sunday hunting.

el sparko · #1 10-21-2007, 12:00 PM

well, here i go again. it's another beautiful sunday here in central alberta and i sit in front of this computor b.s.ing with you guys. why am i not out hunting? you know why. i work a six day week and the sunday hunting issue really bugs me. did you know that alberta is one of the last provinces in canada that has restricted sunday hunting? i do not know how to get this law changed and wounder why it even exists. i can work on sunday, gamble on sunday, go to the bar on sunday, shop on sunday, or if i choose, go to church on sunday. gut i cannot hunt, well at least not locally. with the high costs on fuel, tags and time hunting is getting harder and harder to justify. is there a way to get this silly law repealled? if anyone has an idea please tell me.

Walleyes · #2 10-21-2007, 12:20 PM

I was just wondering the same thing myself this morning... You know what got me going ??? I was having breakfast at the Esso truck stop in Bassano and 3 hunters came in dressed in their upland bird hunting camo.. They sat down next to me so of course I was eves dropping... They were discussing their upcoming day of hunting with the dogs and such and I was sitting there thinking something is wrong here,,, as far as I know there is no Sunday hunting around here except for Snow geese but these guys were talking about Pheasant hunting... So I thought,,, hey I could be wrong... As soon as I got back to my shack I pulled out the regs and as far as I can see there is no Sunday hunting for anything other than snow geese around the area... So whats up with these guys ???? And as elsparko puts it why not,, just doesn't make any sense unless you consider that this is the Bible belt of A.B. and they still hold a lot of stroke in the area... I guess the preachers don't want to compete with the wildlife for possible funds coming in eh...

el sparko · #3 10-21-2007, 12:27 PM

hey walleyes; thanks for the reply, the problem can't lie with the bible thumpers because i didn't see them picketing for their lost revenues in front of the casino last sunday.

DoUCWhatIC · #4 10-21-2007, 12:28 PM

El Sparko. Write to your MLA. Write to the Minister of Sustainable Resources Development. Changes have been made to Sunday hunting in the Peace River region over the last few years. It may have been the result of a lobby from the Fish & Game Association. Write to the Premier. Explain that allowing Sunday hunting would likely encourage youth participation in hunting. Many a family would benefit from spending more time in the field. I remember a title from the last Alberta Game Warden Magazine; something like...Youth Hunters don't mug little old ladies...so true! I live in northrn Alberta where Sunday hunting is allowed but not that long ago I was in your shoes. Lost many opportunities as a result. Good luck. You probably won't see any immediate results but at least you will have done your part. I've done mine!

albertadave · #5 10-21-2007, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walleyes

as far as I know there is no Sunday hunting around here except for Snow geese but these guys were talking about Pheasant hunting... So I thought,,, hey I could be wrong... As soon as I got back to my shack I pulled out the regs and as far as I can see there is no Sunday hunting for anything other than snow geese around the area... So whats up with these guys ???? ...

They might have been going to one of those private operations where you pay for the birds and they release them for you? I'm not sure about now, but it used to be you didn't even need a license for those places, so you can probably hunt on Sunday as well.

clarki · #6 10-21-2007, 12:59 PM

the bible thumpers are having their way. no sunday hunt goes back to when most of the rural folks were attending church and such on sundays and therefore not around to give permission and keep an eye on the goings on on their property.

M

Caper28 · #7 10-21-2007, 01:56 PM

I Don't know where you're at, but why not make a trip farther north where they allow Sunday hunting. At least there is some Sunday hunting in Alberta. Some provences have no Sunday hunting. In Nova Scotia we're not allowed to hunt on Sunday anywhere in the provence.

sow wester · #8 10-21-2007, 02:06 PM

i know back home in nova scotia theres absolutely no sunday hunting
newfoundland opened it up about 2 years ago
it sure would be nice to hunt close to home on a sunday

hunt_and_fish · #9 10-21-2007, 03:25 PM

Yep, it's time for that law to change. I haven't heard any argument (let alone a good one) of why Sunday hunting shouldn't be allowed. If it is just some private land owners that are in favor of keeping with the status quo then I really don't see the problem. Those specific land owners would still have the right to say no hunting on Sundays no their land.

