no hunting on sundays

[ROTTnBRITT]

Wish they would hurry up and change this law in Pa. What other states are this way?

[buckshot0074]

NY used to be, they opened Sundays about 10 years ago hoping to increase the number of hunters (money from selling more licenses)

[birddogger]

That is one of the most ridiculous laws I have ever heard of, but I guess the law makers [government] know better than we, what is the best for us. :roll:

Charlie

[Pryor Creek Okie]

West Virginia is the same way. I just moved out here last month, and I was shocked to find out I couldn't hunt on Sundays.

[DougB]

It could be worse. You can not buy beer on Sundays in MN.

[birddogger]

It could be worse. You can not buy beer on Sundays in MN.

Yep, that's another one.

Charlie

[Pryor Creek Okie]

It could be worse. You can not buy beer on Sundays in MN.

I wouldn't need beer on Sunday if I was hunting. This law is going to turn me into an alcoholic!

[Elroy's Bandit]

I believe the laws were originally designed to force husbands to attend church and spend time with the family. I know here in Chicago (Cook County) they have had the "no alcohol on Sunday before noon" law on the books since the 40's and it was designed to assure that bars would not open until the last mass let out. I believe it is only Chicago as`cook county might have repealed it some time ago.
Remember when Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years , Easter everything was shut down? Major cities were ghost towns except for families driving to grandmas house etc. As a kid I remember how nice it was having all the adults around and it made the holiday special. Now my own kids end up working on these holiday's due to all the retail being open. Maybe this country would benefit from say Sunday being family day and everything stops except family stuff.
I would consider hunting a family thing It might help to get the "family" structures back on track. Sorry, I'm getting off the point a bit and this is just my opinion.
Bill L.

[Ruffshooter]

Maine: STill trying to get Sunday hunting allowed and passed even just on a small game/bird hunting and archery just leaving out deer, moose, and bear with a gun.

Drives me nuts, I should be able to hunt private land, my land, cooperate land/paper company land if they each, allow it.

Rick

[Greg Jennings]

I just don't want the gov't, which really means other people, telling me how I should be spending time with the family. That's what it boils down to. A bunch of people forcing their ideas on us.

I don't want other folks...and keep in mind that's what the gov't is a proxy for other people...telling me how to spend time with my family, if/what flavor of religion to practice, if I can eat a hamburger and fries, etc. as long as I'm not hurting someone else.

[prairiefirepointers]

I believe the laws were originally designed to force husbands to attend church and spend time with the family. I know here in Chicago (Cook County) they have had the "no alcohol on Sunday before noon" law on the books since the 40's and it was designed to assure that bars would not open until the last mass let out. I believe it is only Chicago as`cook county might have repealed it some time ago.
Remember when Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years , Easter everything was shut down? Major cities were ghost towns except for families driving to grandmas house etc. As a kid I remember how nice it was having all the adults around and it made the holiday special. Now my own kids end up working on these holiday's due to all the retail being open. Maybe this country would benefit from say Sunday being family day and everything stops except family stuff.
I would consider hunting a family thing It might help to get the "family" structures back on track. Sorry, I'm getting off the point a bit and this is just my opinion.
Bill L.

You could be right on.. Sunday is supposed to be a sabbath day, a day of rest according to the bible. It states that no work shall be done.... However Im sure his intentions wern't to cut out camraderie amongst family and friends afield. I hafta admit, that it would really suck if I couldn't hunt on Sundays. I had never heard of any state having that rule until now. I feel your pain!

[BigShooter]

One definition of a church is a "body of believers". That doesn't require a building with set hours for worship. Personally, spending time with friends and family during hunting weekends has been some of the highest quality time ever spent. Those times carry some of the most intense memories. I cannot speak for others but many a time I have worshipped in my own way while away from man-made Cities while in the midst of what I would call divine splendor.

In MN, WI, IA, ND, SD (States I'm most familiar with), the quickest way to get removed from political office would be to suggest closing hunting on Sundays.

[Greg Jennings]

You could be right on.. Sunday is supposed to be a sabbath day, a day of rest according to the bible.

That entirely depends on the denomination. Quite a few Christian denominations hold Saturday to be their Sabbath. Some have Saturday to be the Sabbath and Sunday to be "Resurrection Day". Some others hold that Saturday or Sunday holds no special signficance as a day of rest...that "Every day is God's day". Some denominations have "Holy Days of Obligation" in addition to Sundays. That's not even starting to talk Judaism or other religions.

