WENTWORTH
Rockingham County hunters could get along with the fluorescent-painted trees and blood alcohol screening tests, but some considered a potential requirement to carry written permission on private property too onerous.
"It would be just about impossible to obtain written permission on that many people's property," county resident Mike Philpott told the Board of Commissioners on Monday.
"I would like to ask that this particular part of the rule be dropped or rethought. I think it will stop a lot of people from hunting."
Commissioner James Kallam hoped that his fellow board members would request a law from state lawmakers enabling Rockingham County to tighten its hunting ordinance. But commissioners decided to delay the matter until a hunting advisory committee that Kallam leads works out disagreements among local hunters.
"I want to make sure what we do for the citizens of the county is the right thing to do," Kallam said after Monday's hearing. "I was ready for it to be passed until I listened to the concerns of the citizens."
The committee started meeting in December and members hoped to address complaints among property owners that some hunters trespass or hunt intoxicated.
If approved, the revised ordinance would require that hunters, fishers and trappers carry with them written permission from property owners, and allow property owners to post their land with reflective paint as an alternative to signs that are often destroyed.
The ordinance also would prohibit a hunter from having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.01 or greater as measured by an approved screening device. Violators would be subject to a fine of up to $500 and six months in jail.
About a dozen hunters spoke at Monday's meeting and a few of them backed the entire proposal.
Frank Marsh, a Stoneville hunter, said he has encountered many trespassers on the property his family owns and leases.
"I feel like it would help everybody in the county," Marsh said about the recommendations. "You start hitting a man's pocketbook, he's going to quit."
But Philpott and others said that the requirement to carry written permission would overburden small game hunters who often rely on verbal permission and must retrieve dogs who wander into areas they are not allowed. Philpott said hunters of small animals can hunt for weeks at a time on dozens of properties.
"There's quite a bit of differences already expressed and we need to go back into committee and have the committee members work it out," said board Chairman Harold Bass.
The hunting advisory committee will discuss the ordinance again at 6:30 p.m. on May 20 in the county governmental center. Commissioners may then vote on recommendations at their May 24 meeting.
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