For 137 years, a ban on Sunday hunting has allowed church bells to ring in North Carolina without competition from the crack of rifle shots or the howls of hunting dogs.

But a survey recently commissioned by the state has stoked a debate about the ban.

Where supporters of the Sunday ban see a welcome day of worship and rest -- or at least an opportunity to hike and bike in peace -- weekend outdoor enthusiasts such as Jason Dickinson view it as an unfair restriction on their limited hunting time. Preparing for an afternoon dove hunt in Harnett County on his Labor Day holiday, Dickinson said it was time to lift the ban.

"I think it should be allowed," said Dickinson, a senior airman stationed at Pope Air Force Base, "A lot of guys work all week long and only get one day to hunt."

The state ban, enacted in 1869, allows hunting on some military installations where the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction. The law makes North Carolina one of 11 states, all in the East, to strictly limit or prohibit Sunday hunting.

Last year, Gov. Mike Easley directed the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to measure the spectrum of opinion among hunters, religious groups and the general public. The commission contracted with Responsive Management, a Harrisonburg, Va., firm collaborating with Virginia Tech, and held a series of public forums across the state. The public comment phase of the study ended Aug. 31.

Responsive Management also conducted a statewide phone survey of the general public and a mail survey of hunters. The research firm is scheduled to present its survey results to the commission by December, and the governor and the General Assembly are expected to use the results to determine whether it is time to change the Sunday hunting law.

Extending hunting to Sundays would not significantly affect North Carolina's stable deer population, a state wildlife biologist said.

The law dates back to the enactment of "blue laws" devoted to maintaining Sunday as a day of religious observance; the view from some pulpits is that there is no reason to change.

The Christian Action League of Raleigh opposes easing the ban. The Rev. Mark Creech, the league's executive director, said one of the ban's virtues is that it protects rural churches from dangerous disruptions.

"It's just not conducive to worship to hear, 'bang!' from a property nearby," Creech said.

The Rev. Jeff Springer, the pastor of Big Lick Baptist Church in Oakboro, is an avid hunter himself. But he attended one of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's hearings at South Stanly High School in Norwood to voice his opposition to easing the ban.

Splitting dad, family?

"I'll be hunting Saturday," Springer said last week. "I've got deer hung on my wall. I love to hunt, but if people want to hunt more, just extend the season. Give them more days that way, because as a pastor, I look at the other side and see how hunting on Sunday would take a father away from his family more.

"A lot of people will say, 'We hunt as a family,' but realistically, the daughters and the mommas aren't out hunting."

Support for the ban stretches beyond church pews.

According to the president of the N.C. Farm Bureau, Larry B. Wooten, the organization's delegates voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of the ban the last two years.

As landowners, Wooten said, many farmers welcome Sunday as a day without hunters traipsing across their property, even if they have permission.

"It's nice to have a day to walk free in the woods without fear of someone sitting in a tree mistaking you for a deer," said Wooten, who hunts.

Art Manning and other hunters have heard similar arguments from hikers, mountain bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. A Clayton contractor and engineer, Manning said he maintains a growing database that includes about 650 people across the state who think that the ban should be lifted.

Manning, 50, feels strongly enough about the issue that he includes the phrase "Sundayhunting" in his personal e-mail address. He said he tries to hunt every Saturday from September to January and questions the supposed religious significance of Sunday hunting in other states.

"Go to Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, all the way to the West Coast: Church attendance isn't any less. You can't tell me North Carolina is a more religious state because it doesn't allow hunting on Sundays. ...

"If anything, the Sunday hunting ban makes things harder on families, because people feel compelled to hunt every Saturday."

But not every hunter gets as exercised as Manning about the issue.

What about NASCAR?

The lunch-hour customers lingering inside Perry's Gun Shop in Wendell on Thursday questioned the ban in the absence of comparable restrictions on fishing, tailgating at a Carolina Panthers game or spending all day at a NASCAR race.

Mike Poole of Garner said hunting on Sundays was not his top priority, but he said it would be nice to have a choice.

"I'm not saying I'd go," said Poole, 54. "But if the time was right, and the weather was right, I don't see anything wrong with it."

(Staff writer Mike Zlotnicki contributed to this report.)