Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 23:08:39 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: David Mozurkewich Subject: Sunday Hunting bill hearing -- Compromise? In-Reply-To: <002301c1a398$01984f40$010a0a0a@joe> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Today, compromise is a dirty word. It seems to mean, "You promise to give up half without a fight today and we promise to wait until tomorrow to take the rest". 'Tis a pity. Back in my younger days, compromise was a good thing. Through creativity, both sides would gain more than they gave up. If I correctly understand the facts, Sunday hunting could be a good thing for everybody. These are the facts as I understand them. Many more deer are taken the first weekend of hunting season than are taken any other weekend. Surely, some of this is because there are more hunters out the first weekend. And perhaps some of it is also due to the good hunters not being out later in the season since they have already reached their limit. But some of the difference must be due to the prey becoming wary of the hunter. To this casual observer, it seems deer are seen more often outside of hunting season than within it. So a real compromise could include allowing hunting on Sundays during hunting season, and dividing the season into two, or possibly three or more very short sub-seasons. The sub-seasons should be short enough to prevent the deer from gaining much wariness and they should be separated by enough time to regain the "first day" benefits for each sub-season. Properly done, doesn't everyone win? 1) Birders win because there will be FEWER days when hunting is allowed. 2) Hunters win because this approach should INCREASE the total number of deer taken. And most importantly 3) The environment wins because there will be fewer deer. Instead of just fighting for the cause, or to maintain the status quo, let's work to revive the old definition of compromise. The discussion of the Sunday hunting bill should not be about whether hunting should be allowed on Sunday. It should be about how to give the hunters, the birders and the environment a better deal. I may not have the best solution, but I am certain it's out there somewhere. Unfortunately, I will be on a plane tomorrow, during the hearings. Dave David Mozurkewich Seabrook, PG MD USA mozurk @ bellAtlantic.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================