Blue Laws
Shawn Swearingen for SPLIT REED
Growing up in the west, public lands and the freedom to hunt when and where we wanted, seasons, and permission allowed, were taken for granted. When I moved to Virginia in 2008, I never would have thought a day would have been banned from hunting recreation or that the law would even still be on the regulation books. “Blue laws” were enacted to ensure participation in churches on Sundays, or at least that was the intent. While Virginia is the most recent state to make the switch to fully allow hunting on Sundays, hunters in Maryland, Maine, South Carolina, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania still aren’t permitted to roam the marshes on Sundays.
Virginia started testing the waters with hunting on Sundays in 2014, but only on private land and a certain distance from places of worship. The expansion passed by the legislature this year opens all public lands that normally allow hunting the other 6 days of the week. There has been marginal progress in Maryland for example, experimenting with deer hunting on a limited number of Sundays during the season as is Pennsylvania. South Carolina allows some Sunday hunting on private land only. Its direct neighbor to the north had the state’s Wildlife Resource Commission vote to approve Sunday hunting last year, yet much work remains to open up Sunday hunting. Canada has also recently seen an opening of Sunday hunting in Newfoundland and Labrador.
There are some arguments that can be made for the benefit of a closed day of hunting or a ‘day off’ for the birds. Presently, the migratory Canada goose season is a 30-day, one-bird-per-day season in the Atlantic Flyway. Take Maryland which does not allow Sunday hunting. The ‘blue laws’ eliminate 6 days from that 30-day season which are then added to the shoulders of the season so that there are no lost days. This equates to 20% of the season that is shifted around.
If a rest day is needed for the birds, a day can be selected sometime during the week. Arrangements or zoning regulations between state wildlife officials can situate it so that it wouldn’t count to the totality of the season.
“Public marshes are too crowded already” can also be heard. Distilling down the number of opportunities for ‘weekend warriors’ to one day out of the weekend concentrates that activity on both public and private land. Optimal weather or not, if that Saturday is the only day of the week in which they get out, the hunters will be there. The lack of opportunity, along with urban expansion in these states only exacerbates the issue.
Groups like Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), Safari Club International (SCI), Delta Waterfowl Foundation, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and others came together in Virginia to push for the opening of Sunday hunting in 2014 and again in 2022.
“Capital BHA was proud of our lobbying efforts on SB8 alongside our partners in conservation. The core of our efforts was connecting constituents with their legislators and giving them a platform to voice their support for Sunday hunting on public lands,” said Isaac Weintz, Board member of the Capital BHA chapter who was instrumental in the effort. “This legislation brings many strong aspects to public lands hunting in expanding equitable access and economic activity primarily in rural communities. We hope that the success in Virginia will pave the way for other hunters in blue law states to overturn these dated laws.”
Dismantling ‘blue laws’ is another example of why hunting groups like this matter more than ever across the states (and federally), to be an organized voice for us. BHA, SCI, and others accomplished removing the Sunday hunting ban in Virginia. It is time to make sure blue laws are gone for good in the rest of the states.
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