Lifting the state’s ban on Sunday hunting is a policy change that requires careful analysis on it own merits, not as part of the state’s efforts to balance the budget. Two members of the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee have suggested studying the issue over the summer before making a decision. This is a good course of action.

Reps. Tom Watson, D-Bath, and David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, envision a broad study of the funding of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Sunday hunting would be one aspect of the review. So would fees on so-called non-consumptive users such as kayakers and game watchers. There should also be consideration of boosting hunting and fishing fees, especially for out-of-staters.

Sunday hunting was put in the governor’s budget, in part, because there have been few options for funding IF&W. Although the Legislature in 2003 passed a bill requiring the state to fund 18 percent of the department’s budget with money from the General Fund, this has yet to happen and won’t in the next biennium. When cuts are being made to health and human services programs and future lottery revenues sold to balance the budget, dedicating more money to wildlife is naturally a hard sell.

Until the department’s funding woes are solved, battles like that now being waged over Sunday hunting will continue to emerge. Hunters and fishermen now shoulder the largest share of the department’s budget. They rightly expect something in return.

That was the case with Sunday hunting. In exchange for allowing a $3 increase in license fees to become permanent rather than expire at the end of this year – bringing in more than $5 million – the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine convinced the governor to include Sunday hunting in his budget.

Small landowners, who had not been contacted about the proposed change, were outraged and threatened to post their land off-limits to hunting for the entire week. Many sportsmen’s groups, including associations of guides, trappers, bowhunters and snowmobilers, also objected, saying they did not want to jeopardize their relations with landowners by upsetting them. To try to calm the situation, SAM this week proposed allowing Sunday hunting on land north of Moosehead Lake. Large landowners, who dominate northern Maine, oppose this scenario saying it unfairly singles them out to manage a Sunday hunt.

In considering the benefits and drawbacks to Sunday hunting, access to land is a major concern. A key question is how many landowners would actually post their land and how this would impact not just hunting, but other outdoor activities. A loss of land for snowmobiling or hunting on could cut into state revenues collected from these sports.

Supporters of allowing a Sunday hunt contend that hunters are bypassing Maine in favor of other states that allow it, costing the state lost revenue. Without data to show how much money Maine is losing, if any, this is not a good enough argument to change Maine’s rules, especially given strong landowner opposition.

Searching for ways to broaden IF&W’s funding stream and analyzing the costs and benefits of Sunday hunting, with input from outside experts when needed, is the best way to tackle this controversial issue.