Published: April 26, 2008 11:30 pm            

JOE GORDEN | Breaking down the barriers

Those who are concerned about the slow decline of hunting, and those who want to use the issue to further their own interests, have sent a lot of ideas out there regarding how to reverse the trend by getting young people interested.

But surprisingly few of them come from the young folks themselves. Adults tend to run the show, and too many of them don’t see a need to consult their target group.

So, what Kelly Sager had to say to the Pennsylvania Game Commission last week is of particular interest. The senior at Hempfield High School in Lancaster County stepped to the podium as vice chairman of the Governor’s Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation, a group of about 20 high-school students from across the state who meet periodically to discuss issues that affect their age group. And one of the things they discussed recently was Sunday hunting.

“We are really for that,” Sager told The Tribune-Democrat later. “One of the major restraints we find is that they don’t have the time to go out and hunt. I know I have sports and schoolwork and all these other things that require my time and commitment. I have no time left to hunt. I can barely get out. We feel the addition of Sunday hunting would allow so many more youth the opportunity to go out and hunt. That’s why we’re so for it.

“The youth council is all about breaking down the barriers between youth and hunting, and we know that time is the biggest one,” she said. “We’ve done surveys on it and it shows, time after time again, that not having enough time is the biggest reason why youth don’t hunt, and we believe that allowing Sunday hunting would give you the time to hunt.”

OK, it’s not exactly a revelation that there are a lot of hunters out there – young and old – who would like the opportunity for more time afield. But, there are also many who prefer things as they are, and those who make decisions on these things are clearly afraid of them.

“We are aware that some people say ‘Oh, if we have Sunday hunting, we’re going to close our land,’ ” Sager said. “We’re fine with that. It’s their land. They’re allowed to do that. We would just like to see people open up their eyes a little bit and let people hunt on Sunday.”

The arch-enemy of Sunday hunting, of course, is the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, which adamantly opposes the idea and has blocked it at every turn.

But, Sager said, the youth council does not see anything in the bureau’s arguments that should prohibit Sunday hunting statewide.

“We actually went over the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s talking points against Sunday hunting and there were issues such as ‘Oh, it’s the farmer’s only day to work on their land,’ ” Sager said. “Well if they want to work on their land, they are not going to allow Sunday hunting. As a private landowner, they have the right to shut down their land on Sundays. They have the right not to let people hunt on their land any day. If you allow Sunday hunting, they would just have to say ‘You’re not allowed to hunt on Sundays.’ That’s an easy fix to the problem.”

The farm bureau, of course, argues that it would place an unfair burden on farmers opposed to Sunday hunting because they would then have to post their land. But, land-owners by the thousands have found the time to plaster “No doe hunting” signs across their property lines. Posting against Sunday hunting shouldn’t require much more effort.

“We just feel that if people don’t want Sunday hunting on their land, they can say ‘No’ to it,” Sager said. “Why are they punishing the rest of us by taking time away from us that could be used for hunting?”



Joe Gorden is the outdoors writer for The Tribune-Democrat.

        

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