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Monday, 21 September 2009 |
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
An area resident would like to mitigate the damage caused by deer wondering through his crops planted this year in the 471-acre Job Ready Sites ground, but two city ordinances conflict with a request to hunt the grounds.
Alan Frey, of Wapakoneta, addressed Wapakoneta City Council members earlier this month about having hunters, using bow and arrow or crossbows, glean the grounds of the deer which are migrating to this area south of U.S. 33 and west of Interstate 75 and damaging the corn and soybeans planted there.
He said the hunters, which may include himself, would follow all the rules of the state of Ohio, but he needed council approval since an ordinance restricts the discharge of a weapon within the city limits.
“I would like to propose a section of the city, south of U.S. 33, west of Interstate 75 and east of County Road 25A that would allow the discharge of weapons for sportsmen to take wild deer,” Frey said. “Along with the normal damage deer cause, they also lay down and bed down in the soybeans and other crops causing damage.”
Frey claimed he talked with Wapakoneta Police Chief Dave Webb and Auglaize County Game Warden Matt Hoehn about the situation and they had no problem with permitting hunting in the area.
Wapakoneta Mayor Rodney Metz said he met with Webb and Hoehn to discuss the issue. Council Clerk Carlene Koch requested copies of legislation pertaining to the matter from other municipalities.
At the Sept. 2 meeting, city Law Director Dennis Faller told councilors he would have to review two city ordinances if they decided to consider giving hunters permission to hunt. Along with allowing the discharging of a firearm or a weapon, councilors would have to consider allowing the hunting of animals and foul which are both prohibited under city ordinance. City ordinance only permits the killing, not shooting, of rodents within the corporation limits.
“I know the police chief and I talked about this issue several months ago about an incidence regarding hunting on the edge of town and I know he had a problem with it because of a code against hunting and the discharge of firearms,” Faller said. “We would have people complaining against squirrels and we don’t want them using a firearm to rid themselves of this nuisance.”
Metz said he has worked on having Webb and Hoehn attend a meeting on the matter.
“We will be announcing a meeting at this council meeting and we will be trying to schedule Hoehn, the police chief and at least the Health and Safety Committee chair attend the meeting so we can go over some rules and understandings,” Metz told the Wapakoneta Daily News. “All of these pieces of legislation we’ve read and from the information the police chief has gathered, we have determined a specific area has to be defined, the hunting instrument has to be defined and the type of animal has to be defined.
“We may or may not have to restrict the times of the hunt but they must be in accordance to the normal requirements of hunting wild game,” he said. “Another question we have is do the hunts have to follow the regular seasonal hunting schedule, and we have to learn if a certain criteria has to be met regarding excessive population.”
Councilor-at-large Steve Walter, who chairs the Health and Safety Committee, offered to have his committee members review the issue at an upcoming meeting. He said he would schedule the meeting at tonight’s meeting.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 September 2009 )
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