Hunting Sense

It’s hard to believe there are still states out there that don’t allow Sunday hunting, but there are. In an article published in October in the USA Today, it reports that there are currently eleven states which ban or restrict hunting on Sundays. Eleven of them! What in the world are they thinking?

Many of the laws pertaining to Sunday hunting are what is called “blue laws� that were meant to restrict working, shopping, drinking, dancing, and other activities and sometimes date back to as early as the 1700’s. What? Yes, you heard me right, the 1700’s. You can’t tell me times haven’t changed enough since then that these laws should be removed.

In most instances, these laws banning or restricting Sunday hunting have religious reasoning behind them. Haven’t we got something called the separation of Church and State? If a person’s beliefs don’t allow them to hunt on Sunday, I respect that. I do have to question it being imposed upon people who don’t share the same beliefs, though. As a nation, we’ve given up so many things because of this separation that to allow the ban on Sunday hunting to continue is just plain wrong.

Besides, we now live in a time when you hear more about priests molesting kids than you do about anything good they may do, and we’re allowing them to dictate when we can and can’t hunt. Maybe if we were hunting children things would be different. The fact is that the religious values that were held when these laws were enacted are nearly as extinct as these laws are pointless today.

Another thing that I have to wonder about is why it would be so bad to be in the woods on a Sunday instead of in church. Churches are buildings built by construction companies, sometimes with outrageous price tags. If you believe in God, then isn’t nature built by the hand of God? Wouldn’t the outdoors be a better place to be close to God than in a building built by men? And if you happened to be hunting, would it change anything? People get drunk Saturday night and go to church to ask forgiveness on Sunday, isn’t that a lot worse than hunting?

If churches are worried about attendance dropping if a person had a choice between hunting and going to church, then maybe they need to look at what they are preaching instead of not allowing the person to go hunting. It’s a weak argument, likely to get more money into the collection plates. It’s time to drop the act.

Anti-hunting groups like to use scare tactics associated with the religious reasons to keep Sunday hunting off the ballots or from passing when voted on. They build up fears of the bad things that may happen. If any of them actually did happen, wouldn’t the 39 states that do allow Sunday hunting be wallowing in hell and damnation? They will use anything to promote their crusade, even the religious crusades of the churches. If you think they share your view for real, think again.

I, for one see no reason why Sunday hunting shouldn’t be allowed. Society isn’t going to go down the drain if people are allowed into the woods on the Sabbath, because, to be honest, it already has without that happening. If anything, I see the long tradition and heritage of hunting and those ethical sportsmen increasing the values I would like to see more of in the world; patience, a love of nature, respect for living things, and passing on those values to our kids.

I just had a thought: Would God hunt on a Sunday? Of course he would, isn’t he hunting for souls to save every Sunday? If Sundays should be a day of rest and not a day to hunt, then all the people in church are in trouble if God sees it the same way.

On a closing note, I believe in allowing people to believe however they see fit, no matter what their religion, but I think the same favor should be returned. Worship how you see fit…just let me go to the woods hunting.

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