Contributors to this thread:
3 weeks into the season, 3 Saturdays with less than optimal weather and 3 Sundays that would have been perfect to be in the tree. As man that has to work for a living all I can say is thanks PA...thanks a lot!
I hear ya !! I'll be hunting Sunday's in a couple weeks when I go to Ohio!
With work I've only got out Yesterday, Saturday afternoon.. I wish we had Sundays to hunt.. Don't get to hunt as much as I did. eD
It was a beautiful day of hunting in Ohio today, and I didn't bother anyone, the farmer even waived at me.
Mike
I've been hunting in jersey this year. It's nice to be able to hunt Sundays. I don't hunt the evenings cause if I get lucky I don't want to deal with it on a Sunday night with work Monday. When it gets colder and I can let it hang I will. With a permit I can bow hunt through December.
the trend I see repeatedly (including myself as of late) is that many PA residents seem to hunt PA when they have time, but spend their vacation and big money elsewhere. People have various reasons I suppose, but opportunity surely has something to do with it. No more complaints for me, you just have to go somewhere that suits you and the time you have to hunt. I don't see PA getting the point any time soon. I make other arrangements....everybody's happy.
I work for a living and always find time to hunt. My work week runs Monday thru Saturday. I still find time to hunt despite not having Sat off. Sometimes we need to take a step back and look at what's important. I sacrifice to hunt! Yes, its that important! I don't give a crap if the PGC takes the whole weekend. I will find a way and not cry like a little girl cause I can't hunt on Sun!
mdjohns300, I've seen more deer out our way here this season than many previous. Though I'm only in the Jeep, and not hunting....that's probably why! Since I'm pretty close to you, if I recall, I hope you are able to stay local, and harvest one of the many 'round here.
OK, who are you and what did you do with Flatlander?
RC you know I've never been a big fan of sunday hunting. I have a son that is ten and we manage to find time to hunt despite not having sunday. If it means working more overtime, sacrificing some time for summer vacation, or even just calling off work for a few days I will do it. You only get one chance at this thing called life. I'm here to enjoy it! Tired of hearing about how the lack of Sunday hunting is ruining some peoples life. Get the #$*! over it, find a way!
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, Chuck! ;-)
Like others have said before, I don;t want Sunday Hunting just for me. Like you I get plenty of vacation time and use it to get OUTDOORS. It's a priority for me.
I want Sunday hunting for the youth. My son is in a youth bowling league that bowls on Saturday. He also has youth group and activities on Saturdays. My daughter has swim meets on Saturdays. How many others have kids that have activities on Saturday? Most Sunday afternoons are open. Would be nice for us to be able to take our kids out hunting.
You don;t want to do it? Fine! Don;t. But why should we not have the CHOICE to do it if we want to?
Also, how bout all those folks that have camps? I'm sure alot of them would drive up to camp a LOT more if they could stay there and hunt for 2 days!
People complain that the kids these days are not getting into hunting. Maybe SH would help! I say why not give it a chance???!!!!!
Let's see...bowling...hunting...sounds like a choice.
When in high school, I used to think that it should be a law that all high schools have lighted fields so that there were NO Saturday afternoon football games. (yep, I was in the same boat as your son, Perry)
Sure it would be nice to be able to do both and I'm pretty confident that eventually Sunday hunting (maybe in a limited schedule) will come to fruition.
But life's about sacrifices and often-times tough decisions. I think that's what Chuck's saying.
Hunt on Sunday....Don't hunt on Sunday...also sounds like a choice.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again...makes no sense to me, that I'm able to buy a bottle of whiskey and spend all day gambling in a casino on a Sunday, but I can't hunt that day.
I sacrifice time, set aside vacation days, even call in sick on occassion....none of which has anything to do with whether or not we ALL should have the CHOICE to hunt on Sundays or not.
I found a way, New Jersey:) Actually, I started hunting in Jersey cause it's a lot closer and easier drive than the nearest gamelands in PA. I will be in the Big Woods of Tioga County though for the next 2 weeks lookin for a mountain buck!
Yeah Dave CHOICE is right! Right now we don't have a CHOICE to hunt on Sundays. Would be nice if we did! ;-)
I'm all for SH also. Like Perry, I don't need SH for myself. Not saying I wouldn't hunt on Sunday if I had a choice though. I work swing shifts at my job. I can hunt mornings when on afternoon shift and evenings on night turn. I also am lucky to get home early enough when I'm on daylight shift to hunt the evenings. I also only get a few weekends off per year, most of the year, my off days fall during the week.
