Thursday, February 23, 2012
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Key players react to defeat of Sunday hunting in Virginia
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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Correction (Feb. 24, 2012: 9:30 a.m.): A previous version of this story stated the incorrect number of hunt clubs and their members represented by the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance. It also misstated the Virginia House subcommittee vote that killed Sunday hunting. | Our corrections policy
Now that Sunday hunting has been defeated in the 2012 Virginia General Assembly, what are the key players saying about this divisive issue? I asked several for their comments:
Butch Ammon became active in the push for Sunday hunting in 2006 when the movement had little funding or organization. He printed a pro-Sunday hunting logo on a T-shirt and wore it to an outdoor show in Richmond. It evoked positive comments and one near fistfight, making Ammon aware of how divided hunters are on the issue. Last week, Ammon’s wife hit a deer while driving to work. She is fine, but the car is in the repair shop. It happened the very day the General Assembly put to rest legislation that would have allowed Sunday hunting on private land. Ammon, who lives in Richmond, thinks the vehicle/deer crash and the defeat of Sunday hunting are related—too many deer; not enough opportunities to hunt them. He is steaming:
“I am shaking my head in bewilderment at the General Assembly still wanting to keep Virginia stuck in the 1890s. I am formally announcing that I am done hunting in Virginia. “That’s right, General Assembly. That’s right, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. That’s right, everyone. I’m done. Virginia has just lost a license-buying hunter. I will now go hunting on my sister’s and brother-in-law’s farm (in another state.)”
Kirby Burch is the force behind the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance. His lobbying skills giving the organization considerable clout in its goal to preserve the heritage of hunting with dogs. The alliance says it speaks for 650 hunt clubs with more than 60,000 members. It has been the bad boy of many blogs recently, taking heat for its leadership role in the defeat of Sunday hunting. Burch, who lives in Powhatan, foresees a backlash for hunters—especially hound hunters--if Sunday hunting is approved:
“We are being credited with defeating Sunday hunting when in truth we were only a small fraction of those that opposed it. They include the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia Agribusiness Council, the Virginia Horse Council and many others that make up the majority of registered voters in Virginia. We are being accused of taking something away from folks that they never had. What the group demanding Sunday hunting has managed to do is to stir landowners up to the point they are adding clauses to their leases that will terminate the lease for anyone hunting on Sunday.”
Matt O’Brian for the past two years has hosted the Facebook page “Legalize Virginia Sunday Hunting for All.” More than 3,000 people have signed on, but O’Brian’s early efforts, like Ammon’s before him, were short on funding and organization. That changed this session when the Virginia Sunday Hunting Coalition took the leadership role in the pro-Sunday hunting movement. O’Brian, who lives in the Suffolk, is elated over the progress Sunday hunting made this year:
“What an amazing accomplishment. With an organized push, we went from last year getting two votes to getting 29 in the Senate and to being stopped by only one vote in the House AG Subcommittee. We’ll see them next year, only stronger. Our argument only gets better as more people get involved and take the time to think about the lack of merit in the opposing position. We are already seeing more and more hound hunters leaving the VHDA saying, ‘Wait a minute, you don’t speak for us.’”
Sherry Crumley lives in Botetourt County and has been a long-time advocate of outdoor sports, especially programs that benefit women and youth. She has served as the board chairman of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and board member of the National Wild Turkey Federation. She signed on as co-chair of the Virginia Sunday Hunting Coalition:
“The House defeat was painful. The process was stacked against us from the beginning. We who support the issue were willing to compromise, but those who opposed Sunday hunting would not give an inch. Had the House leadership stepped up and enable the bill to get to the floor, we had the votes to pass it. The Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance and the Virginia Farm Bureau lobbied heavily against the issue. Perhaps the members of those groups who differ with their leaders should withdraw their membership and support.”
Del. James Edmunds is opposed to Sunday hunting, but he is far from being an anti-gun, anti-hunting advocate. From Halifax, he is a hunter, an NRA life member, a farmer whose conservation practices have won him numerous awards. He serves a rural area of Southside as a Republican member of the House and was on the subcommittee that killed Sunday hunting by a 6-1 vote:
“There is no one more concerned about the future of hunting than I am. Recruitment and retention of young hunters, in my view, tracks right with the availability, or lack thereof, of access to property to hunt. Adding seven- to 10-more days [Sundays] to the season won’t significantly increase hunter numbers or participation and will, in my opinion, create an ever further divide between hunters and non hunters.”