What if someone voted in that you couldn't wear a moustache, your hair couldn't cover any part of your ears (had this one happen to me...), you couldn't wear a belt and could only wear one suspender, what size the windows on your house could be...more importantly that your daughter couldn't go to school, your son had to quit school after the 8th grade.... All those are firm beliefs of various Christian denominations in the U.S.

Hence, my post about other people legislating if/how to practice religion.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking Christianity. Just don't want anyone trying to force their particular flavor of it on me and mine.

Greg J.

[prairiefirepointers]

please dont read too much into that statement and twist it out of it's intended context. I was just saying that it does state in the book that sunday is a day of rest, and Maybe when the law that this post is refering to was enacted, that was there intention. Who Knows what their true intention was. I guess if you did enuf digging and question asking you might be able to find out.

I could care less what branch of religion one worships, and I certainly am not out to thwart anyones beliefs.. However I had a feeling that If I posted anything about God, someone was going to post something like that.

[Greg Jennings]

please dont read too much into that statement and twist it out of it's intended context. I was just saying that it does state in the book that sunday is a day of rest, .

Find where it says *Sunday* is a day of rest and I'll send you a crisp $100 bill....

[prairiefirepointers]

Funny how the second I logged off you replied.. You are right there (And I don't have to look that up to know) It states' the 7th day. However, I don't know how you number YOUR days of the week, but the 7th day of my week is Sunday.

My appology RottNBritt, I didn't mean for my statement to turn your thread.

[Greg Jennings]

Read Matthew 28:1. It was the first day of the week. You might also want to read Acts chapter 13 in which the early church worshipped on both Saturday and Sunday.

That was according to the Jewish 7-day-week calendar. That calendar later prevailed over the Roman 8-day-week calendar.

More generally, you might generally also want to read up on "Blue Laws".

Comparative Religion. Loved that class.

Greg J.

[prairiefirepointers]

Once again, Correct. The 1st day of the week according to the bible is Sunday.

As far as the first day of the work week, most would agree (I think) that Monday is the 1st day, sunday the 7th day. Since our "business days" are scheduled as M-F most label Sunday as the "Lords Day" and associate it with a day of rest (if they acknowledge it). If the intention of the law "no hunting on Sunday" had anything to do with religion, it makes sense to me that they would not allow it on Sunday. I don't agree with it, but it seems logical enuf.

As far as comparitive religion, that wouldn't be for me. Im down with whatever a person believe's as long as they belive in the Lord, Jesus Christ. I run into enuf non-believers and skeptics that like to shoot holes in anything a person mentions religon-wise. I see enuf in the news every time I turn it on. Islam compared to Christianity.. I learned everything I needed to learn about islam on 9-11.

Then we have whack-jobs like Fred Phelps here in Kansas. :roll: Boy I love hearing his "interpretations" of the bible.

Greg- I went back and re-read my posts.. I was wrong to say the sabbath day is Sunday. I had just read thru this in my bible about a week ago, so I went back to find it for clarification. In Exodus 35.1

Instructions for the sabbath- Then moses called together the whole community of Israel and told them, "These are the instructions the Lord has commanded you to follow. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the lord.

*edited to add content*

[BigShooter]

Lets just say many of us can agree we don't want any day of the week designated as a day we cannot use to pursue an outdoor activity as long as we are not, as Greg says, "hurting someone else".

[Elroy's Bandit]

I was only stating what I understood to be the reason for certain laws in the Chicago area from way back in the 1940's. I would suspect that using Chicago as an example there probably was a large number of Roman Catholics in the city, hence the Sunday thing with serving alcohol....or maybe it was the Irish/Catholic population
I think Sundays & Hunting makes for a fine "family" day myself...was only adding a bit of local history to the noon on Sunday thing, wasn't attempting to excommunicate any religions.
As far as the government involvement regarding how or when you spend time with your family.....you must remember that when these types of laws were passed State Senators, Governers, and Mayors were actually part of the communities and not a bunch of "elitists". They lived in the neighborhoods and were part of the local schools, churches. etc....They actually had the pulse of the community in that era.......it's a lot different today.
Bill L.

[BigShooter]

Hey Bill, the rest of us old farts knew exactly where you were coming from. My family's only been here since the 1850s. It's all my wife's family's fault. Her dad was Irish Catholic & on her mom's side her eighth great grandfather was the pilot of the Mayflower. She's used that "on Sundays you should be home with your family" club on me for 36 years. Funny thing is we have four sons and they were always with me hunting together as a family on Sundays! We always invited her to come with us but that never happened. It was one of those deals where she got her gun safety certificate, went grouse hunting & fishing with me before, but not after, we were married.

[birddogger]

I just don't want the gov't, which really means other people, telling me how I should be spending time with the family. That's what it boils down to. A bunch of people forcing their ideas on us.

