Are you in the market for a new musky net? Tom Dietz Outdoors gives you the low down on the new Power Stow Nets
National Rifle Association
Earlier today, in a victory for sportsmen throughout the Commonwealth, the Virginia Senate passed legislation to repeal the comprehensive ban on Sunday hunting by a 29 to 11 vote. This bipartisan action will now send Senate Bill 464 to the state House of Delegates for committee assignment and further consideration.
Those Senators who voted to allow Sunday hunting in Virginia voted to preserve Virginia’s treasured hunting heritage, honor essential private property rights and provide an enormous annual economic stimulus without spending a single dollar of taxpayer money. The Senate action is largely consistent with the Sunday hunting Resolution adopted last year by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) Board.
Currently, Virginia is one of only six states in the country that strictly bans hunting on Sunday. This prohibition harms Virginia’s economy and threatens the very future of our hunting heritage by discouraging hunter recruitment and retention.
At a time when the economy is struggling and too many Virginians are out of work, legislators must not continue to refuse the enormous economic benefits associated with allowing hunting on Sundays. Comprehensive research from the National Shooting Sports Foundation shows that allowing hunting on Sundays would generate a total annual economic impact estimated at $296 million and create 3,927 jobs. All of this would be spurred by simply eliminating words from state statute books (the current prohibition), not spending taxpayer dollars on some pie-in-the-sky scheme.
This victory would not have been possible without your support! Thanks to your calls and e-mails, this legislation not only passed by an overwhelming margin in the state Senate, but it focused attention on an issue that has been ignored for far too long in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
**Update on the Sunday Hunting Bill that was passed by the General Assembly on January 19th 2012**
The bill has passed the Senate AG Committee and now moves to the Senate floor. The bill at the full Senate has the restrictions of “on private property only and no use of deer dogs and deer dogs only” added in. Although I personally may not agree with the compromise, because there are hunters that were excluded. I’m not in the know but from the outside looking in, at the hearing, the compromise was based on the opposition leadership’s request at the hearing “We [VaHDA] don’t want Sunday hunting for fear of the community perception” and protest of deer dog hunting from other citizens that were present. Even the fox hunters testified “Sunday is our day, if you give the deer dogs Sunday give us another day because the two can’t hunt together.” In the big picture it is a historical victory for hunters, but the fight for Sunday hunting for all isn’t anywhere near over yet.
Going forward!
Since the bill going into the Senate has changed and with the Governor saying that he supports the bill in the Senate we have to be louder in the House and Senate than before. We have poked the hornets nest and the antis have woken up and started taking us seriously. They are making their phone calls and the more coverage this gets the more calls that are going to be received by the legislators. Time to get on the phones again, even if you have already called. Let them know that you want Sunday hunting or you are willing to support the compromise. We also need to bring new people into the effort. Spread the word about the Virginia Sunday Hunting Coalition link.
You can also go here to find out who your legislators are here with their phone contact information:
http://
If you live in any of the following counties your phone calls and emails are critical, being a constituent matters more than just a phone call from a Virginian at large: Goochland Staunton Henry Amherst Prince Edward Powhatan Nelson Harrisonburg Appomattox Franklin Buckingham Page Cumberland Fluvanna Louisa Lynchburg Rockingham Patrick Albemarle Campbell Suffolk
As always, you can go here for an easy way to contact your legislators:
http://
Mark Taylor – Roanoke Times
This is not a small tractor.
This is not a Photoshop trick.
This is, simply put, a giant black bear.
Alvin Gillespie killed it on Nov. 12 in Botetourt County, with a muzzleloader.
It was so giant they couldn’t find scales that could weigh it. Gillespie even called a couple of DGIF conservation officers in hopes they could help. They couldn’t.
Gillespie saw some experienced bear hunters at the check station and said they estimated the bear’s weight at somewhere between 425 and 500.
I hope Gillespie gets this bear’s skull measured because it will certainly be among the biggest killed in the state this season.