Doug Lapp addresses the Pa Game Commission Board of Commissioners during the January 2019 public meeting. "It is past time for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to stop infringing on its member's liberty and they will hear that message loud and clear."
Video by John Buffone, YDR.com
Jan 27, 2019 - To: The PA Game Commission Commissioners and Executive Director Bryan Burhans
My name is Doug Lapp. I am here today speaking on my own behalf as a farmer from Chester County Pennsylvania, not the Pa. Farm Bureau. I am on the Chester Delaware County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. I also am the Agriculture Liaison for Hunters United for Sunday Hunting.
Along with my father and grandfather, we farm a few thousand acres. With it just being the three of us involved in the business it is quite the workload. During the spring planting season and fall harvest season we operate six days a week. We always take off on Sundays, no matter the weather, for two reasons; to attend church and to relax and decompress from a long work week.
One of the fun activities growing up was going hunting with my father and grandfather. Harvest was typically done by Thanksgiving which allowed them to take off work the first day of the gun season and we would hunt together. As I got older I wanted to hunt more. Luckily crossbows had just been legalized in certain parts of the state. Since my father was never able to hunt in archery season he was not able to teach me how to use a compound bow. Due to this, my father bought me a crossbow for Christmas and we made a tree stand which would be safe enough for me to be in by myself. That was all my father had time for because we work all-day-everyday throughout the fall hunting seasons. Every day that is except Sunday.
I didn’t realize the experiences and memories I missed out on until I got married and started hearing the stories that my wife and her siblings have of going on youth hunts, small game hunting, and turkey hunting with their father and grandfather. It has always bothered my father and I that we could not hunt Sunday afternoons but after realizing all of the opportunity that is missed by someone in a circumstance like my own; I decided I was going to do something about it.
I called the Pennsylvania Game Commission and asked why can’t we hunt on Sunday? I was told that it is a legislative issue and to talk to my local representative. I talked to my state Representative John Lawrence, he told me that while he agreed with my points about Sunday hunting until the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau changed its position it would be very difficult to pass any Sunday hunting legislation.
After talking with Representative Lawrence I made it my mission to get involved with the Farm Bureau to try to change this policy from the inside of the organization. At a county meeting last September, I was voted in as a member of the Chester Delaware County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. At the same meeting, I proposed a Sunday hunting compromise to the county. I told my story and why we should not be restricted and have the ability to control hunting on our own land. The policy passed with only one no vote.
I was a delegate at the 2018 Pennsylvania Farm Bureau state meeting. While on the floor I was able to speak on the Sunday hunting policy that was passed by the delegate body. The Farm Bureau wants people to believe the main opposition to hunting on Sunday is trespassing and the Pennsylvania trespass laws. The truth is at the PFB November policy meeting trespassing was only mentioned once in the entire two hours worth of debate. The main arguments against Sunday hunting were: people should be in church; hunters are too lazy and have plenty of opportunities to hunt; horse riders can only ride on Sundays without getting shot at; farmers want to have one day a week they don’t have to wear orange while working.
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau misses the mark on Sunday hunting. The
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau typically fights for the rights of farmers to be able to operate on their land as they see fit. Somehow on this topic, the messaging got switched and some of the hardest working people in this state have less opportunity to hunt on their own land because of their own advocacy group.
So where do we go from here? The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is still going to be opposed to Sunday hunting unless a very specific criterion is met. Hunters United for Sunday Hunting is working to educate lawmakers on the subject. I have turned my focus on farmers who are hunters. I had over two dozen Pennsylvania Farm Bureau delegates come up to me at the annual Pennsylvania Farm Bureau meeting and thank me for what I was doing in the Sunday hunting fight. The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau currently portrays that it is united against this issue but that is far from the truth. I expect legislation to legalize Sunday hunting to pass this year but if that does not happen; keep an eye on Hershey Pennsylvania in November of 2019 because sparks will fly at the next state policy meeting. It is past time for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to stop infringing on its member's liberty and they will hear that message loud and clear. Douglas Benjamin Lapp Agriculture Liaison, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting & Chester Delaware County Farm Bureau Board of Directors
My name is Doug Lapp. I am here today speaking on my own behalf as a farmer from Chester County Pennsylvania, not the Pa. Farm Bureau. I am on the Chester Delaware County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. I also am the Agriculture Liaison for Hunters United for Sunday Hunting.