Koshel · #10 10-21-2007, 07:12 PM

Manitoba opened up a 'trial' sunday bird hunt several years ago. From what I remember reading in the government info about it, 'trial' meant to see how public feedback was. A year later they confirmed that it was now standard Sunday bird hunting. Then they opened up a 'trial' sunday big game hunt the following year. Everything went over well, no public outcry, and now the whole province is open to Sunday hunting.

thumper · #11 10-21-2007, 07:17 PM

When you're writing your MLA about this, be sure to mention how much money would be pumped into small, rural Alberta towns if Sunday hunting was allowed.
Instead of doing a 'day' trip, I'd wager that a lot of hunters would turn it into a weekend trip, with a hotel room, and double the meals and incidental purchases in small-town Alberta.

Couleestalker · #12 10-21-2007, 07:17 PM

Come down south, it even gets better when you can only hunt thurs, fri, sat during November. I wish I could hunt five days a week!

el sparko · #13 10-22-2007, 09:11 AM

do you guys think this would help? most of us are members of the alberta fish and game assn. what if we pressure them to start lobbying hard to get this changed?

#14 10-22-2007, 09:17 AM

Each year a number of new Sunday hunting opportunities have been opened up across the province due in large to pressure brought to bear by the AFGA through their annual resolutions. I doubt you'll see it happen all at once but it is being chipped away at.

Chung66 · #15 10-22-2007, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarki

the bible thumpers are having their way. no sunday hunt goes back to when most of the rural folks were attending church and such on sundays and therefore not around to give permission and keep an eye on the goings on on their property.

M

I am a member and Elder of a church and I didn't realize we were consipring to prevent hunting on Sundays. Are you serious that there are church organisations trying to stop hunting on Sundays? Or is it a relic regulation from the past? Why would they get involved in the first place?

MuleyMonster · #16 10-22-2007, 10:10 AM

Sunday hunting, what about Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. As Couleestalker mentioned before we only have hunting for Thursday, Friday and Saturday for big game in rifle season. This was only changed a few years ago and the reason I heard was to allow the game to have a few days off. I have talked to my MLA, Premier and the F & W and they do not see a problem. Me for one did not mind missing Sunday hunting as it let me recover from Saturday night drinks with the boys after hunting

Would love to have Sunday to hunt and get the rest of the week back but it is going to take a long time for that to happen.

Usually see the BIGGEST and Dumbest deer on Sundays so maybe the powers above are trying to save them

wthby · #17 10-22-2007, 10:46 AM

-we add extra tags each year to some southern zones (two does some with more and more given out at lower priorities)
-we have CWD tags
-we put does on draw system but allow you to take two then restrict what days you can hunt
-we want the harvest numbers up
-we dont take into account a severe winter that some F&W have indicated killed 50-75% of deer populations and up to 20-40% of moose populations (in certain zones) but we add 500 cow moose draws to an area which ended up going undersubscribe (just an example of one zone but many were affected). if F&W officers know this happened who is telling SRD to restrict the number of tags

but we still restrict some draws to thur, fri, sat but the CWD tag is good all week?

it seems like each year it is more rules and regulations but F&W is not getting the harvest numbers that they require. i understand that a Draw commits you to a certain zone and will likely increase your chance of harvesting the animal and providing require data to F&W but why put a draw for two does and then restrict it to three days a week. why not go general season and open up to full week. in the end you should be able to manage a hunting program that utilizes hunting seven days a week. or make the draw for one but good all week.

if you think too many animals will get harvested or management issues will arise. reduce the number of tags but dont issue with multiples or restrict hunting days.

theres got to be a better way besides the km distance from major cities being the only avenue to control hunting.

wthby

aulrich · #18 10-22-2007, 11:05 AM

Sunday hunting would have a huge impact on youth hunting, it basically doubles any school kids oppritunities to get afield. And since my soon to be hunter is playing sports his Saturdays are tied up or he misses a game, which run counter to one of the reason he in team sports (to learn to be dependable to the team).

clarki · #19 10-22-2007, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chung66

I am a member and Elder of a church and I didn't realize we were consipring to prevent hunting on Sundays. Are you serious that there are church organisations trying to stop hunting on Sundays? Or is it a relic regulation from the past? Why would they get involved in the first place?

no conspiracy but a relic from back in the day. and like others have said here, why not monday, tuesday, wednesday too? what if fishing oportunities were limited to ony 3 days per week? could you imagine??!! later

M

CNP · #20 10-22-2007, 11:48 AM

I don't know of any fellow Christians who (as a block) are opposing Sunday hunting and......Christians in general, are not apposed to hunting.

