Repeal Sunday Hunting Ban
I am writing in response to your article ["Open Season"] in the January 17, 2008 issue of the Valley Advocate regarding the possibility of repealing the ban on Sunday hunting in Massachusetts.
I would like to address points which were not made clear in the article. I feel that your article could have been more balanced in its content.
To set hunters in conflict against "nature enthusiasts" suggests that hunters are not nature enthusiasts. All the hunters I know would fall squarely into that category. At a minimum we are involved in preserving and expanding recreational land through the fees, taxes and stamps that we must purchase to hunt. We choose hunting as one way to enjoy nature.
The article could have made it clearer that hunting fees provide some of these lands, which are open to all activities. The Division of Fish and Wildlife is one of the few state departments which operates in the black. There are many positive programs supported by hunting which benefit all native species, not just wild game.
All forms of hunting are affected by this ban, not only deer hunting. Waterfowl, pheasant, varmint and turkey hunting have little or no contact with hiking and other recreational uses. I have yet to have a hiker walk across a cornfield in December where I lay frozen on the ground surrounded by goose decoys, or bump into someone in the middle of a swamp, briar patch or bog.
The article should have pointed out that recreational use is not limited to state-owned land. There are thousands of acres managed by the Audubon Society, Trustees of Reservations, and others whose lands are closed to hunting and limited to other forms of recreational use.
As a private landowner who pays taxes on 110 acres in New Braintree, I have only Saturdays to enjoy hunting on my own property, since I work five days a week and have limited time. It bothers me a great deal that I cannot hunt my own land on Sunday.
I allow other forms of recreational use on my property, including hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking. I maintain over a mile of trails for the use of my land.
There are few Sundays during the traditional hunting season, but they are important. The Sunday hunting ban is unfair and biased, and it is about time that this ban is repealed.
John C. Linsley
via email
