WV season starting on Saturday?
 

I read in the Charleston Gazette that the higher-ups on the DNR want to start the season on the Saturday before Thanksgiving...

Their reasoning is that truancy to school and absence from work will be lessened. I think it's a hell of an idea myself. We need more young hunters, and this will only help.

Theonly glitch is that they want to run it on Sunday, too and get an exemption for that day. Surely this will meet opposition.

Sorry if this is old news...but what do you guys think?

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

being from MD I have always wondered why PA and WV start their seasons on Mon. I also wonder why none of the states in this area have Sun hunting. I think it would be great on both parts. I hear the reason they dont want to hunt on Sun is because it gives the nature lovers/non hunters a chance to enjoy public land during hunting season. Sooooo make it private land only DUH!!!

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

That would be nice to open the season on Saturday. I wouldn't have to take vacation days.
I do hunt on Sundays. In Hancock County it is legal to hunt on Sundays unless it is the day before the opening of a big game season.
I wish we could hunt in the city on weekends. Itsucks to only be able to hunt on weekdays. That leaves me withan hour or so after work.

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

How do you spell HALUELIAH!!! thank you thank you thank you!!! I hope this is true. We go to hunting camp on Friday before rifle season. It would be awesome to rifle hunt sat along with Monday-Weds.

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

Here's the story from the Charleson Gazette. Hate to say it, but if it goes to the voters, it will be shot down faster than a slow goose. Why does it have to go to the voters? It doesn't in other states...WV (as a whole) doesn't like change. Even when it's good.





January 16, 2007




Sunday hunting debate may resume in Legislature












By The Associated Press




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.

- advertisement -[/align]







[/align][/align]“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.

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

That would be pretty neat, would like to see PA go to Saturday as well.

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

Excellent idea, so long as they allow hunting on that Sunday as well. I agree with mossy, private lands only will dispose with any BS arguments about disrupting the enjoyment of public land. I haven't heard of any problems from all those states who allow Sunday hunting even on public land.

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

They dont want to disturb the nonhunters on sundays on public land. I could never figure that out what about the other 45 plus weeks they have when it isnt hunting season.:eek:

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

Bullmoose...you're 100% right about that. They can use that land for at least 8 months with no disturbance. Hunters get the other 4 (Oct-Jan) and they HAVE TO BUY A LICENSE.

I'd like some explanation on that one.

RE: WV season starting on Saturday?
 

This really says it all. Get it?? THe only counties that still have Sunday hunting are the ones whose citizens haven't got to vote on it. The rest of the idiots voted it down. It is really unbelievable to me how this happens, especially with excuses like the "thegunshots will drown out the preacher"---Dumb, DUMB Hillbillies.

I for one would be against allowing the rifle season to start on Saturday, Mainly because I love bowhunting that particular day, knowing that I have a chance for one last good hunt, before the"the gunshots drown out everything"--ha ha:D. I really do not care if many non-resident hunters go somewhere else as that article speculates. Perhaps if some of the money does "migrate" to some other state, maybe the same citizens that voted down Sunday hunting would see a reason to vote it back up again.

I know this thread wasn't specifically aboutSunday hunting, but that onesingle fiascospeaksvolumes toward any other reasonable"change" that has to endure the mindset of a public vote in this state.