[Durham INC] council's decision regarding deer hunting

[Michael Brooks]

I've attached the approved ordinance from the City of Durham. If you 
read through -- it's not very long -- you'll see that the hunter 
mentioned below was in violation for a bunch of reasons. (Pity there 
isn't a law requiring good manners or good sense . . .)

Hunters must have in their possession a valid hunting license, written 
permission from the property owner, must not be within 250 feet of any 
occupied building, AND can only hunt in a designated deer hunting 
season. The Urban Archery Deer Season is open only from Jan. 11 -- Feb. 
15. So our esteemed hunter wasn't even hunting during deer season!

Hopefully, other hunters will be better at knowing their rights and 
their limitations. One rotten apple, etc.

Mike
On 1/8/2014 11:59 AM, Rebecca Board wrote:
> Personally, I support the City Council in this.  I'm a strong 
> supporter of gun control, but I also believe that within the city 
> limits the only good deer is a dead one.  They breed like bunnies, 
> have no predators except cars to cull the population, and they cause a 
> lot of damage.  I've wanted a way to cull my personal deer population 
> on a city lot for decades now, and would feel a lot better about 
> bringing in an archer than someone with a gun - not necessarily 
> because the weapon does less damage, but because it takes more skill 
> and thought to use a bow than to pull a trigger.
>
> Sounds like the hunter in the story below didn't care if what he was 
> doing was legal or not, endangered others or not,  disturbed the peace 
> or not, caused him to trespass or not.  My question is how do we keep 
> jerks like this from being allowed to hunt anywhere with any type of 
> weapon?
>
> As many gun problems as we have in this country, archers and even 
> hunters with single shot rifles are pretty low on my list of threats.
>
> BUT, if I'd had the experience of the person below, I'd probably have 
> sent the same letter.  It's understandable.  But personally I've heard 
> a lot more stories about problems caused by deer than stories about 
> crazy hunters.
>
> --Rebecca
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 10:29 AM, Melissa Rooney <mmr121570 at yahoo.com 
> <mailto:mmr121570 at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>     Please see the following/forwarded message to the Council from my
>     friend Carol Young. While I agree with ecologically sound ways of
>     dealing with an overpopulation of deer when it exists, I am also
>     concerned about allowing people to hunt deer within city limits,
>     whether with a bow, a boomerang, whatever. The story described
>     below is an example of the situations that can (and have)
>     developed (and this is with hunters on what is presumed to be
>     gameland).
>
>     I am interested in others' thoughts on the matter.
>
>     Sincerely,
>     Melissa Rooney
>
>     > Dear Council,
>     >
>     > Once again I'm informing you of our latest disturbing experience
>     with a "law abiding" hunter.
>     >
>     > As background information, there is a narrow spit of land
>     between Lake Park and Lyon's Farm north of Scott King Rd. that was
>     included as NC Gameland as part of the Jordan Lake 240 foot
>     contour line. When this area was designated as Gameland, there was
>     only the beginning of construction of Lake Park in the late
>     1970's. To the west was nothing but undisturbed forest save for a
>     few homes scattered along the dirt roads all the way to NC 751.
>     The distance between Lake Park and Lyon's Farm encompassing this
>     Gameland is between 300 feet and 500. Clearly this area should no
>     longer be part of Gameland due to its proximity to homes.
>     >
>     > Today in the late afternoon, a hunter trespassed on my
>     neighbor's and my property to access the northern edge of
>     Gameland, less than 150 feet from my property to set up a his deer
>     stand aimed into a wooded area that is within the city limits. I
>     watched him as he scoped into this area and advised him that he
>     was aiming into the city limits and I would call the police if I
>     saw him shoot illegally. I further advised him to turn his stand
>     around facing into Gameland where he would be legal. In the two
>     plus hours he was there, he maintained his aim into the city limits.
>     >
>     > I alerted a neighbor to the hunting activity as he was about to
>     walk his dog in this area. He walked down to our property with his
>     dog and talked to my husband who was finishing up yard work and at
>     that point, not interacting with the hunter. By this time it was
>     dark and my neighbor shined a light on the hunter and asked him
>     what he was doing. The hunter taunted my husband and neighbor
>     saying he would be up in the stand all night and "hoped" his
>     coyote calls wouldn't wake us up. Then he made a few coyote calls
>     to prove his point. The hunter opined to my neighbor that he
>     didn't think it wise for him to be talking like he did to someone
>     who had weapons, clearly a veiled threat. It was now past legal
>     hunting time (being more than one half hour after sunset)so my
>     husband asked the hunter if he knew what time it was. The hunter
>     either didn't answer or didn't know. My husband walked into the
>     house and called 911 having felt threatened by this man.
>     >
>     > When the male deputy and my husband walked to the rear of our
>     property they were greeted by the hunter shining a light on them
>     and mockingly saying, "Hello ladies." The deputy said, "Durham
>     County Sheriff's Deputy, turn your light off," which the hunter
>     ignored. Upon the second request by the deputy the hunter asked
>     the deputy for identification. The deputy responded, "Don't you
>     see my uniform?" The deputy then informed the hunter that deer
>     hunting season ended one half hour after sunset, it was past that
>     time and this man needed to leave. This hunter had the nerve to
>     ask the deputy to give him a ride to his vehicle which would have
>     meant walking through our property to reach the patrol car. The
>     deputy said he would not give him a ride and waited until the man
>     left the area.
>     >
>     > To say this latest encounter was un-nerving is an
>     understatement. No one should have to put up with this dangerous
>     nonsense. In light of your recent decision, clearly ignorant of
>     the behavior of many hunters, you are putting residents at risk.
>     Have you thought about adjacent property owners not knowing that
>     hunting will occur next to them or that a hunter will know the
>     boundary of the land much less know where 250 from the boundary is
>     or god forbid a child goes into the area and is shot? Do you
>     honestly think hunters will care about these rules should a deer
>     be sighted outside of the legal hunting area?. Law enforcement has
>     enough to do without responding to dangerous situations created by
>     your unanimous decision.
>     >
>     > Citizens should not be on the front line ensuring that hunters
>     obey the rules. I trust none of you live where you've dealt with
>     this type of situation. Again, I am asking you to overturn your
>     bow hunting decision, and failing that, at the very least land
>     owners who allow hunting should clearly mark their property lines
>     identifying the property as hunting land as well as mark the 250
>     foot no hunting buffer, notify adjacent property owners and/or
>     register their property with the city as hunting land.
>     >
>     > Considering this latest unsettling encounter with a person who
>     holds his right to hunt above the safety of others (and he is not
>     an isolated case), I believe a response from you is warranted.
>     Again, please reconsider your decision. I'd rather take my chances
>     with the deer, at least they don't retaliate, something I don't
>     put past this hunter.
>     >
>     > Sincerely,
>     >
>     > Carol Young
>
>     _______________________________________________
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>     list at durham-inc.org <mailto:list at durham-inc.org>
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>
>
>
>
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