SUN JOURNAL • February 13, 2021
Maine is one of 11 states that prohibits hunting on Sunday. All the others permit Sunday hunting in one form or another. Two New England states — New Hampshire and Vermont — permit Sunday hunting. According to Maine’s outgoing Secretary of State, Matt Dunlap, himself an avid hunter, Maine has kept the Maine woods closed to Sunday hunting since 1883. There have been repeated legislative attempts to allow Sunday hunting in Maine. When these Sunday hunting bills get to public testimony they are always strongly opposed, generally by large landowners, some of whom threaten to post their land against all hunting if the Sunday option is allowed. For as long as I can recall, Sunday hunting legislation has been soundly defeated. Watching the Sunday hunting debate this winter will be, as Yogi Berra once quipped, “Deja Vu all over again.” ~ V. Paul Reynolds