Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Hello,
Newbie here with a newbie question. To the best of your knowledge can I legally shoot destructive critters (in my case, squirrels and groundhogs) on Sundays? I work during the week, and it pains me to observe them in close proximity to my house when I have such limited opportunities to deal with them. They have damaged my property in the past and I am not interested in "hunting" as much as pest extermination.
I live in the country and there are no urban issues to deal with.
Thanks/bowwave

bowwave wrote:Hello,
Newbie here with a newbie question. To the best of your knowledge can I legally shoot destructive critters (in my case, squirrels and groundhogs) on Sundays?

NO, and YES

Squirrels are game animals and may only be hunted during the appropriate hunting season, in accordance with VA DGIF rules.

Groundhogs, are a different matter, according to DGIF "Continuous open season on private lands".

Under general regulations
There is no Sunday hunting, except for nuisance species, the woodchuck is listed as a nuisance species, so it looks like during daylight hours 7 days a week you are good to go on the chucks.

You may want to double or triple check the nuisance species hunting on Sunday. Several places it is stated in the regulations that it is unlawful to hunt wild birds or animals with firearms on Sunday. I'm not saying that it's not lawful, I'm just saying that a game warden may dispute your interpretation of the regs, and you normally loose the disputes even when you win.

OK here is the WHOLE section


Species Defined as “Nuisance” Wildlife

Under the Code of Virginia (4 VAC 15-20-160) ten species are defined as nuisance species. These include:

Mammals
House Mouse (Mus musculus)
Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Black Rat (Rattus rattus)
Coyote (Canis latrans)
Feral hog (Sus scrofa)
Nutria (Myocastor coypus)
Woodchuck (Marmota monax)
Birds
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
English (house) sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Pigeon (Rock Dove) (Columba livia)

Under state law, these species can be killed at anytime and in any manner that is legal under state and local laws (It is NOT legal to trap wildlife live and move it to another location.) These are the only species this applies to and a permit or hunting license is required to use lethal methods on other wildlife that becomes a nuisance.

Thank you for this information!

I will see you out there! I love huntin' dem varmints!!!!! - Mittens Owebamney

Why not use a high powered adult Air Gun? I have taken out more than a couple of squirrels with an air gun on my private property for causing damage. The Airforce Talon SS is very quiet, and deadly accurate out to 50 yards.

Just my 2 cents.

May still fall under the hunting laws, but that decision would be yours.

Thanks for the information... 'yote hunting is in the near future!!!