I don't want other folks...and keep in mind that's what the gov't is a proxy for other people...telling me how to spend time with my family, if/what flavor of religion to practice, if I can eat a hamburger and fries, etc. as long as I'm not hurting someone else.

This is what I am saying!!!!

Charlie

[3Britts]

Finally, a thread that made me smile today.
Since I don't hunt on Sunday anyway, I really don't care.
I just thought that I would get on here and offer you all a figurative hanky.
Go ahead, blow.

[Greg Jennings]

I grew up east of Nashville. It was a dry county. TN still has dry counties. What would the Puritans, who stopped at Plymouth because they were out of beer, have thought? Craziness!

[4dabirds]

just a correction new york was split into three zones northern southern and western,it was only the western zone that was no sunday hunting . Now you can hunt the whole state on sunday. Last year i hunted in conn. . I took my 14 year old son and his friend , saturday morning i went to get liscences.The agent (local bait and tackle shop) told me he cannot issue junior liscences only the town clerk can do this on weekdays. I hunted sat. and did not see a bird. Then after hunting sun with no success i decided to read the guide. Guess what? NO SUNDAY HUNTING. I was hoping to do a weekend in Maine this year till i found out no sunday hunting.I will stay in N.Y.this year!

[remmy]

You can hunt Sunday in NY a lot longer than 10 years. Like was said the state is broken up into 3 zones. Here in NJ they just passed Sunday bowhunting for the first time...that's a start. Now we need Sunday hunting for anything with any anything.

[redman25]

I just don't want the gov't, which really means other people, telling me how I should be spending time with the family. That's what it boils down to. A bunch of people forcing their ideas on us.

I don't want other folks...and keep in mind that's what the gov't is a proxy for other people...telling me how to spend time with my family, if/what flavor of religion to practice, if I can eat a hamburger and fries, etc. as long as I'm not hurting someone else.

This is what I am saying!!!!

Charlie

We were all born with a God given right to free will. I do not hurt others with my actions unless it's in defense of myself or the ones I love. I will not stand for anyone or any establishment dictating what I can and cannot do as it pertains to my life. Every law written onto paper other than the 10 laws handed down to Moses in the Old Testament are absolute hogwash, and nothing more than ramblings of a society that is dissatisfied with itself. Law itself is a prison without walls.

[ROTTnBRITT]

Well that was an interesting read.

Ive been to Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio deer hunting. Each of those states allowed hunting on sundays. I guess if I can hunt, It is still legal to run the dogs on sundays. That will suffice, since Im really not to worried about the kill, I just want to see my dog hunt and for him to get the experience.

[BigShooter]

RnB,

Funny you should mention deer hunting. That is the one time in the fall when we avoid running our dogs in MN & ND, even with blaze orange vests on. We don't want any of our dogs shot. Deer hunting is generally a big deal & many deer hunters would be pretty po'd if they thought your dog or your bird hunting interferred with their deer hunting. It's also a tough time of the year to get permissions to hunt private land.

[prairiefirepointers]

RnB,

Funny you should mention deer hunting. That is the one time in the fall when we avoid running our dogs in MN & ND, even with blaze orange vests on. We don't want any of our dogs shot. Deer hunting is generally a big deal & many deer hunters would be pretty po'd if they thought your dog or your bird hunting interferred with their deer hunting. It's also a tough time of the year to get permissions to hunt private land.

Ditto.. Back before I had all private / leased ground to hunt, I stayed home or waterfowl hunted during Rifle Season. I know there are alot of good responsible deer hunters out there, but I've had WAY too many run ins with complete idiots & loose cannons. Even on my private ground. Story time...

About 10 years ago when i was 22, I had this really nice 80 that was nestled up against Public hunting ground and the Ninnescah River. I had chased this guy out a few days before who was on the wrong side of the fence by 50-60 yards and hunting where he knew he shouldn't be. He was a scroungy looking fellow, unkept, hair deshoveled, old army fatigues and hunting with a SKS.. (I'm sure you now have a mental picture) I was nice and told him this was my ground and over there was public hunting. He left, kinda begrudgingly. Interestingly enuf, my buddy and I recognized this fellow, as he was living in a primitive camping area along the river about 1/4 mile from where my parrents live (he had been for a couple weeks). Weird.. Ron, My friend who was with me wanted to call and report the trespass, and I didn't.. He said "well, if you're not, then I will" and so he called and made a report to our local KDWP NRO. They visited him, checked him out thoroughly and warned him from my understanding) The next weekend I had a hunting party of about 8 guys (including Ron, again) and we walked down to this patch of grass along the fence at the same spot to line up and hunt.. This same guy is sitting crouched down in a pile of old fenceposts he had made into a "teepee-like" deer blind. I came unglued. He just sat there thinking "we couldn't see him". There was 8 of us with guns, and angry. He left and crossed the fence, & headed off thru the trees as we watched ominously. He got into the trees and about 5-10 yards out in front of the line of us hunters and rattled off a couple shots thru his SKS at us that went zinging thru the grass in front of us. Nice. Just Great. We even had a couple youngsters with us. :roll: Ron immediately called 911 and I called a good friend of mine who I usher with at church that just happens to be the head of KDWP @ Cheney Lake. They were waiting for him when he got back to his camp, & weirdo went to jail, and all was good. Nobody got hurt. However, I'll never forget that experience though! And I dang sure don't hunt anywhere near public hunting during deer season anymore!!!!

