more days for the hunters would mean less respite for the hunted.

“For six days a week, four months a year, armed hunters roam the land,” said Helen Rayshick, executive director of the Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition. “This would lead to more of our precious wildlife being killed.”

“Why in the world are the sponsors of this bill wasting this committee's valuable time and diverting its attention from the important work it needs to do,” Rayshick said. “It panders to the tiny hunting interest group.”

Police Lt. David M. Mackiewicz, who issues firearms permits in Middleboro, said Sunday hunting would generate more complaints from residents.

“We're getting calls already,” he said.

Lifting some other Sunday bans have not caused an uproar, such as stores opening. But with hunting comes controversy and Mackiewicz said many feel Sunday is the one day each week during hunting season folks can walk in the woods without worrying about hunters.

Last year, Massachusetts licensed 70,000 hunters, about 1 percent of the state's population. Gobi, the lead sponsor of the bill, said although that number seems low, it adds up to a lot of money for the state.

Five dollars of every license fee goes to the state Division of Wildlife and Fisheries for land acquisition. Last year alone, Gobi said, the agency was able to purchase 4,000 acres of land for public use. This includes trail riding, camping and exploration, as well as hunting.

Gobi also said that she is open to working with opponents to strike a favorable agreement.

“There's always room for compromise,” Gobi said. “We have looked at opening certain Sundays to hunting, rather than every Sunday. We want to reach an agreement that everyone can be happy with.”

The bill was set for a hearing before the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security last Tuesday, but the hearing was canceled due to traffic issues from the Red Sox celebration parade.

Committee staff anticipated rescheduling the hearing for Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

“It would be great for the poor guy that has to work six days a week to feed his family,” said Christopher C. Reed, owner of Reedy's Archery in Middleboro.

He doesn't expect the bill to pass, saying all the “blue laws” have been rolled back except the hunting ban.

Reed is one of the many hunters who flee the state to hunt in New Hampshire. “I've always hunted on Sunday.”

But he said the change would allow many hunters to stay home with their families rather than crossing state lines.

One hunter who goes out of state said the ban shouldn't be lifted.

“We pursue game six days a week. That's enough. Everything needs a rest,” said Wayne Nickerson of Kingston, a self-employed commercial fisherman who has a lot of down time in the fall and winter. “I hunt a lot, I hunt when the opportunity arises,” he said.

Canavan's aide, Michael Mullen, said if the bill passes, it would be implemented by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and up to them to determine which species, deer rabbit, bullfrogs or pheasants to name a few, could be hunted on Sundays.

Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for Fisheries and Wildlife, said the division hasn't taken a position on the legislation.
Click to expand...

Pilgrim do you know Police Lt. David M. Mackiewicz????

Seems like a first class jack-off.

Don't even get me started on Helen Rayshick. [rolleyes]
 
I'm hunting in NYS on a Saturday and Sunday. Friends invited me and opening day is 11/17. I will be hunting with a rifle! I have no desire to hunt in MA when I can hunt in NY on Sundays.

MA is way, way behind NYS on hunting. When I was a NYS resident, I hunted with a PISTOL. 4 years ago, I dropped a doe at 125 yards with my Ruger Redhawk .44 magnum (which was the sexiest Christmas present my wife has ever given me).

GOAL should go after the statehouse maroons and throw NYS hunting laws in front of them. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/35010.html
http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8305.html

We should all be pushing MA to follow NYS on hunting.
 
Last edited:
“We pursue game six days a week. That's enough. Everything needs a rest,” said Wayne Nickerson of Kingston, a self-employed commercial fisherman who has a lot of down time in the fall and winter. “I hunt a lot, I hunt when the opportunity arises,” he said.
Click to expand...
Where do they find these idiots? "It's OK, I can hunt the other 6 days". [rolleyes] It's not always about YOU, pal! Maybe there are OTHER people who'd like a chance to hunt ONE day a week.
 
I’m a hunter, not a good one, but I hunt (Whitetails). While I’d accept what ever the law is with out problem (like I’d have a choice) I personally like being able to scout Sundays without worrying about getting shot by someone who has to take a deer “today” or ruining someone’s day by walking up to his stand or across his game trails.

Now understand this is how I feel about what I like and I am not advocating for one side or the other. I’m sure I could get use to either, but I like the free day.


Respectfully,

jkelly
 
If you work a regular job like most people you get basically 8-10 days to hunt in MA. If you have any weekend plans, have to work a weekend, or get sick your days drop to only a handful. Far from fair in my book.

Not allowing hunting on Sundays for a mere 8 weeks is weak at best.
 
Not allowing hunting on Sundays for a mere 8 weeks is weak at best.---Derek
Click to expand...
I can’t really argue the point either way, but I do enjoy not having hunting on Sundays.

