Delaware Sessions Part 2 - Sunday Waterfowl Hunting

The Mahon River Farm boys are back in town for another episode catching up on life and the latest news in Delaware. Delaware has officially signed in Sunday waterfowl hunting for the 2024-2025 season. Alex attended the state meeting and gives us the inside scoop on all the laws, drama and behind the scenes. Join us for another great episode!

[@ny-dovehunting5602]

Most of the US states and probably all of the Canadian provinces allow Sunday waterfowl hunting. The addition of days into the late season has been argued, but with faulty logic. For example, the Long Island Waterfowl zone is the closest to New Jersey. A small, but loud, group of Jersey hunters have been opposing Sunday hunting under the rationale it will shorten the season. NY and NJ are allowed the same number of season days, being in the same flyway and bordering each other. NY, allows Sunday hunting and most years their Long Island zone uses all of the allowable days, and closes later than all of the NJ zones. Even when both states used all of the maximum number of season days allowed by the FWS on a given year, NJ tends to close earlier. If we are in a 60-day season length - sixty days is sixty days, no matter if you hunt Sundays or not. The later the opening day is what predicates how late closing day is, not whether or not Sunday hunting is allowed. There have been other absurd arguments that don't make sense - one example is Sundays are for scouting. Okay, but the majority of hunters can only hunt Saturdays, they cannot go Mondays or other weekdays. Only a very inexperienced or daft hunter thinks you can find birds on Sunday and expect them to be doing the same thing, the weather to stay the same, the water to stay the same, the following Saturday. Another example is the argument closed Sundays are essential to keep game populations from being wiped out - as if the majority of the states that do allow Sunday hunting are wiping out their game, waterfowl being largely migratory further bodes against this faulty logic. Sunday hunting bans are not conservation laws biased on biology; they are social laws. They do not serve the nonhunters are asserted, especially out in the marshes. And, the vast majority of hunters would benefit from hunting on Sundays. A minority, that do not work during the week, might reap some benefit, but more likely its only in their head. The right thing to do, clearly is to allow Sunday waterfowl hunting...

[@UpperBayPodcast]

@@ny-dovehunting5602 very well said!