MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon City Council members adopted a deer management program for the city in time for the start of archery season on Sept. 27.
The ordinance discussed at the July 28 meeting prohibited hunting within 500 feet of any inhabited dwelling, building, or public roadway.
According to Mayor Matt Starr, 500 feet is from the council chambers to Vine Street.
On Monday, council members voted 4:1 to amend the distance to 30 yards (90 feet). It called the 500-foot distance unreasonable and ludicrous.
In a committee meeting before the legislative session, Councilman James Mahan said the initial ordinance was restrictive in terms of liability waiver and the distance.
Nevertheless, he noted that the ordinance was a first step, “so maybe it’s good that it’s being very cautious and conservative.”
However, Mahan said a Google search between committee meetings and the council session revealed 500 feet is an unreasonable shot most archers would not take.
“It makes the legislation foolish to even adopt,” he said.
“… We don’t want to adopt legislation that’s foolish. We also, in my opinion, don’t want to unnecessarily delay the legislation because we want the city to have time to put everything in place in time for the hunting season.”
Councilman Mel Severns agreed.
“I know enough about deer hunting and talk to deer hunters that if you can shoot a deer over 35, 40 yards, you’re probably a very, very good shooter. I think if we do use 30 yards, that’s about 90 feet, that makes sense,” Severns said.
“We’ve talked about the number of deer coming into the city … We have to make this realistic if we actually want to control some of the deer. I mean, 500 feet is just, it’s ludicrous.”
Weighing safety and effectiveness
The original ordinance is more restrictive than Gambier’s, being an archery-only system and including the distance restriction.
Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers said the administration used ODNR’s program, and then added layers of protection.
Additionally, an administrative code will have additional safety features, such as some form of target qualification or skills test.
Also, part of the hunter’s registration fee would go toward covering the costs of donating meat back to a food shelter.
“We understand there’s going to be community reluctance, but also we’ve looked at the public safety side of things,” the safety-service director said.
“And the concerns versus the actual numbers of instances of issues throughout the state, they don’t match up. The concerns outweigh the real issues.”
Councilwoman Tammy Woods voted against the amendment and the ordinance.
She said constituents feel 500 feet was not far enough. Additionally, they asked what areas would be eligible for hunting.
“Mount Vernon has a lot of very diverse land. A lot of the outlying areas have a lot of rural residential,” Salyers responded.
“So if the hunting will basically occur … on the edges of the city, how is that doing anything for the population in the city?” Woods asked.
“If the question is 500 feet, is that going to do anything for management? No, it’s not going to make that much of a dent,” Salyers said.
“But if you’re concerned about safety and you want to try it out, then 500 feet.”
Councilman Mahan said the 30-yard distance council members voted in is a reasonable place to start.
“That makes this legislation an appropriate place to start rather than something that’s just not reasonable at all, so I’m in favor of doing that,” he said.
Deer management, not deer hunting
Salyers said people chuckle at the phrase deer management, but he said that truly is the goal.
“We have Lyme disease on the increase. We have people that are not caring about compliance issues [when building] their fences, and we have crash data on vehicles hitting deer,” he said.
“So this is truly management, and that’s why ODNR encourages you to call it true deer management. It’s truly a deer management program when you’re in a municipality.”
Law Director Rob Broeren said most urban deer management programs have no distance requirement.
