# Chesterfield ordinance on bow and arrows deferred



## SHOOT-N-STAB

Blaze orange for kids during archery season? How stupid are these urbanites?


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## BigBirdVA

Tree huggers making emotional statements or uneducated individuals that haven't a clue. 

They don't want hunters to take Bambi out until it gets to a problem point. Then it's ok for guys to come in and blast them with guns for a week or two. I know a town in VA that did that. Talked to one of the guys and he had a gun shooting from the ground at deer with a spotlight. But that's a lot safer than a controlled bow hunt? ukey: It's all in who and how it's presented and agendas of those involved. Sadly the real reason is bow hunting is the most despised by the AR types and the easiest to stop. We have the fewest numbers and speak back the least.


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## Moon

*My 2 cents*

(I live in Chesterfield and shoot in my back yard virtually every day and have been since 1980)

They don't want the deer in their yards and they don't want bowhunters sitting around shooting deer close to their yards. They want their cake and eat it too. Personally, I've been against killing deer by bowhunters in housing subdivisions since day one. It can only lead to a bad name for bowhunters and real hunting. So I say let the county and its residents with deer problems find a way to manage their problems WITHOUT arrows flying around in those neghborhoods. It's their problem and creating problems for bowhunters in the process is not the answer.


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## BigBirdVA

Hope it's 200 yards to your neighbors house or you'll have to find a new place to practice. For many that shoot in their back yard at a target they don't meet that requirement. So they won't be able to practice any more in their yard. You need to be 2 football fields away from anyone's house. That cuts out a lot of areas.

It's a law for the wrong reasons. When we start making rules for things that might happen you open the door to anything and everything.

There is no clause for an out either. Is a archery pro shop in a strip mall going to be in violation now if they shoot indoors? No stipulations other than the distance. Poorly written law in a knee jerk reaction to some AR's agenda. :thumbs_do


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## Hoyt Hunter

They have no good common sense and I guess they believe we are just stupid slobering beings just above monkeys or something. I get so mad when people who dont even understand pass judgement. They proably havent held a gun or bow in there whole life


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## Moon

*And they are elected by voters*

plus it goes all the way up to the federal government. Look at the 3 stooges we have in DC now:thumbs_do


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## RICE ETR

Uhhhgggg.....my father lives in Chesterfield....bunch of yahoo's there in some of those subdivisions. Just go to a school soccer game or the local panera bread and you will see. 
It's funny when I get criticized by those people for bowhunting and then remind them why there are so many deer on my father's property....because their McMansion housing development next to us cleared out 200 acres of deer habitat...and bowhunting is the answer. They can't seem to respond to that.
As I have said before I am trying to sign up for a suburban whitetail association....one of the rules is that bowhunters must hunt from a treestand...did anyone mention that in this meeting?

Not to beat a dead horse but this goes along with what I was blabbing about in the "how I get deer home" thread....Va is so liberal in some areas that this would get you pulled over for sure....or at least a convoy of cara-vans (soccer moms) after you.


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## joe4

*Chesterfield Public Forum*

Having attended the public hearing, Mr. Malloy did not hire bowhunter. Another resident did, and Mr. Malloy represented the HOA to go on record against said action. 
As to needing bowhunters to control the deer herd in a subdivision, I say there needs to be a better solution. Anytime you bring lethal means into a neighborhood, you bring in risk to all young families surrounding the hunt, not to mention the sight of wounded deer bounding through 1/2 acre lots. Being a bowhunter myself, I can appreciate the proposed guidelines of 600' from a residence. The issue is not admonishing bowhunting, just moving it out of closely knit residential areas. 
The deer hunters association brought facts of auto accidents prevalent in the county. As long as there are automobiles on the road, we all know for a fact there will be collisions. And the collisions will not be curtailed by having bowhunters within neighborhoods. 
I applaud the effort set forth to establish the guidelines.


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## BigBirdVA

Uh hate to break the news to you but.................. they have been urban hunting there for years. How many accidents have we had so far? Zero. Now I'm sure someone will come forward with an "arrow in my yard" story as proof they need a law. But was it from a hunter or kids or some idiot with a bow? And if you really want to stop shootings in the city that hurt and kill people you might want to look out of the woods at people not wearing camo. 


The area I hunted there you would be hard pressed to find a spot 200 yds from a house. Yet the deer population was growing. I could only hunt 1 small spot and after a few hunts they took another route to the shrubs and grass. And they crossed a road to get to their favorite spot. 

The 600' rule will effectively put an end to urban hunting in the places it need it the most. And what will happen after disease and damage peaks is they'll bring in some "safe" gun hunters to thin them out for a week or two and then let the process start all over again. All because a few antis don't like hunting. Especially bow hunting. Wrong law for the wrong reasons. :thumbs_do


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## BarneySlayer

*Maybe we at AT can get involved?*

It seems like this might be a good opportunity to organize ourselves and affect things, or at least let our voice be heard in a public forum.

If we acknowledge that concerns about letting just anybody fling missles at potentially over 300 fps in residential areas with no guidelines or precautions, we then have a door to help them determine the best way to address their issues.

We as legitimate issues we have....


Backyard target shooting
Hunting deer responsibly

With backyard target shooting, it is important that it is safe, and it is a reality that some bozos can ruin it for all of us because they're either stupid, ignorant, or inconsiderate. Drawing toward the sky, not having a suitable back stop, add your potential reason for disaster to the list. My middle school lost it's archery program because some ____head kid decided that it would be funny to see how far an arrow would go pointed in the opposite direction of the target. Skipped on the ground a few time, went through a cracked car door window, and lodged in some poor lady's head. We can say that we should just hold inviduals responsible for their actions, but that's very little consolation to those who get hurt, and not reassuring to people who have fears about it, rational or not.

What do you think about an easy to obtain permit which is essentially a check on acknowleding responsible target shooting? It could be obtained online via a questionaire and a nominal $5 or $10, or $0 for each adult either shooting or supervising shooting. My initial list would be...


Target and shooting lane have ____ of clear view.
Target area of ______ has adequate backstop, defined as _____
Shooting may only be done by or with supervision of authorized adult, who is responsible for all activity.
Field tips only
Everything else you can think of that we consider common sense, but isn't so common.

From a hunting perspective, I don't know if they require hunter education training, but if they don't, perhaps they should. The tree stand suggestion is a good one, since the ground generally makes a good back stop, and deer don't generally know where you want them to go for a safe shot.

We know that their fears are probably not proportional to the reality, but if we just dismiss them and call them stupid, they're not going to listen, and scared people are better at shouting louder, which is what politicians listen to, when they're not distracted by money.

That's my thought anyway. If we can put together a coherent solution that will alleviate their concerns, and also protect our long term interests in the activity, and find somebody local who can present a sensible solution, that'd be a pretty great thing.


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## MTNHunt

Hey Barnyslayer, I am with you and the others. Also just to let the others know here is another thread that is going on about the issue:

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1067506

:thumbs_up


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## vedge

*ttt*

ttt


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## Krypt Keeper

people in chesterfield are worried about bow hunters, however Henrico county is a rifle county which really makes no sense to me. 

They will never hear a bow being shot, the deer pop. will be managed and I personally feel bow hunters to be the safest hunters in the woods.


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## corpralbarn

Needs to be changed to no hunting within 600 feet. that seems to be the main concern.


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