Never on Sunday?

In the more than 100 years since Maine prohibited hunting on Sundays dozens of attempts have been made to repeal the law. They have all failed. The current attempt is the most convoluted because the change in hunting law is part of the governor’s plan to balance the state budget. Rather than tie such a major change to budget deliberations, sportsmen should work with the administration to come up with a better way to fund the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department and then debate Sunday hunting on its own merits.

Sunday hunting is now tied to an increase in hunting license fees. The $3 increase, approved in 2003, was set to expire at the end of the year, leaving a $5.1 million hole in the biennial budget of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The governor wanted to make the fee increase permanent, but the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine said it would oppose such a move unless hunters were given more opportunities to go after game. In the final days of preparing the budget, the governor’s office offered SAM Sunday hunting in exchange for a permanent $3 fee hike. The group agreed.

However, private landowners were not consulted even though more than 90 percent of the land in Maine is in private hands. Hunters have long been given the privilege, not the right, to hunt on private land six days a week. In Maine it is assumed that a hunter can access private land unless it is posted against hunting or trespassing. In many other states a landowner’s permission must be obtained before accessing their fields and forests. Some Maine landowners now feel the long-standing agreement that their land was available for a multitude of uses has been broken. Many have said that if Sunday hunting is allowed, they will post their land.

This failure to meet with small woodlot owners, farmers and other private landowners before slipping the Sunday hunting measure into the state’s budget has caused serious and unnecessary rifts in Maine’s recreational community. Guides, trappers, bowhunters, snowmobilers and ATVers have denounced the Sunday hunting proposal. Bob Meyers of the Maine Snowmobile Association likens the proposal to “dropping a bomb on recreation.” He worries that some of the 13,000 miles of snowmobile trails across the state will be put off limits by landowners tired of increasing demands put on them and their land.

All the groups can agree, however, that IF&W needs more money, specifically more money from the state’s general fund. In 2002, the Legislature passed an act requiring that 18 percent of the department’s funding come from the general fund so it would not be so heavily dependent on hunting and fishing fees. Because of the state’s budget shortfall, this has not happened. Gov. John Baldacci has proposed an additional $1.4 million in general fund revenue for the department in the next two years. While IF&W is one of a few state departments to see increased general fund support in the governor’s budget, it is far less than the $4 million a year needed to get to 18 percent.

There have been countless debates about raising more revenue within IF&W. Those debates have now taken on more urgency. Perhaps out-of-state hunting license costs should be increased. Maybe trophy costs should be assessed on big game like moose and bear. Registration fees could be assessed on canoes and kayaks. Search and rescue fees could be assessed. There are many possibilities.