Another perspective on Sunday

I see all of these threads on many different boards and hear these same discussions all of the time.  I get frustrated as I feel the common approach for those that support Sunday hunting initiatives is flawed and the impact of the outcome is misunderstood by many.

The fact is the legislature has control of Sunday hunting in this state.  As I see it Sunday is but another day of the week and I see the whole issue as a seasons and bag limits issue which the PGC should have control over. 

It is also a fact that most sportsmen I talk to feel that if the legislature relinquishes control of Sunday hunting to the PGC, it is a mandate for Sunday hunting to be legal for all species in all existing seasons.   That is far from the case and even the PGC's own press secretary has expressed concern that Sunday hunting would have to be examined closely before any expansion would be appropriate. 

In order for the movement to get the legislature out of the business of controlling what days of the week we can hunt, the approach has to change.

-  The PGC must come out with a resolution supporting the legislature giving control of Sunday hunting to them.
- The PGC must inform the public that this would not mandate Sunday hunting for all species during all seasons and the PGC would carefully weigh the affects of any expansion.
- Sportsmen of this state must support the PGC resolution and let their legislators know it.
- Sportsmen's organizations must unite on the issue and present a united front to the legislature.
- The public must be informed of the process of how the PGC initiates change and the public must feel free to voice their opinions at BOC meetings.
- Everyone must recognize that having the legislature relinguish control to the PGC only changes the focus to the PGC for instituting change and gathering public input.

There are huge misconceptions out there on many fronts.   Let me make one point clear especially.  Hunters must underdstand that this is not a mandate for Sunday hunting.   By supporting this purposed resolution, it is only support for the PGC having control of it.  That is something that all sportsmen should support if they understand the issue. 

I understand the hunters will be split on expansion of Sunday hunting as a whole.  Most polls run 50/50.  These polls have a fatal flaw.  That being that many responders are basing their vote on Sunday hunting being legal for all species and seasons. We must change the approach if anything is going to happen.  It cannot be focused on this Sunday hunting mandate as it seems to be.  It must focus on who should have control and nothing more and why it is important for this to not be a legislative issue as it is a seasons and bag limits issue. 

ORIGINAL: MuskyMastr

However, I can tell you now that the PGC has damaged thier credibility so badly with the sportsmen of the clubs I represent, that they no longer have faith in the ability of the PGC to use the power wisely.

 
It is a problem, Musky, that I am not blind too.  I guess the direction has to change.  Do we ask sportsmen who do they trust more to manage the wildlife resources and set seasons and bag limits, the PGC or the general assembly?  If they believe the general assembly can do it better, we have a much bigger problem looming. 

"It is a problem, Musky, that I am not blind too. I guess the direction has to change. Do we ask sportsmen who do they trust more to manage the wildlife resources and set seasons and bag limits, the PGC or the general assembly? If they believe the general assembly can do it better, we have a much bigger problem looming."

I think its crazy to expect anyone to support decisionmaking no matter how it effects them and doing so just to be politically correct.

When the general assembly is right, they are right and we should support their decision making. When pgc is right they are right and we should support theirs. Lately the general assembly as been more friendly to the hunters than pgc has. Clean out the riff raff at pgc and then we can talk about who it is appropriate to support or not...and probably even support some decisions that we may not agree with because we know theyd be done for the right reasons.

Till then its meaningless... Normally id agree, support the wildlife management agency. But not when they are proven to be enviro-flakes & counter to our interests with obtuse extreme agendas.


"we have a much bigger problem looming."


Yes youre right. See the eveland videos if you wanna see what the problems are. And people are turning to legislators because thats how the system was set up many moons ago, and they have no other alternatives.

Ohhh. The usual cast of characters. 3 in particular. VERY decietful and proven to be such. I guarantee you can guess two right off the bat. The third, i'll give you 41% odds of guessing. There most likely are more, but likely in positions of lesser influence and therefore less problematic.

I think you know some of the reasons which should be plenty. Though there are many. Cant really touch on without writing a book here, and it wouldnt accomplish much anyway other than slander. The appropriate people already know anyway. The problem is a "known" one, and its not some earth shaking "new" revelation being made here.

If you are intersted in a brief overview, Ask John Eveland.

Sorry, not meaning to hijack your thread. Though i think thoughts on Sunday hunting have already been made known by most on the other 2 or3 sunday hunting threads.

Here's a perspective on Sunday hunting I just learned first hand.  Since I couldn't hunt last Sunday I helped my old man move a ladder stand.  While cutting a shooting lane a stick hit me in my left eye and scratched it.  Still hurts today.  Later in the afternoon I was helping my uncle clear out room in his barn for the tractor this winter and I popped my back out of place.  Really worried that I was done for at least a few days we hurried home.  Kept stretching it out and trying everything I could think of to keep the spasms away.  Ended up working out OK this time thankfully.  Can't pull my bow back yet, but can climb a ladder stand.


Long story short, if we had Sunday hunting none of this would have happened.


To be serious, dpms, wayne, both good points.  I don't trust Harrisburg or the PGC.

Honestly, I was waiting for someone to point out how trivial the story was, so I could compare it to about half the concerns I've heard about Sunday hunting.

On a somewhat similar past experience, I lived in Indiana when the state legislature voted to go on daylight savings time.  Wow, you would have thought it was the end of the world.  Imagine if they voted to also change the area codes at the same time.

An example for PA would be having the firearms deer season open every year on December 1st and close on December 12.

Which is harder to remember..

the 1st Of December.. ????
which would mean it would be a different day every year..


or the 1st Monday after Thanksgiving.. ????
always on a Monday..

can't see any real reason to change what we have as far as the opening day for rifle season...

ORIGINAL: dpms

Nice pass, Wayne.  Ya need to be specific if you throw the stuff out there.  It is only slander if you choose to make it such.  Nothing wrong with discussing individuals or policies.

Shoot me a PM if you would rather go that route.  It is helpful to know where the resistance lies if folks want to make it better. 

Not sure why, but he never names individuals. He askes us to support his stance, but doesn't list those who are ruining it for us and how. The best you'll get is ,"Do some research and you'll see."

Wayne: You can PM me too and if you do and you name names, perhaps you can explain why you are so cloak and dagger about it.

hmmm....

For the record, no PM as of this morning

Check your box.



















Still nuttin'. lol.

dar, not doubting you but that just seems strange to run a season the way you say idaho does. it's just not specific enough and opening day can be all over the calendar during a given week. take for instance here in PA, opening day of trout is the first saturday after the 12th of april. if the 12th is a saturday, then opening day is the following saturday on the 19th. can't get more specific than that. New York deer season used to be the same way before it started on a Saturday. It was always the first Monday after the 17th of November. That's why for (I believe) 6 yrs in a row, it opened the Monday of thanksgiving week, but due to the calendar,if the 17th fell on a Saturday or Sunday, that next monday would be opening day (like the 19th or 20th), the week before thanksgiving. PA, goes without saying, always the same. if you really look at opening dates around the country, you could probably figure out the formula each state uses. that's why i always liked the NY state hunting guide. they would list opening days for specific seasons up to 3 yrs. in the future. they knew it would change every 6 or 7 yrs. perfect for me because at my job, we bid all of our vacation in November for the previous year.