By Bill Cochran
Butch Ammon might as well have been carrying a sign that said “The End Is Near!” considering all the attention he was getting at the weekend Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show.
The Richmond sportsman was wearing a t-shirt that he and his wife and daughter had designed. On the front was: “I Support Sunday Hunting. How About You?”
On the back was a list of things you can do on Sunday—fish, boat, Jet Ski, target shoot, play golf, tennis or baseball, go to football games, drink beer.” Then came the words, “But You Can Not Go Hunting.”
As Ammon moved through the record crowds at the Showplace in the Richmond area, most of the responses he received on the controversial issue of Sunday hunting were what he'd hoped to hear.
“A lot of people stopped me to talk to me and pat me on the back or give me a thumbs-up and basically make a ton of positive comments about Sunday hunting,” he said.
There were exceptions. When Ammon stood in line to buy a coke and hot dog a guy in back of him said, “You should be in church on Sunday.”
Said Ammon: “Yes, but we all should have a choice on whether or not we want to hunt on Sunday.”
That choice has been debated but shot down on a number of occasions during recent years, leaving Virginia one of seven states, all in the east, where most forms of hunting are ban on Sunday. Just this past General Assembly session, three bills that would have permitted at least partial Sunday hunting were killed.
But things appear to be changing:
>The governor says he favors an end to the ban.
>Several other states, including New York, Ohio and Michigan, recently have backed away from the prohibition of Sunday hunting with few apparent problems.
>There are national organizations, including the powerful NRA, who says people have a right to hunt on Sunday.
>The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has recognized that the time has come to discuss Sunday hunting, a subject it mostly has avoided in the past. A committee of its board is scheduled to discuss the issue at a meeting 3 p.m. next Monday.
The board is facing some constituents who are demanding more hunting opportunities following a significant boost in license fees. DGIF admits that Sunday hunting would have little biological impact on wildlife. It is a social or cultural issue.
One major question, would it boost hunting license sales and attract newcomers and nonresidents to hunting in Virginia? Or would it cause problems for hunters from landowners and other outdoorsmen who welcome a day free of hunting?
Viewed as one of the major hurdles to Sunday hunting, along with DGIF and the General Assembly, is the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, the sponsor of the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. And that's where Ammon and other advocates set up the past weekend.
Two groups were involved. Ammon was part of a group of deer hunters, mostly from the western end of the state, who rally around a Web site, www.vadeer.com . The other group, which had a booth at the show, was the Virginia Waterfowlers Association.
Both groups handed out “I support Sunday Hunting in Virginia” stickers. Vadeer.com stopped show visitors and asked them to take part in a poll. The reported result was 90 percent in favor of Sunday hunting.
Polls conducted by the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, as late as last year, have revealed that more than 60 percent of its members opposed Sunday hunting. Some sportsmen who advocate Sunday hunting say that the association has worded its question in a way that encourages a negative vote.
That is not the intent, said Denny Quaff, an association officer.
“I want to get a better feel for what people think,” he said.
With that in mind, he plans to expand the number of questions on Sunday hunting when the survey is circulated in the future. A hunter who would say “No” to Sunday hunting if only given that choice may say “Yes” to Sunday hunting that doesn't start until noon, he said.
When Ammon took his walking billboard to the booth of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association he said he met his stiffest opposition and was told that Sunday hunting would anger non-hunters and there are way more of them than hunters. The result could hurt hunting
This reveals that hunters themselves are sharply divided on the issue, and while it appears advocates of Sunday hunting are gaining ground they are a long way from victory.
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