Along with my father and grandfather, we farm a few thousand acres. With it just being the three of us involved in the business it is quite the workload. During the spring planting season and fall harvest season we operate six days a week. We always take off on Sundays, no matter the weather, for two reasons; to attend church and to relax and decompress from a long work week.
One of the fun activities growing up was going hunting with my father and grandfather. Harvest was typically done by Thanksgiving which allowed them to take off work the first day of the gun season and we would hunt together. As I got older I wanted to hunt more. Luckily crossbows had just been legalized in certain parts of the state. Since my father was never able to hunt in archery season he was not able to teach me how to use a compound bow. Due to this, my father bought me a crossbow for Christmas and we made a tree stand which would be safe enough for me to be in by myself. That was all my father had time for because we work all-day-everyday throughout the fall hunting seasons. Every day that is except Sunday.
I didn’t realize the experiences and memories I missed out on until I got married and started hearing the stories that my wife and her siblings have of going on youth hunts, small game hunting, and turkey hunting with their father and grandfather. It has always bothered my father and I that we could not hunt Sunday afternoons but after realizing all of the opportunity that is missed by someone in a circumstance like my own; I decided I was going to do something about it.
I called the Pennsylvania Game Commission and asked why can’t we hunt on Sunday? I was told that it is a legislative issue and to talk to my local representative. I talked to my state Representative John Lawrence, he told me that while he agreed with my points about Sunday hunting until the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau changed its position it would be very difficult to pass any Sunday hunting legislation.
After talking with Representative Lawrence I made it my mission to get involved with the Farm Bureau to try to change this policy from the inside of the organization. At a county meeting last September, I was voted in as a member of the Chester Delaware County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. At the same meeting, I proposed a Sunday hunting compromise to the county. I told my story and why we should not be restricted and have the ability to control hunting on our own land. The policy passed with only one no vote.
I was a delegate at the 2018 Pennsylvania Farm Bureau state meeting. While on the floor I was able to speak on the Sunday hunting policy that was passed by the delegate body. The Farm Bureau wants people to believe the main opposition to hunting on Sunday is trespassing and the Pennsylvania trespass laws. The truth is at the PFB November policy meeting trespassing was only mentioned once in the entire two hours worth of debate. The main arguments against Sunday hunting were: people should be in church; hunters are too lazy and have plenty of opportunities to hunt; horse riders can only ride on Sundays without getting shot at; farmers want to have one day a week they don’t have to wear orange while working.
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau misses the mark on Sunday hunting. The
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau typically fights for the rights of farmers to be able to operate on their land as they see fit. Somehow on this topic, the messaging got switched and some of the hardest working people in this state have less opportunity to hunt on their own land because of their own advocacy group.
So where do we go from here? The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is still going to be opposed to Sunday hunting unless a very specific criterion is met. Hunters United for Sunday Hunting is working to educate lawmakers on the subject. I have turned my focus on farmers who are hunters. I had over two dozen Pennsylvania Farm Bureau delegates come up to me at the annual Pennsylvania Farm Bureau meeting and thank me for what I was doing in the Sunday hunting fight. The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau currently portrays that it is united against this issue but that is far from the truth. I expect legislation to legalize Sunday hunting to pass this year but if that does not happen; keep an eye on Hershey Pennsylvania in November of 2019 because sparks will fly at the next state policy meeting. It is past time for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to stop infringing on its member's liberty and they will hear that message loud and clear. Douglas Benjamin Lapp Agriculture Liaison, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting & Chester Delaware County Farm Bureau Board of Directors
No comments:
Post a Comment