Why It Matters: Currently, if you go game bird hunting in Maryland and Delaware, you can only do so Monday-Saturday. Maryland House Bill 778 (MD HB 778) seeks to remove the legislative prohibition on Sunday migratory game bird hunting (waterfowl and dove), while Delaware House Bill 271 (DE HB 271) seeks to remove the Sunday hunting prohibition for all game birds (waterfowl, dove, turkey, pheasant, quail, chukar, etc.). If both MD HB 778 and DE HB 271 pass, both states will be one step closer to joining the 42 other states that currently allow Sunday hunting for migratory game birds.
Highlights:
- Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chair, Delegate Kevin Hornberger, is the primary sponsor of MD HB 778.
- Delaware Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Member, Representative William Carson, is the primary House sponsor of DE HB 271, with several fellow Caucus members as co-sponsors.
- Maryland House Bill 778 has a committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 21 in the House Environment and Transportation Committee. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) will be on the ground in Annapolis to testify on the bill and will also be submitting a letter of support to the Committee.
- Delaware House Bill 271 passed both the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee and the House Floor unanimously. A hearing date in the Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee has not yet been scheduled. CSF submitted a letter of support for the hearing in the House and will be strongly advocating for the bill’s passage throughout the legislative process.
Sunday hunting bans are one of the last remaining examples of the puritanical and antiquated laws that were initially designed to encourage church attendance. At the time when blue law restrictions were first put in place, other activities that were illegal on a Sunday included opening a store for business, drinking alcoholic beverages, and tilling your fields. Access is a major limiting factor hindering participation in hunting, and restrictions on Sunday hunting provide a temporal-access barrier to youth and others that work or attend school throughout the week and are often involved in extra-curricular activities on Saturdays. The access parity issue among Maryland and Delaware’s outdoor community is that the Sunday prohibitions are discriminatory to Maryland and Delaware’s sportsmen and women, excluding deer hunters.
While the passage of MD HB 778 and DE HB 271 does not mandate Sunday migratory game bird and non-migratory game bird hunting, it will lift the dated laws that are still in place today, allowing the MD DNR and the DE DNREC (each state’s primary and most well-equipped wildlife managers) to regulate their season dates to ensure that science-based management decisions are being made, rather than the political bodies that change after every election cycle. Specifically,
- MD HB 778 eliminates the prohibition against hunting migratory game birds on Sunday’s (Maryland COMAR Section 10-410(a)(13)). The Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) will still have the authority to establish and regulate season dates, bag limits and enforcement for the hunting of game birds but removes the legislative prohibition for Sunday migratory game bird hunting that is currently in statute.
- DE HB 271 eliminates the prohibition against hunting game birds on Sunday (Delaware Code section 712 of Title 7). The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DE DNREC) will still have the authority to establish and regulate season dates, bag limits and enforcement for the hunting of game birds but removes the legislative prohibition for Sunday game bird hunting that is currently in statute.
CSF looks forward to continuing to work with the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus and the Delaware Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus to champion both bills through the legislative process to come.
