Is Sunday hunting gaining traction?

This could be the year for Sunday hunting.

The momentum is unmistakable. Last summer, the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries passed a resolution supporting a repeal of Virginia's ban on Sunday hunting.

The formerly fractured forces pushing for repeal are much more organized: Websites have cropped up and social media campaigns are gaining traction.

Just recently, a group of prominent politicians and sportsmen, including Dels. Albert Pollard and William Janis, and former state Sen. Ken Stolle, started the Virginia Sunday Hunting Coalition (virginiasundayhunting.org) to push for a repeal.

And Gov. Bob McDonnell has left the door open with statements about allowing Sunday hunting on private lands.

After years of repeal bills being voted down decisively in committee without much consideration, the issue is poised to receive the debate it deserves.

"It's been an idea that's been quickly dismissed without any serious discussion," said Jimmy Hazel, current DGIF board member and past president. "I believe this year, the debate will be more on the merits of the issue and not just past preconceptions of what (Sunday hunting) is and what it isn't."

Bob Duncan, DGIF Executive Director, echoed those sentiments: "There are a lot of folks sending me emails. There are bloggers out there. . . . I wouldn't make a prediction as to the outcome of it, but I would say it's going to get a lot of discussion."

So far, three bills concerning Sunday hunting — two in the Senate, one in the house — have been filed and await debate in committee.

Two of those would allow hunting on private land only. The third would be a complete repeal. More are expected.

Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) has sponsored full repeal bills in the past. This year, his is one of the private-land-only repeals.

"I hate to sort of bang my head against a wall," he said of the change in tactics. "It's really almost more of a property rights issue. You can hunt your own property or people can hunt your property with permission. For the life of me, I don't see how you can stop somebody from doing that as long as they're in season."

Petersen said when he first studied the issue and decided to sponsor a bill, "I didn't realize it was such an emotional touchstone. I got more emails about this than everything else put together last year."

The bill he put forward last year, and the way it died, underscores the kind of strange bedfellows the Sunday hunting subject creates. The NRA, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and a host of other influential sportsmen's groups have come out publicly in favor of repeal. In the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, where Petersen's bill eventually died, Doug Domenech, Secretary of Natural Resources, spoke in favor of the bill, which garnered three votes from Democrats and none from Republicans.

"Here's the Republican Secretary standing up to support a Democrat bill from Fairfax," said Hazel, who also spoke in favor of the bill last year. "It was really kind of humorous: You had three Democrats who voted with the administration and the NRA, and all the Republicans voted with PETA and the Humane Society."

Groups such as the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, the Audubon Society and those representing horseback riders, hikers and bikers also have previously come out against repealing the ban.

For Petersen and others, a repeal makes sense logically and economically.

"I have a hunting license in Maryland," he said, "and as I drive up there, it's not like there's people lying dead in the street because they got shot on Sunday. Suddenly everyone's life is going to be placed in jeopardy? I have a hard time believing that."

He described a goose-hunting trip he took with his father to the Eastern Shore in 2011. They stayed at a hotel, ate meals locally, and paid for a hunting guide.

"It's not going to Vegas, but I'd say, on balance, we probably threw 500 to 600 bucks at the local economy. It adds up."

With the board of the DGIF, prominent politicians and grassroots organizations all coming together — and a governor who seems willing to consider the previously unthinkable — there are signs this will be the year Virginia's ban on Sunday hunting begins to crumble.