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205 Church Hill Road, Augusta ME 04330 207-622-5503 |
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Testimony in Support
Re: Part W of Budget for Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife To: Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife By: George Smith, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine Date: February 3, 2005
Last week I testified on the issue of public funding for DIF&W – or the lack of public funding – and I will not repeat that testimony today, other than to remind you that the decision of sportsmen to support higher fees in return for new hunting opportunities was driven by the lack of public funding in this budget. I am submitting a package of information with this testimony. Because Sunday hunting has become the major issue here today, I will limit my testimony to that issue, but submit additional written testimony on the proposal to allow nonresidents to hunt on the opening day of the firearms season on deer. Today you will hear from sportsmen who enjoy each specific season and species, from rabbits to turkeys. You will hear from guides and others about the potential economic advance that Sunday hunting can bring – and I note that the Governor has properly put this proposal in economic terms, stating that Maine must be competitive if our outdoor economy is to grow. And you will hear from hunting families asking for the opportunity to spend more precious time afield as a family. But I think it may be just as important to note what you will not hear. You will not hear us speak about the November firearms season on deer – because that season is not included in the Sunday hunting opportunity. That season is when hunters are out in big numbers – more than 200,000 – causing problems with landowners and the general public. All other hunting seasons involve much smaller numbers of hunters and few landowner problems. I am providing you with a chart showing the number of hunters in each season that may be offered Sunday hunting opportunities. The numbers are small: less than 15,000 bear hunters, less than 3000 moose hunters, less than 21,000 spring turkey hunters, less than 3000 fall turkey hunters, less than 15,000 waterfowl hunters, less than 18,000 muzzleloaders, less than 6000 coyote hunters, less than 16,000 bow hunters in all seasons, less than 16,000 woodcock hunters, and less than 2,500 pheasant hunters. We’re not sure of the numbers who hunt grouse, because there is no specific license or permit for that season, but it is less than 50,000. These seasons have small numbers of hunters spread throughout the state. These are not the hunters who force people to wear orange clothing, post safety signs around their homes, or stop hiking in the woods. I also want to make sure you understand that Sunday hunting is not mandated by this budget – it is only authorized. This is a very important point. The Fish and Wildlife Department will continue to set each hunting season through the public rule making process, and can include – or not include – Sundays in those seasons. If, for example, there is a concern that a game animal may be over-harvested if a season includes Sundays, DIF&W can exclude Sundays from that season. Now, let me address the issues raised by my friends in the landowner groups. I own a 150 acre woodlot in Mount Vernon and I am a member of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM). I wish I were a farmer so I could join the Maine Farm Bureau – a terrific organization of terrific people, led by my good friend Jon Olson. But I have to say this: not all small woodlot owners and farmers are opposed to Sunday hunting. You will hear from some of us today. And I want to be sure that those landowners and farmers who do not wish to allow Sunday hunting on their property, know that they can post their property “No Hunting on Sunday.” They do not have to post it against any other or all other activities. SAM helped change Maine law so landowners would have this option.
Control of Wild Animals To control game animal populations, Sunday hunting opportunities are desperately needed in some areas and for some species. Hunting is the only effective method of controlling populations of some Maine animals. Turkeys are now a terrible nuisance for dairy farmers and forest landowners. But the spring and fall turkey seasons are both only two weeks long – making hardly a dent in the turkey population. A working person who wins a spring turkey permit gets just two days to hunt – if lucky enough to have Saturdays off. If that person works six days a week, Monday through Saturday, he or she gets no spring turkey hunting opportunity. Throughout southern Maine, an over-population of deer – now at dangerously high levels in places - has caused an epidemic of Lyme disease, collisions with motor vehicles, and loss of crops and vegetation. Most of these areas are limited to archery hunting, and we’re not coming close to keeping the deer population in check. Sunday hunting for archers can help address these problems. In fact, most bowhunters will be pleased to know that they get the largest number of additional hunting days from this Sunday hunting proposal.
Other Concerns I know there are members of the public who oppose Sunday hunting – and some hunters too – for a wide range of reasons from concern about church attendance to fear of land posting. Well, you can’t compel people into church by denying them an opportunity to hunt. I attend church and sing in the choir. I am not going to give that up for Sunday hunting. But that’s my choice, as it should be. No one else should make that choice for me. And how about those who worship on a different day than Sunday, like the Seventh Day Adventists whose holy day is Saturday? The no Sunday hunting law discriminates against them. The worst thing I heard was the opposition of the Maine Trappers Association. They can trap on Sunday. How unfair for them to object to me hunting on that day!
Land Posting The major concern of course is land posting. And I must state here that we appreciate the privilege of access to private and public lands in Maine. We appreciate it. Of course we don’t have access everywhere. A lot of land is already posted, especially in southern Maine. No one is more concerned about land posting than SAM and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. I cannot believe that landowners will deny access to turkey hunters in May, bowhunters in September, or upland bird hunters with their dogs in October. I sure hope that doesn’t happen. But frankly, most hunters have been forced to seek landowner permission to hunt over the last decade – and that is not a bad thing. For every single parcel that I hunt on in Mount Vernon, I have the landowner’s permission. I’m not even comfortable any more hunting on someone’s land without permission. I do not believe any of my neighbors will shut me out if I want to hunt on Sunday. And of course all of the major landowners – offering hunting and other recreational opportunities on 10 million acres of land – are not threatening to post their land if this budget is enacted. I am confident that will not occur. I hope these positive relationships we have created – and will continue to create - between hunters and landowners can stem the tide of posting that – for the last decade – has become an epidemic throughout southern Maine. We know it’s a problem – and we’re not ignoring it. Finally, a brief word about my friends in the snowmobiling community. I have heard that some members of the public object to Sunday hunting because Sundays are the day they enjoy the peace and quiet of the Maine woods – on snow shoes or cross country skis. I guess they don’t ski in Mount Vernon. A shotgun blast at a rabbit is nothing compared to the high pitched wine of an approaching snowmobile, not to speak of the choking exhaust as the machine whips by me as I stand in my skis on the side of the trail – always giving the right of way to the machine. I am just amazed that any snowmobiler would object to me – snowshoes on my feet and shotgun cradled in my arm – pursuing rabbits on a cold winter’s Sunday. Snowmobiling is a great family pursuit in my area, especially on Sundays, and I feel strongly that hunting families deserve the same opportunities – and have far less impact on anyone else’s enjoyment of a winter’s day in Maine.