Does that make me a Hater, an Anti-Semite, an Anti-Jew, or Anti-Worker? Jesus, I hope not. :)


Respectfully,

jkelly
 
I used to enjoy Sundays when the 18 wheelers were forbidden on MA roads, and stores were closed. Saturday night was the chance to get milk and gas, which took my brother and I a couple hours. (-: Sundays always had a different feel to them, which was nice. A couple years ago, one of the holidays had a bunch of stores closed, and the roads were dead. It reminded me of those days.

Now, I think they should allow hunting on Sundays.
 
What everyone seems to be missing is the fact that the deer herd is out of control and another day afield is more dead deer and eventually less lyme disease as well as less car accidents and crop damage.
 
i think we should ban hunting in general OR make lisencing near impossible..one must have a good,specific and compelling reason if one wishes to kill innocent animals...
[rofl][laugh2] wouldnt surprise me for that to be proposed here in mass.

but on a serious note, why cant we hunt on sundays, for deer were already limited on our tags, so if its about protection of wildlife populations, we already are!

Im in school and drive home for friday night and saturday ALL DAY cause the sunday BS. i get all i can get on saturday in the woods.
 
derek said:
If you work a regular job like most people you get basically 8-10 days to hunt in MA. If you have any weekend plans, have to work a weekend, or get sick your days drop to only a handful. Far from fair in my book.

Not allowing hunting on Sundays for a mere 8 weeks is weak at best.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, Sundays may be the only day I can hunt without taking time off!
 
tele_mark said:
I just like the idea because it pisses off the anti's in this thread:
http://www.nemba.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20195
Click to expand...

Someone posted a good list of statistics, who knows how accurate, but in line with
my experience, which is people cream themselves on bicycles a lot, especially mountain bikers, so they should not be whining about the dangers of hunters.

Fatalities per Million Exposure Hours

Skydiving 128.71
Snowmobiling .88
General Flying 15.58
Motoring .47
Motorcycling 8.80
Water skiing .28
Scuba Diving 1.98
Bicycling .26
Living 1.53
Airline Flying .15
Swimming 1.07
Hunting .08

Data compiled by Failure Analysis Associates, Inc.


Looks like just plain living is more dangerous than hunting.
Reply With Quote
Click to expand...
 
I just heard in the news on maybe Thursday that a bunch of people gathered in Boston to oppose a bill for hunting on Sunday.

Did anyone else hear about this bill? Usually, this sort of thing gets a lot of exposure here on NES, as well as from GOAL.

Did I hear it wrong, or did we miss it? Or was it just me who missed it?
 
Any links? I agree, usually NES or my FB follows keep me informed of MA moonbats in the field.

Coyote33 said:
I just heard in the news on maybe Thursday that a bunch of people gathered in Boston to oppose a bill for hunting on Sunday.

Did anyone else hear about this bill? Usually, this sort of thing gets a lot of exposure here on NES, as well as from GOAL.

Did I hear it wrong, or did we miss it? Or was it just me who missed it?
Click to expand...
 
 
Will be contacting my reps and encouraging friends to do the same. In some anti states they have been removing the ban so they can say "See, we aren't against the 2nd amendment". Like what Cuomo did in dropping hunting license costs in NY after the SAFE act, and the sunday hunting law McAuliffe signed in VA. Mass has to be one of the last holdouts on Sunday hunting besides Maine and as more bans begin to fall hopefully we can make progress.

It said in the article only 1% of MA residents hold hunting licences. I personally know several people who only hunt in other states specifically because they allow sunday hunting, who would buy mass licenses if they could hunt on sundays. Also 1% is actually not bad considering the numbers of children, elderly, city dwellers, etc. What % of the population of the state participate in anything like mountain biking or birdwatching, with no license required, that benefit from all the revenue generated from land stamps and hunting licenses? 1%?
 
Last edited:
In God We Trust said:
I like the Sunday ban because I don't hunt and I can hike without worrying about disturbing the hunters.

However, it must suck trying to squeeze in your hunting on Saturday and before work during the week
Click to expand...

BS. You don't care about disturbing hunters. It actually helps when hikers push the animals around.
 
In God We Trust said:
I like the Sunday ban because I don't hunt and I can hike without worrying about disturbing the hunters.

However, it must suck trying to squeeze in your hunting on Saturday and before work during the week
Click to expand...
They should pass a bill that only allows hiking on weekdays outside hunting hours and no hikinh on weekends during hunting season. Season is not that long so it shouldnt be too much of an imposition.
 

Similar threads

Tweetle Deetle is making the rounds.
Replies
4
Views
311
LT5
L
Hunting Dogs
Replies
15
Views
505
dgrafton
dgrafton
Gopher hunting with a 22
2
Replies
47
Views
939
556USER
556USER
  • Poll
Mass Gun Bill - Should MFGs Continue to Support the Police?
Replies
26
Views
1K
Admin
Admin
When 17 rounds aren’t enough
Replies
9
Views
578
Dench
Dench
Back
Top Bottom