Contact: John Culclasure, Southeastern States Assistant Director
Highlights
Why It Matters: The Virginia Board of Wildlife Resources’ adoption of the resolution expressing support for allowing Sunday hunting on public lands sends a strong message to the Virginia General Assembly as legislation to remove the prohibition on public lands Sunday hunting is considered.
In the last two legislative sessions, Virginia Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chair Delegate James Edmunds patroned legislation to allow Sunday hunting on public lands in the Commonwealth, but both bills died in committee despite strong support for the legislation from the hunting conservation community.
Sunday hunting restrictions have no basis in wildlife management. Except for those pursuing waterfowl, rail, or raccoon, hunters are the only user-group prohibited from accessing public lands on Sundays in the Commonwealth.
Many states have rolled back Sunday hunting prohibitions in recent years, including West Virginia in 2018 and North Carolina in 2021. Removing barriers to participation in hunting and increasing access to the outdoors is essential for supporting hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts. Expanding Sunday hunting opportunities also benefits the economy and supports conservation funding.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Virginia Board of Wildlife Resources for adopting the pro-public lands Sunday hunting resolution.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
