Minutes 01-21-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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o As you know, dog deer hunting is already banned south of 1-40 in Orange County, and was banned many years ago in both Durham and Alamance Counties — in 2001 and 1979, respectively. o Northern Orange County has become too densely populated to safely dog deer hunt without impacting the property rights of land owners. o As you can tell from the County reports you've received tonight, protecting property owners from dog deer hunters is impractical for both law enforcement and animal control, and it's also difficult in these tight budget times. o In addition to the impact on property rights, residents are concerned for their safety: • They don't like unknown hunters near their homes, families and pets • Hunting from the road, and discharging firearms in the right-of-way is an illegal and dangerous practice that should be stopped. - Our position respects the rights of citizens to hunt in Orange County and the broader need to manage the deer population. - We acknowledge the need to manage or cull the deer population in the county, not only for safety, public health, and property concerns, but also for the deer's health and feeding needs. There are ways to effectively manage the deer population, but dog deer hunting is not one of them. - Our research indicates that dog deer hunting has been a nuisance to residents for a long time. Tonight there is a great deal of enthusiasm for the Board's willingness to consider a ban. - We respectfully ask the Board to ban dog deer hunting in Orange County. Thank you Zach Blevins thanked Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey for the work she did on this issue and he said that he is 100% in favor of banning deer dog hunting in Orange County. He said that many people are not here tonight that want the ban and he is in complete agreement with the email that the County Commissioners received. Tamara Matheson is from the Carrboro and Chapel Hill area and she is in support of the ban on dog deer hunting. She reiterated that 61% of the people on the survey are strongly opposed to the idea of having legal hunting of deer with dogs. She said that it would be next to impossible to regulate the hunting of deer with dogs because there is no guarantee that dogs will not cross into private land. She continued to speak about the difficulty of regulating this practice. She thinks that this is dangerous for motorists because of the risk of dogs and deer running into the road. Stephanie Wilson lives in Chapel Hill and said that she commutes every day to Hillsborough. She is in favor of banning the hunting of deer with dogs. She said that it is very dangerous for motorists. She is in fear of a deer, a hunter, or a dog running across the road while she is commuting with her child. Mark Chapman said that he is a lifetime resident of Orange County and is one of the biggest dog hunters in Orange County. He made reference to land and said that he starts at the line of the Hillsborough town limits all the way up Cedar Grove Road and continuing to NC 86, then on to Schley Road to NC 57. He said that no one has gotten a ticket from hunting from the road from his group. He said that the Triad Sportsman's Club has caused most of these problems. He pays $100 a year for a permit to be able to hunt in Orange County. He said that the members of the Triad Sportsman's Club do not live in Orange County.