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Hi Bob & All, Nov 9, 2011
To comment on your reaction a bit--
1) The woods are not now free of hunters on Sunday. Some otherwise staid, sober, law-abiding citizens sometimes hunt on Sunday out of perceived necessity and, at the other extreme, some who break laws left and right also hunt on Sunday. So those who feel safe only when wearing bright colors on legal hunting days should do likewise on Sunday.
2) During big-game hunting season it is prudent to wear hunter orange if you are likely to walk in dense thickets especially early in the season or early in the morning and late in the evening when visibility is poor. After dark only a flashlight and/or noise is protective.
3) If you are likely to walk only under good light conditions and on open trails then clothing choice is a matter of taste; whatever one feels comfortable with.
4) I don't have the statistics at hand but I feel less at risk in the woods, in any clothing, than while driving to the woods. People are injured or killed on highways every day but I can not recall one case of non-hunters, or hunters, being killed or injured by hunters under conditions of good visibility.
5) Hunter orange is of great value when 2-3 people hunt in the same general area of dense cover; each must know at all times where the others are.
6) Risk evaluation does not come easily. I think for example of D. Williams going hyper over not exposing offshore oil rig workers to the 1 in 3 trillion (?) chance of rocket debris landing in the general vicinity of the oil rigs. Would it not be great if working on an offshore oil rig, being choppered to Nfld. or driving on the highway had a less than 1 in 3 trillion chance of some serious misadventure.
Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob McDonald
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Cc: hfnexec@yahoogroups.ca
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 4:02 PM
Subject: [NatureNS] Herald Nov. 8/11 - Sunday Hunting bill - Liberals
Hello,
I received this message after lunch. I must have missed the article in this morning's CH. I suspect that many on this list will be interested in this Liberal initiative. For many years, I was a fan of Andrew Younger, a former Dartmouth Councillor and now an MLA. I have no idea where this came from!!
It seems to me that those of us who appreciate not having to wear hunter's orange every day of the week better inundate Minister Parker and all other MLAs with letters supporting the status quo - NO SUNDAY HUNTING!
Bob McDonald
Halifax
Sunday hunting should be OK, Liberal MLA says
November 8, 2011 - 4:40am By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Staff Reporter
NDP cool to proposal, will look at it
The provincial Liberals say Nova Scotia should fall into line with most other provinces when it comes to Sunday hunting.
Natural resources critic Andrew Younger said he'll introduce a bill in the legislature this week that would allow hunting on Sundays during big-game season.
Big-game season includes bear, moose and deer.
Prince Edward Island is the only other province that does not allow some degree of Sunday hunting. Several provinces have changed their laws over the past decade to allow it to take place, and Younger says it's time Nova Scotia did too.
"The past few years, we've heard a lot about it from a lot of communities across the province," he said. "We're aware of more than 1,500 letters written in support of this, and since I mentioned last week we were going to do this, we've just been swamped with emails in favour of it."
Younger said a couple of emails have opposed such a move, but many more are in favour, "so much so that we haven't been able to respond to them as quickly as we would like."
He said the Liberals haven't approached the government yet about the proposed bill, but "I've heard from a lot of people in NDP ridings across the province, so it would surprise me if they weren't willing to at least take a look at this."
Younger said he has "introduced a lot of bills in two years, and this is the one I'm most optimistic about. This bill is not ideological, it's something that seems to be widely asked for."
But Natural Resources Minister Charlie Parker doesn't share that optimism.
"We know that hunting is a popular sport . . . but Sunday traditionally has been a day that families and individuals like to go hiking and take their pets along, and they know it's a day that they feel safe out there."
Parker said opinions differ on the issue, "but I would say at this point in time, we're not considering any change. But we'll have a look at the bill the Opposition is introducing and I'm sure we'll have a chance to debate it in the House."
Younger said a couple of people have said they feel safe being in the woods on Sundays because hunting isn't allowed, but he pointed out that First Nations hunters are allowed to hunt year-round.
"It's not like the woods are free of guns as it is," he said. "There are fewer guns, but it's not free of them, so I think there is a bit of misunderstanding out there, even on what's allowed on Sundays."
Parker said he doesn't know how widespread the First Nations hunt is.
"It may depend on the area of the province you're in, but I haven't seen that as a big issue or big concern at this point."
Tony Rodgers, executive director of the Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters, said his group would like to see the proposed legislation before making a full comment, but its members agree with the concept of Sunday hunting.
"We've had it as a position since the province allowed Sunday shopping," he said. "We were sort of stumped, because besides hunting, what else can we not do on Sunday? Some clubs brought a resolution forward and it was agreed we would ask the province for it."
That request is still on the books, Rodgers said, although it was for all hunting, not just for big-game season.
Rodgers said some people are concerned about safety in the woods and say Sunday is the one day they feel safe, but "people should feel safe going in the woods any day of the year. They shouldn't have any concern about that whatsoever. The chance of a non-participant being hurt in this sport almost doesn't exist."
( ifairclough@herald.ca)
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