[BigShooter]

If it weren't for being able to hunt on Sundays many of us would be unable to get much hunting in because we are part of the group "affectionately" known as weekend warriors. Our cities are too far from good hunting to make day trips only and we'd hate to have to use up a lot of our vacation trying to work around no sunday hunting.

One Sunday while hunting the "big woods" of Minnesota a nice buck ran across a ridge about 100 yards away. I did not take the shot. Afterwards I walked over to the spot on that ridge where I would have had a shot at the deer. Looking straight back I saw a fellow in an elevated tree stand on the next ridge. From my original position that fellow would have been perfectly in line with a bullet fired by me at that running deer. I never took the original shot because I couldn't determine where my bullet would end up if I had missed the deer. Thank goodness that "never shoot unless you know your bullet will only land someplace safe" concept was burned into my brain by my father and the gun safety course I took as a youth!

There are way too many rifle shooters that don't think or care about where their bullet could end up and take risky shots anyway. I know, I've heard the bullets whizzing by.

[Birddogz]

Actually "Sun" day was taken from Pagans. The Sun was one of their most powerful Gods. The Emperor Constantine was a smart politician. When he saw that Christianity was spreading, he blended it with pagan rituals and beliefs so as to satisfy both sides.

There should also be NO influence on law by religion in this country. No alcohol and hunting on Sundays is silly. What is really strange, is that some of the Eastern states still hold onto that. One would think the mid-west and south would be the states that would follow these dinosaur laws, but they don't as much as the east does.

[Greg Jennings]

Did you see my post on dry counties in the South? (Keep in mind that I'm a Southerner...).

Never a problem with hunting on Sunday in the South. Alcohol is a different story, though. For the sake of complete disclosure, I'll say that dry counties are mostly only in rural areas. There are still a bunch of cities that don't allow alcohol sales on Sunday or before Noon on Sunday. I understand having no sales within certain distance of a school, but I just don't understand the frequent limitation on sales within a distance of a church. I just don't get it.

[Birddogz]

Nothing to get, it is just wrong.

[BigShooter]

I just don't understand the frequent limitation on sales within a distance of a church. I just don't get it.

That proabably came about because parishioners didn't want to be hassled by drunks on their way to church and the ministers wanted the winos to have to listen to a sermon before getting their alcohol at the communion rail!

[3Britts]

If it weren't for being able to hunt on Sundays many of us would be unable to get much hunting in because we are part of the group "affectionately" known as weekend warriors. Our cities are too far from good hunting to make day trips only and we'd hate to have to use up a lot of our vacation trying to work around no sunday hunting.

One Sunday while hunting the "big woods" of Minnesota a nice buck ran across a ridge about 100 yards away. I did not take the shot. Afterwards I walked over to the spot on that ridge where I would have had a shot at the deer. Looking straight back I saw a fellow in an elevated tree stand on the next ridge. From my original position that fellow would have been perfectly in line with a bullet fired by me at that running deer. I never took the original shot because I couldn't determine where my bullet would end up if I had missed the deer. Thank goodness that "never shoot unless you know your bullet will only land someplace safe" concept was burned into my brain by my father and the gun safety course I took as a youth!

There are way too many rifle shooters that don't think or care about where their bullet could end up and take risky shots anyway. I know, I've heard the bullets whizzing by.

Just have to respond to this one.
I spent 7 years living no MN and never found a city that was more than an hour away from good hunting.

[BigShooter]

Yup,

Lots of good hunting in Minnesota. It'd be a little tough though if all of the hunters in Twin Cities (total pop. approximately 3.5 million) were trying to hunt within an hour of the City limits. It'd even be bad fighting the traffic on Saturdays with a lot of hunters trying to get back & forth on day trips if they couldn't hunt on Sundays.