Could this be the year?

Sunday hunting has been rejected over the last 30 years in Maine, but a proposal is back on the agenda this year, the Bangor Daily News reports.

The new proposal, LD 307, is somewhat different than past bills. It would permit hunting on Sundays by landowners and their immediate family, but would require those landowners to leave their land open for public hunting the rest of the week.

The bill's sponsor described the bill as a common-sense approach to the issue that will encourage landowners to keep their property open to hunters without affecting landowners who support the general Sunday ban that dates back more than 120 years.

Representatives of the Maine Professional Guides Association, the Maine Bowhunters Association, the Maine Trappers Association, the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine and the DIF&W testified that reopening the debate over Sunday hunting was a bad idea.

Tom Doak, of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine, noted there have been 26 legislative attempts in the past 30 years to lift the state’s ban on Sunday hunting. All of them failed for a reason, he said.

Other opponents of LD 307 said, if approved, it would be the first step to eroding the general ban on Sunday hunting. Allowing Sunday hunting even on hunters’ own property will only lead to more "no hunting" signs being posted throughout the state, they said.

Two recent surveys conducted for the Wildlife Alliance of Maine found approximately three-quarters of Maine residents support the ban on hunting on Sunday.

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