MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Voters in Berkeley County will get another chance to decide if Sunday hunting should be allowed on private property during next year’s election.
Two weeks after Scott Taylor of Martinsburg went before the council to request they consdier the idea, the council has agreed to put the question on the November 2016 election ballot.
“I think the county commissioners…allowing it to be put on the ballot and voted on makes it an impartial issue, it really didn’t single anyone out as being anti – hunting,” Taylor told WHAG TV in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Speaking on MetroNews a week earlier, Taylor indicated he was driving to push for the vote because of his job. He said he often works six days a week and when he take time off, not being able to hunt on Sunday costs him one day of hunting.
The state law which enabled Sunday hunting specifies the Sunday hunting is only allowable on private property. Public lands like Wildlife Management Areas, State Forests, and National Forests would still be off limits on Sunday.
Twenty-one West Virginia counties now have Sunday hunting. Seven have changed in the last two elections.
Berkeley County is the latest to put the matter back on the ballot after voters rejected the idea in 2002. An effort is also underway in Kanawha County in the form of a petition drive to get it added to the ballot. Other counties may also add the question to next year’s primary or general election ballot as support for the change grows across West Virginia.