Nichols' call for Sunday bow hunting defeated[/align]By LILLIAN KAFKA[/align][email protected][/align]Friday, January 25, 2008[/align]
RICHMOND -- A House of Delegates subcommittee killed a Prince William County delegate's attempt to allow bow hunting on Sundays after hearing protests from farm and agricultural lobbyists.
"The reasons for [opposition] begin with faith, and they expand to those people such as horse riders who enjoy the woods on Sundays," said Wilmer Stoneman III, a lobbyist for the Farm Bureau of Virginia.
Del. Paul F. Nichols, D-Occoquan, called the Sunday prohibition of hunting on private property "outdated." He said he proposed the idea at the request of bow hunters who work Monday through Saturday.
His bill, HB 1456, would have allowed bow hunting on Sundays on private property for only two years. Before he heard the request, the delegate from suburban Washington, D.C., said he didn't even know Virginia prohibited hunting on Sundays.
"We've had this ongoing discussion about hunting on Sundays," said R. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, chairman of the subcommittee.
He joked and asked Nichols, "Boy, why'd you bring this bill to this committee?"
Katie Kyger Frazier, lobbyist for the Virginia Agribusiness Council, said the only day during hunting season that horse riders can ride in the woods without fear of coming into crossfire is Sundays.
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