West Virginia: Sunday Hunting Legislation Introduced

Recently, Senate Bill 345 and House Bill 2642 were introduced in the West Virginia Legislature.  SB 345, sponsored by Senator Mark Maynard (R-6), and HB 2642, sponsored by Delegate Bill Hamilton (R-45) seek to expand Sunday hunting opportunities on private land with written permission.  Currently, West Virginia allows hunting on Sundays in some counties on some private land.  SB 345 and HB 2642 would remove the confusing patchwork of counties where hunting on Sundays on private land is not allowed.  Please contact your legislators and urge them to SUPPORT SB 345 and HB 2642.

There are many reasons to remove bans on Sunday hunting, including:

• Sunday hunting helps to recruit new hunters by allowing parents more opportunities to hunt with their sons and daughters, sharing an important part of America’s heritage
• Sunday hunting provides an economic benefit to many rural areas as hunters spend money on fuel, food, lodging and other expenditures that go along with a day’s hunt.
• States that allow hunting on Sunday have the most abundant game populations.  Allowing hunting on Sunday gives state wildlife agencies more flexibility in managing populations, including the ability to increase hunting in areas that have unsustainably high game populations
• Out-of-state license revenues grow as a result of Sunday hunting, allowing for more time to travel and hunt to those out-of-state hunters

While hunting is restricted in West Virginia in certain counties on Sundays, other activities such as fishing, hiking and target shooting remain perfectly legal on the seventh day of the week.  Between work, school and other obligations, Sunday hunting bans work to discourage hunting at a time when hunter recruitment and participation must be encouraged in order to save our hunting heritage.  Restrictions on Sunday hunting effectively treat hunters as second-class citizens and tacitly endorse the view of animal extremists that there is something wrong with hunting.

Please click the “Take Action” button above to contact your state Senator and state Representative and urge them to SUPPORT SB 345 and HB 2642.