Sunday hunting is permitted, in varying degrees, in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Northwest Territories and the Yukon. It's not right to say that quote did you know that Alberta is one of the last provinces in canada that has restricted sunday hunting? unquote........because most provinces do have some restrictions in place.

This is primarily a legacy thing..............and the current opponents to Sunday hunting are anti-hunting organizations and property owners......who may or may not be Christians....but the primary factor is property ownership not religious affiliation.

To blame Christians (bible thumpers) as an opposing group says that maybe you don't know Christians.

Sunday hunting is good...hunting is NOT

on any day lol

TreeGuy · #21 10-22-2007, 12:28 PM

I believe that we will eventually see Sunday hunting everywhere in Alberta......eventually (the Thur, Fri, Sat is another issue).

I'll look at things from a different perspective and say that Sunday's off are not so much a rest for the animals, but a rest for LAW ENFORCEMENT officers. I know I often work 6 day weeks and sometimes it sucks. Although they are unionized and work shifts, Sunday's off does give them a bit of a break. Maybe, if that's the case, make it Mondays.....I HATE Mondays!

Tree

russ · #22 10-22-2007, 12:50 PM

Nice to see some interest in this subject.

I believe the 3 day season was a compromise when the deer numbers were low after a couple of harsh winters in the 90's. It was either a 3 day season every week for the month or 2 weeks continuous. Either way it worked out to 12 days of hunting. Would be nice if it was at least changed to Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I live on the border of this silliness and I don't bother hunting the southern zones. I would reconsider it if I knew I wasn't going to waste a day trying to find a productive area only to end up waiting for a week before I could return.

I've been actively lobbying for Sunday hunting in my area for years and writing your MLA is probably a waste of ink. The reality is that the Counties & MD's are in control of the state of Sunday hunting. SRD will not act on Sunday hunting without a request from the local municipalities. So instead of writing your MLA I think we should be lobbying the landowners to lobby the MD's & counties.

albertadave · #23 10-22-2007, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreeGuy

I'll look at things from a different perspective and say that Sunday's off are not so much a rest for the animals, but a rest for LAW ENFORCEMENT officers. I know I often work 6 day weeks and sometimes it sucks. Although they are unionized and work shifts, Sunday's off does give them a bit of a break. Maybe, if that's the case, make it Mondays.....I HATE Mondays!

Treeguy, I would have to respectfully disagree. If all the CO's took the same day off, wouldn't that pretty much make Sunday a free-for-all for the poachers? Also, I would bet that there are many LEO's who enjoy hunting who wouldn't want their only day off to be a no hunting day.

As for the religous/landowner aspect of no Sunday hunting: I doubt many landowners take their reigous beliefs, much less the day of the week into consideration when deciding if they will allow hunting on their land. I don't think Christain farmers have enough political clout in this province to affect policy like this. Besides, I believe most farmers these days have bigger worries than Sunday hunting. Just my thoughts.

jednastka · #24 10-22-2007, 01:08 PM

Guys!

Sunday Hunting chages are happening! For 2007:

Sunday hunting has been expanded to include WMUs 258, 260, 500, 501, 502 and 504 and all of WMUs 511 and 514.

Have a look at the Sunday Hunting map. The eastern part of the provice down to 258 & 260 is all Sunday hunting!

Vic

kwantes · #25 10-22-2007, 08:37 PM

I was thinking about this the other day while in my tree stand, and I think there might be some benefits to the no hunting on sunday areas (to some hunters at least).
Let me explain. I live in some of the forested crown land that is closest to Edmonton, in which sunday hunting is not allowed. I can't help but think that if this area was open to sunday hunting, there would be a lot more city-based hunters making a weekend of it in the areas that I can go out for an evening during the week (early season), or a saturday. The weekend camp hunters are probably going to go to a sunday hunting zone instead of this area.

