Thursday, January 10, 2008
Two shots for Sunday hunting
Bill Cochran
Recent mail
BILL: As a board member of Project Healing Waters, I would like to thank you for your support on the issue of fishing license (see last week’s Cochran Column). You have a young man named Josh Williams who has been through our program and lives outside of Roanoke. He lost his arm but has turned out to be one fine fisherman.
We hope to start a chapter in Roanoke this year. I hope you will become involved and meet some really special people.
JOHN BASS
BILL: I want to thank you for the exposure you’ve given to the subject of Sunday hunting in Virginia. I’m not sure if anyone knows the best method to have the ban on Sunday hunting lifted
I recently e-mailed Gov. Kaine and asked if the ban was unconstitutional. I received a response letter from L. Preston Bryant Jr., Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources, who stated that he knew of no reason that the ban was unconstitutional.
It would appear to me, for a number of reasons, that banning hunting on Sunday is unconstitutional. For one, I can find no other legal activity that has a similar restriction.
Bryant also wrote that the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries had no position on the issue. I have read posts from the DGIF on their own Web site that state they have always taken the position that there is no biological reason to ban Sunday hunting. The department further states that Sunday hunting is a social issue. They even mention that allowing Sunday hunting could have a positive financial impact.
I wonder if the legal staff at the Roanoke Times/Roanoke.com may have an interest in writing their opinion regarding the constitutionality of Virginia’s Sunday hunting laws?
TONY RUTHERFORD
Virginia Beach
BILL I was shocked by my 17-year-old son this morning. He woke me up around 5 a.m. He normally sleeps several hours past 5. I immediately thought something was wrong. It was and it wasn’t. I’ll clarify that later.
I asked him what he needed. He said, “Come on Dad, let’s go behind the house and do some squirrel and rabbit hunting.”
We have about 50 acres in Chesterfield County. He had gotten a new .22 rifle for Christmas and was anxious to get out in the woods and try it out. I got up and made a little breakfast. I insisted that he be quiet and not wake the others up. I sipped some coffee while we talked about where we’d go. I told him I’d bring my shotgun in case we saw a deer.
The kid was so excited. He is a high school junior who’s always been on the honor roll. He grew up attending church and going to Sunday school. He played tuba in the church orchestra. He’s just a good kid, responsible and respectful, the kind that would make any parent proud. Next December he will be old enough to carry a weapon and defend his country.
But, honestly, his excitement to get out in the woods was kind of annoying. He reminded me of me, asking if I had everything I needed.
We were all set to go and I told him I needed to let his Mom know what we were going to do. I walked into the bedroom and leaned over to kiss my wife and tell her we were going hunting for a few hours. She said, “Have fun and be safe.” I was almost out of the bedroom when she made that dreaded statement. “You can’t hunt today. It’s Sunday.”
I could feel the blood rush from my face when I heard those words. I just knew my son was gong to be so disappointed. “You’re right,” I said “We’ll just go out and do a little plinking then.”
I walked into the kitchen where my son was. He could tell from the expression on my face that something was wrong. He asked, “What’s the matter?” I told him that we wouldn’t be able to hunt today. He asked why. I told him I had forgotten it was Sunday. He said, “But Dad, it’s our own property. You can hunt on Sunday on your own property, right Dad?” I said, “No, Son, not even on your own property.” I told him we could still go out and pretend that we were hunting. We could do some plinking. He said that he could pretend to hunt on the computer.
He couldn’t understand what’s wrong with hunting on Sunday, especially on your own property. I couldn’t even explain why because I don’t understand it. He said this is crazy and got on the computer. I asked what he was doing. He told me, research.
That was odd -- research on Sunday while on Christmas break? I asked research about what? He said, “Research about hunting on Sunday.” He spent hours online. After he was finished I asked what he found. He said that he found that hunting was the only activity that was illegal in Virginia on Sunday. He made a statement that I’d have to agree with. “The law is unfair only to hunters and needs to be changed.”
MATT
Chesterfield