There are guys out there who LOVE to hunt but CANT make the time during the week. I have a cousin who drives to work in the dark and it's dark on his way home. Every once in a while, he gets a rain day. This past Tuesday he was sent home from work because of a pouring rain. He did go hunting on that crappy day because since he was sent home early Tuesday, he now has to work this Saturday! He just started this job a couple months ago so he has no vacation time and calling off probably wouldn't be to smart since he just started there.
I'm sure there are a lot of guys out there that are in a similar situation as my cousin. I'm just glad his son is grown up and he already was able to get him into hunting. It would be tough for sure if he was trying to get a young kid involved in the sport working that kind of schedule!
Ben
I would certainly choose to hunt on Sundays. If ya dont wanna... then dont. But it should be a choice.
I know what Chuck is saying though. Yeah, there are exceptions due to work and other commitments, but beyond that, where there's a will, there's a way. "No Sunday hunting" has been in place since I started hunting and I have found a LOT of time to hunt since then. More when I was younger than as an adult, but if kids really want to hunt, they'll make time.... sundays or not... involved/available parent or not. We did. A LOT. It's about priority... not sunday.
When I was in my teens and early twenties, I was in the woods more days than not... hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, shooting, camping, tracking, just being there watching and listening... whatever... sundays too. Thousands and thousands of times, and I could count on my fingers the number of times my father was present. He worked Monday through Saturday, early to late evening driving truck. We didnt see him much... and certainly didnt wait for him to take us out. In regard to strictly hunting, before I turned 16 I did have an older neighbor that took me out pretty often. But once I was old enough, not much mattered more than my need to heed the call. No time for huntin? Ha... I didn't have time for much else :^) Sunday Schmunday.
Just another perspective.
It should be up to the individual. Choice is correct. . It's all about the Church. That was straight from Senator Alloway's mouth. They are down about 500 thousand tags from about 7 years ago. Sooner or later they will figure out they better start changing some things.... Until they do, I will spend my money in Ohio.
There are folks who simply have no other choice but Sunday to hunt, primarily due to work schedules, but other obligations come to play as well too. Simply "finding time" isn't an option for many folks I know; Sunday is potentially the only day they have off and that's the way it is. I take some vacation time to hunt, but I have 4 1/2 weeks of vaca' to play with and too many others don't have that luxury. There's no getting around that. I don't blame anyone for taking families on family vacations that don't involve hunting. My wife and daughter don't hunt and have no earthly interest in doing so. They'd be pretty po'd if myself and Junior took all available time to go hunting and left them sitting at home and I can't blame them for that.
Someone give me a legit reason not to hunt on Sunday and I'll support it's continued ban........So far no one has come up with ANYTHING - that's very telling. I try not to live my life outside the boundaries of reason, for which the "blue laws" have none.
I have a hard enough time hunting Saturdays with a hangover! I don't think I could do Sundays as well! LOL Seriously there isn't one good reason it should not be legal to hunt all game on Sundays!
Rut Nut.... amen brother. Well said.
Sunday hunting is permitted in 41 states. I see no reason it wouldn't work in Pa. Yes it's a choice, and there are people who would make that choice to hunt on Sunday. It's a personal choice.
Not a large % of the total hunters go out on Sundays....and most who do Sunday hunts make a short day of it anyways.
Saturdays have and always will be the biggest hunting day of the week....but Sundays do give some that little extra edge they may need.
Well said Perry, P.S. I like that name!
No excuse for not allowing Sunday hunting, like Rog said Blue Law, time to get in the right century.
I've said this before on here, way back when Ohio started to allow Sunday hunting you could only hunt Sunday's if you were related to the landowner or if you hunted public land. Oh it was going to be the end of the world, all the landowners were going to post their property how dare people hunt on the Lords day, why they could be watching football downing alcohol at the casino that day if they were true Christians! Lol
Well when the dust settled in just a few years everyone could hunt Sunday's and very few people could care less, as for the Lords day what could get you any closer to God then being in the woods if that's your thing? In all my years of hunting Ohio I always ask out of respect to the landowner if it's ok to hunt Sunday's, only one sweet little old lady said that she did not want me hunting on Sunday's so I hunted another farm down the road.
Mike
If ya would of had your purty little pink compound skirt on, Mike. I'm betting she would of left ya hunt.. :)
Mike- Maybe if you would've asked her while holding one of them stick bows, she might've mistaked it for a walking cane, felt sorry for ya, and left ya hunt :)
Just curious....what is the fine or penalty if you get caught hunting on Sun in PA??
So what you guys are tellin' me is the preacher gets to hunt six days a week while you work, no wonder he's smiling at you from the pulpit !!!!