Safety Certainly the issue can’t be safety. Hunting is the safest outdoor activity in Maine. I’ve given you a chart detailing hunting accidents and deaths. These days, even one hunting fatality a year is unusual – and it almost always occurs in the November gun season on deer. The seasons that would get Sundays in this budget are amazingly safe for participants and nonparticipants alike. By making our sport safe, we have earned these Sunday hunting opportunities. To put this into perspective for you, compare hunting to snowmobiling – a sport with far fewer participants than hunting – but with many more accidents and deaths: over 400 snowmobile accidents in the winter of 2002-2003, and 16 fatalities. More people died on snow machines that year than were injured while hunting! I read in the newspaper that the Bicycle Coalition was concerned about Sunday hunting. Yet no bicyclist has ever been confused with a turkey, rabbit, or even a deer. Some hunters ride bikes to get into the back country to hunt. And I know that bicycling is a dangerous off-road sport, of course – but not because we’re out there hunting.
Hunting Economics Let’s talk economics. Over the last decade, Maine has lost nearly 1/3 of its hard-core nonresident hunters – those that purchase combination hunting and fishing licenses. These are the sportsmen who spend a lot of time and money in Maine hunting and fishing. We are no longer competitive with neighboring states – or any other states for that matter. Forty one states offer Sunday hunting opportunities, including New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, plus the nearby Canadian provinces. Hunting in Maine has an economic value that probably exceeds a half billion dollars today, and allowing moose, grouse, turkey and others to hunt the entire weekend will make Maine a more appealing destination for hunters, increasing revenue for both DIF&W and the Maine economy. Guides will be able to book more days of hunting, retail stores will sell more bows, more ammunition, more gear of all kinds. Restaurants, gas stations, just about every nook and cranny in the state will benefit from this new opportunity. This proposal is an important part of the Governor’s initiatives to expand our natural resource based economy.
Need to Compete Perhaps the need to compete with hunting opportunities offered in other states may finally tip the political balance toward Maine sportsmen who have always harbored the desire to enjoy their favorite outdoor activity on Sundays. An article from the November, 1999 issue of Outdoors Unlimited, a publication of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, criticized the ten states, including Maine, that prohibited Sunday hunting. After that article was published, West Virginia authorized Sunday hunting, leaving Maine as one of only nine on the “Never On Sunday” list. Sports Afield magazine, one of the largest outdoor magazines in the country, in June of 2002, put it this way: “For hunters in nine states across the country, there is no opportunity to hunt on Sunday. For those of us who have always enjoyed the opportunity to hunt all weekend, the notion of outlawing hunting any day of the week seems like a hangover of Prohibition and, in fact, it is. These blue laws continue to rob millions of hunters of the opportunity to enjoy their favorite pastimes on one of the two days a week most don’t have to earn a paycheck.” Articles like this – in major publications – put the state of Maine in a very negative light and hinder the opportunity to expand our hunting economy. In fact, the sale of hunting licenses in Maine has been flat for the last three decades, as the revival and growth of the nation’s hunting economy passes us by. In my package of material, you will find charts showing the recent history of license sales to nonresidents – it’s not a pretty picture.
Conclusion Perhaps sometime soon Sunday hunting will be as accepted as Sunday shopping. A history lesson could help. In the 1980s, Maine people were prohibited from shopping on Sundays in all but the smallest of stores. A ballot measure initiated by citizen petition got onto the referendum ballot, and after a hard fought campaign pitting small stores against large stores and malls, Mainers voted to allow Sunday shopping in all stores – but only by the narrow margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. Almost half the voters didn’t want shopping on Sundays. Today, few would give any thought to Sunday shopping. It has been accepted in a big way. It is unthinkable – today – that we would be prohibited from shopping on Sundays. Perhaps Sunday hunting will follow the same path – controversial at the start – but widely accepted after a brief transitional period. In closing, I want you to know that we do have support in some surprising corners. I have provided a few news clips and headlines for you in my package of material. We were pleased with this January 23, 2005 editorial in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel owned by the Blethen Newspapers and titled “Time for Maine to End Ban on Sunday Hunting.” Please listen to the conclusion of that excellent editorial: “Maine prides itself on its outstanding hunting. It is one of the state’s primary – and growing – industries, which it promotes throughout New England and beyond. It makes little sense that the state would be blessed with such a valuable recreational activity, only to ban it on one of the two days when most residents and nonresidents are likely to participate. “We understand that allowing Sunday hunting would undo a prohibition that has been around since the 19th Century. There are good reasons for getting it off the books.” The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, Governor John Baldacci, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and sportsmen throughout Maine and the nation, hope you agree. Thank you.
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