Sunday hunting debate may resume in Legislature
Source: wvgazette.com, by The Associated Press
January 16, 2007
West Virginia lawmakers could reopen the debate over Sunday hunting after the state’s natural resources chief suggested moving up the annual deer season’s start to a weekend instead of a Monday.
Giving hunters Saturday and Sunday at the season’s opening could curb truancy from work and school, Director Frank Jezioro told the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Monday.
Youths routinely skip classes when the season opens, while some adults practically dare their bosses to fire them by taking those initial weekdays off to enter the woods, he said.
“That’s how deeply seated the hunting tradition is in West Virginia,’’ Jezioro said. “As much as I want kids to hunt, why should they jeopardize their education?’’
Lawmakers allowed counties to hold elections on whether to allow Sunday hunting on private lands in 2001. All 41 that put the question on their ballots the following year voted to ban it. Sunday hunting on public property is illegal in all 55 counties.
Jezioro recommended exempting only that opening Sunday. He noted that neighboring Ohio and Virginia have moved up their deer seasons, luring potential hunters away from the Mountain State. By accommodating most adults’ work schedules, Jezioro also said a change would appeal to hunters who often feel they miss out on choice game by waiting until subsequent weekends to hunt.
“There are an awful lot of pluses to it, for this one Sunday,’’ said Jezioro, an avid hunter and the author of books on the sport. “It’s a workable plan.’’
Sen. Shirley Love, D-Fayette, predicted that the proposal will meet the resistance reflected in the 2002 voting. While counties with sizable tracts of public land might consider it, most largely consist of privately held property, he noted.
“Some counties will say, ‘You can’t have hunting with a .30-06 going off during church services,’’’ Love said.
But Love added that allowing hunting on that Saturday could ease the chronic school attendance problems seen during the season’s annual start.
“Usually, kids don’t hunt but one day,’’ Love said.
Hunting is a multimillion-dollar industry in West Virginia, with about 11 percent of the state’s 1.8 million residents owning a hunting license. Hunters killed 136,289 deer in the state, or 928 more than the previous year, during the 2006 season that ran from Nov. 20 to Dec. 2.
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