A coalition of landowners, Maine Guides, trappers and snowmobile enthusiasts called on the Legislature and the governor to drop a plan to allow Sunday hunting at a press conference on Feb. 22.

The members of the coalition asked that the issue be studied over the summer instead of lawmakers adopting the Sunday hunting proposal this session.

The group also opposes a compromise plan that would allow landowners and their guests to hunt on their own property on Sundays, as well as in unorganized territory in the northern part of the state.

Patrick Strauch, director of the Maine Forest Products Council, representing large landowners in the unorganized territory, said his members are against the plan.

“They don’t want to be singled out as a separate class,” Strauch said. “What’s good for the small landowners ought to be good for large landowners.”

Skip Trask of the Maine Trappers Association and Maine Professional Guide Association said most members of both groups support Sunday hunting, but are not willing to risk giving up access to private land by jeopardizing their relationship with landowners over the issue.

The Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee also is divided, with some legislators saying the issue ought to be tabled until next year so it can be studied along with other landowner relationship issues that affect hunting in Maine.

Rep. Thomas Watson, D-Bath, co-chairman of the committee, said relationships are so strained right now with property owners that unless a study committee is pulled together to allow all sides to discuss the proposal, hunters are going to lose access to the land.

That loss of access could either be through the referendum process or increased “no trespassing” postings.

“We’re going to see a referendum to prevent Sunday hunting from ever coming up again, and it’s not going to stop at Sunday hunting,” said Watson, who is a hunter himself.

Sunday hunting is before the Legislature now because it’s part of Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed biennial budget.

Baldacci has called for Sunday hunting of all game, except firearm hunting for deer. The proposal was also pushed by the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

At a public hearing on Sunday hunting held earlier this month, opponents outnumbered proponents 3 to 1, with many landowners saying they would post their land if the proposal were approved.

Their concern was that non-hunters want at least one day of peace in the woods.

George Smith, Sportsman’s Alliance executive director, told the fisheries and wildlife committee, “we’ve come up with something a little bit better … hunting only where you’re wanted.”

The alliance’s new proposal would allow all types of hunting on Sunday, including shooting deer, on a person’s own property or in the northern part of the state in unorganized territories.

Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Oxford, committee co-chair, said the plan has merit. “At the least, people should be able to hunt on their own land,” he said.

Maine is one of only nine states that don’t allow Sunday hunting, and proponents say the state is losing hunting business to nearby New Hampshire and Vermont.

Rep. Mark Bryant, D-Windham and Gray, also a member of the fisheries and wildlife committee, said, “we have to find some sort of compromise.”

“My constituents, as a whole, definitely don’t want Sunday hunting to come in” as part of the governor’s budget. But, he believes that hunters, who support the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department through increased hunting fees, deserve something for their money.

“I don’t want to have a closed mind,” Bryant said, admitting his e-mails are running “eight to two against Sunday hunting.”

State Rep. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, is adamant in his opposition to the proposed compromise, saying, “I’m not going to give an inch on this,” because Sunday hunting was brought in through the governor’s budget and not given proper committee or public review.

“It’s extremely controversial and opposed by the majority of Maine people,” Trahan said. “Now to be appearing in the budget…it doesn’t pass the straight-face test.”