Plan and simple. The guys that don't want to hunt on Sunday don't want us to hunt on Sunday.. Because us that would hunt on Sunday may kill their deer.. That's how I feel.. eD
God Bless ya, Teeton..........
huntinelk, far as I know there hain't no fine for hunting on Sundays......
I been doing it for years, and never got no fine... But then again, my bows shoot purty quiet.. :)
If RC's bow never gets a shot at a deer in the woods, does it make a sound?
TB
I am going to put up signs that say no hunting monday thru saturdays. Sunday hunting only.
I am going to put up signs that say no hunting monday thru saturdays. Sunday hunting only.
Exactly Perry! But hey, I'm just crying like a little girl! We should all just remain quiet and let the state government tell us what we can and can't do on Sundays. I attend church on Sunday and would continue to do so even if I could hunt Sundays...I just think we all deserve to make that choice for ourselves! Plus, my church has an 11am service so I may do both!
It's Sunday morning and I'm in a stand on the edge of a swamp in Ohio, good Lord what's the limit on ducks in Ohio? There are two guys a few hundred yards down the swamp who either cannot hit anything or have three times their limit. They must have shot two boxes of shells, and their calling sort of sounds like a dog trying to poop out a peach seed? SMH
P.S. If I were hunting squirrel I would have run out of arrah's an hour ago. Acorns everywhere, have not seen a deer yet!
Mike
Gonna go coyote hunting this afternoon. Isn't it the Steelers week to lose? LOL
Actually, I am thinking about joining the farm bureau, start to attend meetings, run for office or at least bitch and moan to them about it.
Just Hunt and worry about the fine later.. :)
Flatlander, Sunday hunting means opportunity for many.
You take your son out, which means you must be taking advantage of the mentored youth opportunity. That did not exist before 2006, yet you and others have made very good use of it, for the future of hunting.
Sunday hunting is the same. Increased opportunity, for the future of hunting.
We should be upset that we are the ONLY recreational user group that is discriminated against, on a Sunday. Hunting is a far safer pasttime than most, including horseback riding, swimming, soccer etc. Yet, we afre not allowed to participate in this family building and bonding experience, on a Sunday, for the vast majority of species.
Some may argue that "we don't need it".
That same argument could be used to remove the 2 weeks of archery in November. It could also be used to remove rabbit hunting or grouse hunting. Afterall, there is NO biological reason for archery hunting in November, or hunting bunnies or grouse.
Be careful, as a hunter, to make blanket statements about what is and isn't needed, you just might be working against your sport.
Before coming home from Potter County today, I would have loved to s[end 2 hours chasing grouse, on my own land, and it would not have effected anyone.
From: horsethief51 ........ ....... Date: 26-Oct-14
Actually, I am thinking about joining the farm bureau, start to attend meetings, run for office or at least bitch and moan to them about it.
LMBO Art!!!!!! Give 'em heck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Can anyone tell me why if you don't want to hunt on Sundays why you think I should not???
Just because some can find the time to hunt, dose not mean everyone can.. eD
Can anyone tell me why if you don't want to hunt on Sundays why you think I should not, either???
Anyone who says that Sunday hunting shouldn't be allowed because it's the Lord's day is forgetting that for practicing members of the Jewish Faith Saturday is the Lord's day and for other groups it's Friday so the argument could be made that it's religious persecution not allowing Sunday hunting.
Teeton and RC,
I'll tell you why! Because I'm skeered of my wife! She don't allow me to hunt now very much and if Sunday hunting was legal she wouldn't let me go then for sure! And then, someone else might shoot my buck while my wife leads me around on a leash to the malls on Sunday's !:)))
Ben
Well Ben, that ain't our problem.
Sounds like you need to grow a set. LOL
Hope you like malls. :)
Amos, Ben has wheels, not balls.. LMAO :)
RC, my wheels are in the shape of balls. Does that count?:))
If that's all the balls ya got then I guess so.. :) LOL
From: Teeton ........ ....... Date: 27-Oct-14
Can anyone tell me why if you don't want to hunt on Sundays why you think I should not???
Because this is PA, Ed! Never had SH for 150 bazillion years and we ain't gonna start now! ;-) TRADITION!!!!!!!!!!! Same reason we can't open rifle deer season on a Saturday so more folks can get out there!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMBO!!!!! :)
BTW, LMBO Ben!!!!!! I'm skeered of my wife too- she hides my doe tags on me!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
We got us some mean women rut!! LMAO!
Actually, for almost the first TWO HUNDRED YEARS of PA's existence, we had Sunday Hunting.
Only since 1874 has it been banned.
Amazing, William Penn and the Quakers had no problem with it. Penn banned horse racing, but not Sunday hunting.
