Bills aim to widen buffer zones between hunting tracts, suburban residences
I can still see and hear the late Shelah Aiken as she stood on her back porch, hands on her hips while screaming in protest at the shower of stray shotgun pellets that had just rained downed on the metal roof of her rural East Texas home.
It was September 1990. Aiken's brother-in-law, Max, Adrian Russell and I were hunkered down in a patch of goat weed near a spring-fed creek where mourning doves routinely came to water each afternoon. One of us had just killed a dove that all three had shot at, but only a few of the pellets found the mark. The majority of the lead projectiles kept right on going until the law of gravity brought them down on Mrs. Aiken's roof.
We knew we had a good scolding coming to us when the screen door on the farm house cracked open and the pitter pat of small boots hitting the wooden porch grew louder.
"Oh, no, here comes Shelah," Max Aiken whispered. "We must have peppered her roof. She don't like that much."
Indeed, she didn't.
"Y'all quit shooting towards my house!" she grumbled. At that, the feisty cowgirl stormed back inside, mumbling a string of choice words that could be heard until the door slammed behind her.
I'll be the first to admit that someone in our group committed a boneheaded error. Discharging a firearm in a direction that can send bullets or pellets into areas occupied by others can be extremely dangerous.
The projectiles can travel a lot farther than you might think. The distance between us and the house was about 150 yards, but shotshell pellets can travel much farther depending on the angle of the barrel.
The isolated mishap mirrors an issue that some believe has escalated into a dangerous problem in some metropolitan areas where urban sprawl continues to gobble up the countryside, turning once wide-open farm and ranch land into concrete jungles comprised of residential areas, strip malls, convenience stores, schools and day care centers.
There is still plenty of farmland that flanks urban areas. Many Texas dove hunters flock to it each September out of convenience and, in some cases, to hunt large flocks of doves.
Provided they have permission, hunters are perfectly legal in doing so -- even if the land is located inside the city limits -- according to a law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2005. The law prevents cities from using firearms ordinances to prohibit hunting on large tracts annexed after 1981, as long as the hunters are at a safe distance from occupied buildings.
Under current law:
* Shotguns, BB guns or bows and arrows can be used for hunting on tracts 10 acres or larger, provided it is 150 feet from homes or occupied buildings.
* Rifles and pistols may be used for hunting on tracks 50 acres or larger that are located 300 feet from homes and buildings.
* Weapons must be fired in such a way that the projectiles can not exit the tract boundary.
Some folks believe the buffer zones are too narrow, and they have not been bashful about voicing their opinions. As a result, Dallas-area politicians have filed bills to amend the 2005 law to widen the legal gap between hunting tracts and suburban dwellers and businesses.
Senate Bill 1742 filed by Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and House Bill 3766 filed by Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, are virtually identical in content. If passed the bills will:
* Create a 1,000-foot buffer zone between a hunting tract and a residence or occupied building.
* Create a 1,500-foot buffer zone between a hunting tract and an occupied school, day care, nursing home or adult day care on another property.
* Place a 1,500-foot buffer zone between the property lines of public tracts used for outdoor recreation, residential subdivisions or multifamily residential complexes.
Creating buffer zones of 333-500 yards between hunting tracts and residential areas sounds like sensible legislation to me. True, some prime dove hunting fields may be lost. But as the old saying goes, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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