To the Editor:

I just wanted to make sure you were aware that the anti-hunting crowd is getting ramped up with “robo” emails to implement their disingenuous fight against Sunday hunting.

These groups are once again trying to represent that they are against lifting the current Sunday hunting restrictions while concealing the fact that they prefer that we weren’t in the woods the other six days of the week either.

I don’t know a single hunter who doesn’t consider himself or herself a “wildlife watcher, hiker and outdoor ‘recreationist.’”

The anti-hunting groups try to carve out our dollars and our participation in the outdoors as though we are a separate and lesser subset of society. If there are hunters out there who don’t consider themselves a conservationist and a student/lover of nature, then I guarantee you they aren’t very good at hunting.

I would ask you to consider that hunters are members of the groups that they mention in this “robo” email. Virginia woods are peaceful and safe 365 days a year; a National Safety Council study has shown that a horseback rider is far more likely to be injured by his mount or lightning than in a hunting accident.

This e-mail is fraught with fear-mongering that has been just as erroneous in the other 44 states that have proven that hunters and non-hunters can coexist in nature seven days a week.

The law change that we seek would not say, “you must hunt on Sunday.” We only wish to be given the freedom to choose what we do on Sunday.

Matthew O’Brien
Suffolk