Now, we have Sunday gambling and horse racing, but not Sunday hunting.
I guess hunting on Sunday is the only "vice" left.
One of the very best family bonding activities, is hunting. Not sure you can say that about gambling.....
Just got this message from a hunter with a young son.
"I said the heck with the sunday hunting ban last week.It's stupid,makes no sense and there's no shortage of treerats.My time is extremely limited and I have a kid that craves the outdoors.I caved into his peer pressure and said the heck with it.Call me an outlaw but if a few squirrels have to die in the pursuit of coyotes,so be it."
At the outdoor show last winter, a farmer from Westmoreland County came up to us and said he always hunts on Sunday's with his bow. About the only day he gets to hunt, between work and running his farm.
“If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law” ? Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
So, its been decided by public opinion that no Sunday hunting is unjust and a foolish law and a group decides to hunt on Sundays despite the regulations.
I wonder how that group of unlawful Sunday hunters would feel about another group who decide that bow season ending in November is unjust and that they are going to continue to hunt deer with a bow until April 1.
From the sounds of it, Thoreau and King would go for it.
"So, its been decided by public opinion that no Sunday hunting is unjust and a foolish law and a group decides to hunt on Sundays despite the regulations. I wonder how that group of unlawful Sunday hunters would feel about another group who decide that bow season ending in November is unjust and that they are going to continue to hunt deer with a bow until April 1.
From the sounds of it, Thoreau and King would go for it. "
Many of our laws and regulations make sense and deserve our obedience, others do not, it is the ones that do not make sense that are deserving of contempt from free men. In addition, when numerous lawful means of changing the stupid law are ignored, it is again an American Tradition to be disobedient. It is for each for each free man to decide.
From: Brad Gehman ........ ....... Date: 28-Oct-14
Actually, for almost the first TWO HUNDRED YEARS of PA's existence, we had Sunday Hunting. Only since 1874 has it been banned.
Thanks for the info, Brad- so Sunday Hunting has "only" been banned for 140 years???!!! ;-)
Hunting on the Sundays within the current 6 week season is a little different than hunting beyond the last day of the season.
Hunting on the Sundays within the current 6 week season is a little different than hunting beyond the last day of the season.
Civil disobedience. Sounds very familiar, as to how this country was established,from the very beginning.
I mentioned this on another similar thread, but I know several people that hunt on Sunday. And have been doing so for quite some time. Their reasoning is,they work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. Sunday is their ONLY chance to hunt. They hunt their own land and see nothing wrong, by doing so. They also said," I pay the taxes, I own it and I will not let some asinine law, dictate what I can or can not do, with which is mine". Hell. I've been invited many,many times, to do the same and have been given permission,to do so whenever I want.
I have not partaken in this opportunity. However, I FULLY, understand their reasoning.
Art,
Hunting on Sundays within the current 6 week season is considered hunting out of season.
Hunting beyond the last day of that 6 week season is also considered hunting out of season.
Both actions, as the law reads today, are illegal and punishable by fine and or loss of hunting privileges.
I understand the reasoning too. But it goes against my grain to willfully and knowingly break a law. But to be honest, the biggest deterent is potential loss of hunting privileges! I could not imagine what I would do if I could not hunt for a whole year(or more! ;-)
I hear ya Rut. My sentiments exactly.
Again I have to agree with Rut!
I know and understand the law Dave. Just stating the seasonal difference from hunting until April. The science already supports a longer archery season. Not much difference if they give us 5 or 6 Sundays or one more week.
I to am unlikely to break any law as I consider myself lawful, and out of respect for the landowners that allow me the privilege to hunt on their private property, as they certainly expect that I follow PA law while hunting. However, I am totally in favor of Sunday Hunting and can justify disobedience to this law especially on your own private land.
What I am wondering is regardless of if you would hunt on Sunday or Not, would you turn someone in who admits to hunting on Sunday? I would not. I would however turn in someone who was hunting deer in April, or shooting a buck with an in-line during the Oct. antlerless season. I would also turn someone in for hunting over bait. Basically, I would turn someone in for every willful violation I can think of except Sunday Hunting.
"What I am wondering is regardless of if you would hunt on Sunday or Not, would you turn someone in who admits to hunting on Sunday?"
You bet your a$$. With regard to game law violations, I don't pick and chose my ethics. Some may...I don't.
Ok Davey Boy. I hunt on Sundays, now what's ya gonna do son? :)
I'm gonna throw your Kubota keys down in the woods.
That'll put an end to your huntin'. :^)
I actually thought of another I would turn a blind eye to: hunting with Semi-Auto rifles. I think the law that prevents people from hunting with semi-autos is stupid as well and deserving of contempt.
