by shaman » Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:44 am
The problem with Sunday no-hunting laws is they are horribly out of step with the rest of society. They date back to a time when those recently-mentioned Protestants thought it was a good idea to make mandatory church attendance an issue between you and the state. Failure to attend was punishable by imprisonment. Questioning the law was considered heresy, and a man could face excommunication and expulsion. By the way: they didn't believe in freedom to practice just any religion, just theirs. I've got kin from those times; let me tell you-- they switched to Methodism at the first opportunity.
I am not knocking any man's desire to show his love for God by putting aside a whole day in the week just for rest and worship. Any man who wants to put his rifle and bow up on the Sabbath has my respect. Just don't send the game warden out to lecture me on my piety.
What really boils my bunny about these laws is that they seem to be left on the books out of fear for what the anti-hunting community will say and do if there is a move made to repeal them. I watched what happened in our state -- Cheese and Rice! I think it took most of a decade of maneuvering with half-steps before Ohio could finally dump its Sunday restriction entirely. Along the way you had a few seasons where only close family members could hunt on private property of no less than so-many acres and you had to be able to prove kinship. Believe me, there were a lot of adopted brother-in-laws by the dead first wife out hunting on Sundays. What that did to promote wildlife and protect the public good is beyond me. I also seriously doubt a wildlife officer ever checked a birth certificate or went through a family bible with a fine-toothed comb.
Back in the old days in Ohio, I used to take off on Friday after work, drive 3 hours from Cincinnati to Hocking Hills, pitch a tent and go to sleep about 2300. At 0400 I was up, hunted Saturday from first light to last and then go back to my tent and flop. I might scout a little on Sunday, maybe move a stand, but the bow had to stay cased. I was back on the road by Noon, and rode back to town listening to the Bengals lose. In Spring, I did all this again for turkey, but I could only hunt until Noon on Saturday-- 6 hours of driving for 6 hours of hunting. When I finally got an invite to hunt Kentucky, which included Sunday, I was gone!
