Talking Points

Property Rights

Hunting on your own land - your private property - should be allowed 7 days a week during hunting season.

Economic Benefit

Hunting on Sunday has the potential for substantial economic benefits to Virginia businesses with no taxpayer subsides.

Total Jobs: 3,936
Total Wages: $105,162,000
Total Output: $296,295,000

Next Generation

Hunting on Sunday allows families the ability to teach hunting to the next generation. School and Sports activities often dominate Saturdays for kids leaving Sunday as the only day to go hunting.

Blue Collar Access

Hunting on Sunday allows hard working blue collar workers who work 5 or 6 days a week the ability to hunt.

Outdated Blue Law

The law banning Sunday hunting was part of the Blue Laws, which are archaic and have outlived their usefulness in this day in age. The ban on Sunday h uniting is all that remains.

Declining Interest

Game Department is self-funded through license sales and a portion of the sales tax on hunting, fishing and boating purchases. License sales have declined by 50% since 1974 and continue to decline by 1 to 2% every year. An extra weekend day will increase license sales.

Deer Are Dangerous

Deer are dangerous to people on the highway. The odds of a Virginia driver colliding with a deer are 1 in 137, according to a 2009 study, and Virginia is usually among the top 10 states with the most frequent deer-vehicle collisions per year. Sunday hunting will increase game management options.

Wildlife Impact

Both national and DGIF biologists state that Sunday hunting has no negative impact on wildlife.

Guard & Reserves

Our Virginia National Guard and U.S. Reserves are called to active duty on an ever more frequent basis, and their drill weekends tend to be more than one weekend a month. We should honor their service by giving them an extra day in the woods.

Fairness

We've forced our Jewish, 7th Day Adventists, Muslim, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. citizens to hunt on their Sabbath for decades. This inequality needs to be corrected in the state that calls itself the cradle of religious freedom.

Crop Damage

As reported by the Farm Bureau, farm crop impacts are growing because deer herds are expanding. The DGIF confirms that deer herds have dramatically expanded over the past several decades, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue for our farmers. Allowing Sunday hunting would increase the number of hunting licenses, and hunters.

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