VNVGUNNER
Ultimate Member
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- In an effort to control the deer population in Montgomery County, deer hunting will be allowed in three months in the more developed areas under a bill unanimously approved on Tuesday by the County Council.
The council's measure will permit managed hunts in more parts of the county.
The deer present myriad problems, including causing 2,000 collisions annually; an increase in Lyme disease, which is carried by deer ticks; and crop and property damage.
More development cuts back on the animals' habitat and pushed them closer to populated areas to find food.
County Council Vice Chairman Phil Andrews, chairman of the public safety committee, was persuaded by the information on deer-related dangers. He called the new hunting law "a significant change in policy."
Under the new rules, deer hunting will be allowed 50 yards away from a road, on smaller parcels than currently allowed if landowners together create a 50-acre parcel for hunting.
Deer hunting in Montgomery also would be permitted 150 yards away from a building that is occupied by animals but not people. That would allow hunting close to a barn that isn't next to a house. Signs would have to be posted to tell neighbors about the impending hunt.
The county currently allows managed deer hunts in county parks several times a year, and there is an official deer hunting season in designated areas of the county. A managed hunt is under way at Little Bennett Regional Park off Interstate 270 north of Germantown, according to a county parks official.
County residents have mixed reactions to permitting deer hunting closer to populated areas.
Shelley J. Winkler of Washington Grove lives near a large open area where hunting would be allowed under the new law. She said she was worried. "This county is becoming denser by the minute, and to think that guns could be fired so close to my home and to many others near me is frightening," she said. "It's the inverse of what should be happening."
But David Michaels, head of a citizens association in the Colesville area, wrote a letter to the County Council, in which he said the "overgrowth of deer in our area is resulting in a multitude of intolerable problems."
The council's measure will permit managed hunts in more parts of the county.
The deer present myriad problems, including causing 2,000 collisions annually; an increase in Lyme disease, which is carried by deer ticks; and crop and property damage.
More development cuts back on the animals' habitat and pushed them closer to populated areas to find food.
County Council Vice Chairman Phil Andrews, chairman of the public safety committee, was persuaded by the information on deer-related dangers. He called the new hunting law "a significant change in policy."
Under the new rules, deer hunting will be allowed 50 yards away from a road, on smaller parcels than currently allowed if landowners together create a 50-acre parcel for hunting.
Deer hunting in Montgomery also would be permitted 150 yards away from a building that is occupied by animals but not people. That would allow hunting close to a barn that isn't next to a house. Signs would have to be posted to tell neighbors about the impending hunt.
The county currently allows managed deer hunts in county parks several times a year, and there is an official deer hunting season in designated areas of the county. A managed hunt is under way at Little Bennett Regional Park off Interstate 270 north of Germantown, according to a county parks official.
County residents have mixed reactions to permitting deer hunting closer to populated areas.
Shelley J. Winkler of Washington Grove lives near a large open area where hunting would be allowed under the new law. She said she was worried. "This county is becoming denser by the minute, and to think that guns could be fired so close to my home and to many others near me is frightening," she said. "It's the inverse of what should be happening."
But David Michaels, head of a citizens association in the Colesville area, wrote a letter to the County Council, in which he said the "overgrowth of deer in our area is resulting in a multitude of intolerable problems."