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Victoria Will Participate in DGIF Urban Archery Season

   Written by on March 23, 2017 at 9:49 am

Kenbridge already has guidelines in place

Victoria officials held a public hearing last week on the possibility of adding the Urban Archery Guidelines to the existing Town of Victoria hunting ordinance.  Victoria Town Manager Rodney Newton said that there had been some discussions about not allowing hunting on Town owned properties.  This was added to the guidelines and was the only comment made during the public hearing.

With no additional comments, a motion was made by Councilmember Ron Mattox and that was carried by the other members to participate in the Department of Game and Inland Fishery’s Urban Archery Season with the addition of stricter rules and regulations specific to the Town of Victoria.

Human-deer conflicts are increasing in urban areas throughout the Commonwealth. Numerous cities, towns, and urbanized counties have requested assistance regarding damage caused by deer to vehicles and personal property. Residential, commercial, and industrial development has altered the landscape of Virginia. In many cases, more favorable habitat conditions for white-tailed deer populations have resulted, and deer populations have flourished. Additionally, many jurisdictions have enacted local ordinances to prohibit the discharge of firearms. This creates large tracts of land that act as refuges (sanctuaries) for unregulated growth of deer populations.

The objective of the urban archery season is to reduce human/deer conflicts in urban areas by concentrating archery-hunting pressure in urban/suburban areas. Archery deer hunting is an effective, quiet method for harvesting deer in urban settings. The concept is modeled after a successful urban archery season initiated several years ago in West Virginia. Additionally, urban archery seasons have been used as an effective deer management option for numerous years in several Midwestern states.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries established an urban archery season during 2002 to assist towns and cities across the Commonwealth with urban deer management issues. The urban archery season gives localities a means to reduce deer populations within their limits while at the same time providing hunting recreation. The regulation that establishes this season is permissive, and the season is available to every incorporated city and town in Virginia and to every county with a human population density of 300 persons per square mile or more. Therefore, the season is only “open” in those towns, cities, and counties that requested to participate in writing.

Any locality that is not currently participating, but wishes to do so, shall submit by certified letter to the department prior to April 1 notice of its intent to participate in the urban archery season.

To make this season a success, urban archery deer hunters are asked to be extra careful regarding safety, to respect the property rights of all landowners, and to report any questionable behavior or violations they may witness. Because many urban archers may be hunting on small acreages and/or near dwellings, they are reminded to pay close attention to property lines and to notify adjacent landowners or tenants as a courtesy before they hunt. State law does not allow a hunter to follow a wounded animal on to another person’s property without the landowners’ permission.

Kenbridge has been participating in this season previously and has the following guidelines.

No person shall discharge a bow unless from an elevated tree stand position of at least ten (10) feet above the ground. Any disabled hunter unable to hunt from such a platform must comply with all regulations established by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. All tree stands utilized for hunting deer must be removed from the subject property from April 1 until September 1 of each year.

No person shall discharge a bow from, over or across any street, sidewalk, alley, roadway, or public land within the town limits or toward any building or dwelling in such a manner that an arrow may strike it.

Hunters must dispose of deer carcasses appropriately.

Hunters must carry written permission from the landowner to hunt.

No person shall hunt deer in the town by use of dog or dogs.

Any person violating these provisions shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

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