Don't get me wrong - there is plenty of hunting pressure around here, and I would definately enjoy some sunday hunting if it was allowed. I'm just saying for someone who lives in the no sunday hunting area, there are some real benefits but keeping hunting traffic down (a little).

Overall, it might be a wash.
I don't really know.
Don't shoot me for being selfish.

el sparko · #26 10-22-2007, 09:03 PM

there sounds like the vast majority of you guys would like to see province wide sunday hunting. i am pleased to see that recent changes have been made to open more wmu's, but that still doesn't answer the question as to why the law ever existed in the first place.
it almost seems that hunting itself is in question, we like to hunt, we need to hunt, we hunt. but why in the fast paced world we live in has this noble sport become such touchy subject?
are we afraid that the powers that be will outlaw hunting someday? will public opinion and apathy prevail? will todays hunters be one of the last generations to persue the sport?
these things must not happen!!
if there is an issue, address it, if you can find ways to put a positive spin on our sport do it! if at any time a youngster asks for help getting started, help him!
and hey, i want to hunt on sunday; not to kill more animals, not to get that illusive trophy "whatever"; I JUST WANT TO HUNT!!

BigRackLover · #27 10-22-2007, 09:04 PM

What about just day trips on Sundays? All the stores are open on Sundays now, never used to be like that. I'd like to see both bow zones (Calgary and Edmonton) go green next year. I mean a bow does not even make noise. I'd like to go hunt some deer on Sunday morning or evening. Not all us have a chance to get away the entire weekend. It always seems the light winds are on Sundays .... AARRRGGGG!

russ · #28 10-22-2007, 09:22 PM

We can shop on Sunday,
Go to the Casino on Sunday
Drink in a bar on Sunday
In fact, we can do nearly anything we want on a Sunday, so long as it doesn't involve hunting.

If you live in an MD or County - write them. If you're in favour of Sunday hunting tell them that you're a rate payer and that you want Sunday hunting and they need to ask SRD to get the ball rolling to make the change. Most MD's & County's don't even realize this is something that they can make a request for. It's up to us to make the local governments aware of the situation.

Vindalbakken · #29 10-22-2007, 09:44 PM

The three day big game season was in response to landowner pressure to reduce the hassle they were having from hunters. There were some areas that were having a problem with management and the private land was all shut down. To get the land opened up they went to a three day season. It seems to have worked that way and the success rate of hunters has not diminished making it a win/win. In fact, I believe the decreased day to day pressure on the big game has made for a better quality of hunt for many folks in those zones with a commensurate increase in success and satisfaction.

If Sunday hunting were opened up across the province there is no doubt that the number of hunter days in the field would increase, and I believe they would increase dramatically. Along with this increase in hunter effort would likely come an increase in hunter success - particularly in the game bird seasons. If hunters are harvesting more birds then bag limits would need to be reduced to maintain an optimum harvest level. Personally, I would welcome a reduction of daily limit from 6 Huns to 4 Huns for the extra day in the field, but before you start asking for things be sure you ask yourself if you are willing to accept a 1 pheasant/day bag limit and the increased risk of more private land closures to get it.

el sparko · #30 10-22-2007, 10:12 PM

hey vindelbakken!
you raise a valid point, a bird hunter may very well feel the pinch considering the fact that a lot of the areas that hold huns and the like are on private land and an added day could be a dramatic impact on upland bird populations.
as far as how i'd feel about a reduced bag limit i have always felt that when an adverse impact on a wildlife population occurs the bag limits should be adjusted accordingly. after all we are out to hunt not to wipe out a species.
for example; wmu 332 used to have a general bow season for antlered moose and for whatever reason this was changed to a draw, oh well, boo hoo.
i'm sure if the population explodes they will probably re-open it. i just find that your comment strays from the point, why is sunday hunting so taboo?
remember, land owners can say no to access any day for anything, it is after all their land. if too many animals are taken stop taking animals.