Maineguide5424

Adam,
You can rest easy, that has been thrown out.

adams

I'm glad to hear. I hadn't heard an update on that in a while. I was begining to worry about the implications of having an anti as the commissioner of the DIF&W.

vtbuckrulrss

i have only recently, in the past few years, been able to hunt in Maine. i like it enough that i plan on going every year now. however, in my opinion, it is quite ridiculous to not be able to hunt on sundays in that state. i don't buy that same old cock and bull story about the landowner is kind enough, and they are, to allow us to hunt their property, the least we can do is let them have a day or rest. well, i tell you what, i work five days a week, doing concrete work, and during the busy parts of the year, i work on saturdays. many times i work late, sometimes as late as one in the morning, after starting at six in the morning. now, working on a schedule like that, just when exactly would you like to let me hunt? i have a job where i actually NEED to be able to hunt on a sunday if i want to have a decent chance at bagging my game. and you know i am not alone. most guys i know do not get to hunt after work in the middle of the week, so to me that is the landowners down time, and if guys do hunt after work, most of the time they are bowhunting, not rifle hunt. and i don't know about you, but i have yet to see see any organized type of drive involving bowhunters yet, which of course is illegal in Maine, nor have i heard the shot from any bow other than my own. so exactly what kind of disturbance is being created during the work week? wake up Maine, it is about more than the money from tags, it is about giving the ordinary hunter a fair shake at participating in the sports that they enjoy, by granting them a few extra days. and if these crybabies want to post their land, fine, let them. that indicates to me that they probably were only looking for an excuse to close their borders in the first place.
Pat

Strange Biller

I'd have to see a little more evidence that landowners, guides and whoever else was listed are against this. Just because you, MaineGuide, are against this, doesn't mean all guides are against it. I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm just asking for some back-up of a pretty sweeping statement.

As a Mainer living in exile, I would welcome this law. As it is, I get a maximum of three to five days of hunting in Maine each year - those three Saturdays would come with an additional three Sundays for me if this went through.

Maineguide5424

It was a PUBLIC hearing at the state house in Augusta. The 4 organizations I named stood up and spoke against it.

Now we have one from Mass. and one from Vermont telling the Maine landowners what to do with their land. And what do you mean they were looking for an excuse to post their land. They don't NEED an excuse, it's theirs!
Does that crappy job of yours give you a vacation? That's when you hunt!

vtbuckrulrss

i don't think that i was telling the landowners what to do with their land, it is their's, and because of their generosity in allowing people to hunt their land i am able to hunt freely here and in maine. however, let's have a little common sense come into play here: most hunting occurs on the weekends, in general. this is when most of us have time off. now, as far as having one day of peace and quiet, let's face it, just how much could people actually be getting disturbed in the midle of the week by hunters? VERY little. they are working too, for christ's sake! from an economic standpoint, as a guide, you should be supporting, not fighting the change. i know that i would want to have any guide i might hire fighting for me increased opportunity to hunt, not fighting against me. i would be sceptical about hiring them, that is for certain, because i would question just how much they want to work for the hunter. i guide people for turkey down here. it is pretty simple: the more days afield that hunters get, the more money that i can get. if land is posted, there is always more that is open down the road. you adjust, there is always a new, perhaps better spot to be found. if you get stuck in a rut hunting the same spots without exploring you are cheating yourelf, and your hunters. as someone else mentioned, if an increase in hunter days may somehow adversely affect the population, shorten the season by an eqivolent number of days, that should help. there is not a single person in the world that could give me a rational reason to not hunt on a sunday. as far as work goes, yeah, the hours can suck. they consider our vacation period to be from roughly the middle of december to the middle of april, and god forbid if you try to take of time other than that period, standard thing in this industry.

Charlie P

If they did legalize hunting on Sunday you could still keep your buisness just the way it is. The guy that works all week that wants to hunt on Sunday would be able to. What's wrong with that?

ruffed-grouse

That does make a handy excuse MaineGuide and certainly does instill fear in those dependent on others for a place to hunt, but if you look around, there appears to be a complete lack of any evidence that Sunday hunting actually causes more posting or that maintenance of a Blue law that targets only hunters as a class of citizens will prevent posting.

As I understand it, folks from the NY F&G testified at hearings in PA that they had heard the same fear mongering when they discussed the issue, but after it was all said and done, saw essentially nothing.

We've heard the same excuse here in PA and while our anti-hunting Blue Law remains in effect, we've watched as over 70% of our open space has become posted anyway. Posting seems to have a lot of causes but treating hunters fairly seven days a week hardly seems to play any significant part.

I see from your first post that you also feel a "fear of being shot" somehow justifies banning hunters one day a week, so let me leave you with a little quote. This one comes from testimony by the PAFB about their Freedom to farm at a hearing where they also voiced fears similar to yours about our Freedom to hunt. Perhaps, you'll grasp the hypocrisy:

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"Fear – not fact – seems to drive this opposition. Opponents do not know and do not care about trying to know the true risks involved. They only know that they don’t want any change, and they try to create any and every potential catastrophe that could happen without any assessment of how realistic that potential is."

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Maineguide5424

I don't know how I can make you guys understand.

The MAJORITY of guides, trappers, HUNTERS and, of course, landowners DON'T want it!
The reason we vote for anything is to find what the majority wants and what the majority of those that will be affected want is NO SUNDAY HUNTING.

Strange Biller

First, the leadership of any organinzation, whether it be Maine Guides or the International Association of Firefighters (my affiliation), stands up and backs something, that is a far cry from being able to state that the majority of its members feel the same way. In the last election, the IAFF leadership threw their support to Kerry and my own, non-scientific polling of my fellow firefighters showed support for Bush at 90% or better - this in Kerry's own state.

You can say the few representatives of these organizations are against this, but don't presume to speak for them all.

1. I'm not from Massachusetts, I just live here now - something I mentioned in my last post.

2. I'm not telling anyone what to do with their land because for one thing, I hunt my own family's land in Maine. Beyond that, I fail to see how anyone but you is suggesting that landowners will need to do something different if Sunday hunting is allowed.

3. You're right - they don't need an excuse to post their land, which is why so many have already. I'm not buying that this is something that will motivate people to go out and post their land if they haven't already. Maybe a handful of people will do so, but it will be a statistically insignificant number.