Saturday, August 15, 2015

Archery program F O R E V E R UPDATED

Where do I begin? I went to the meeting this morning which was set up to recruit private property owners. The plan is to set up this program to run F O R E V E R. See the 1:29:00 timestamp. This is approximately where Mr. Maddock told us that the program is FOREVER. Jody Maddock wants us to set up relationships with archers much like people in Florida have with their bug guys. A friend of mine once told me that in FL, they always invite their bug guy to weddings. Jody said once we stop, the deer will come back.

Here is what I learned. They need a 50 yard safety zone from the tree stands to any structure. This can be from sheds, dog houses, homes - any structure. They had 65 applications from archers, but are only using the top five or seven. The message is to use their archers to keep the rest outta here. We are in a special regulations area which permits archers to buy as many tags as they want. A tag costs under $7. The archery runs from September 19 to the end of January, with a short break around Christmas time. There is no hunting permitted on Sundays, so this will be six days a week from sun up to sundown. The public parks will be identified and fluorescent orange will not be worn. Hunters will typically hunt 15 feet up on a tree stand, but will also hunt off of decks, and even from kitchen or bedroom windows. I recorded the meeting and hope to have it posted on lebocitizens.com some time this weekend. See update.

I learned that this is not euthanasia. Mr. Maddock hopes for rapid massive hemorrhaging. It results in a faster death. Ugh.

I think I need to order more signs.

Update August 16, 2015 8:31 AM I uploaded the podcast of the informational meeting. I believe it is the only recording of this meeting. It was unclear that the municipality made its own audio recording. The podcast is found on my website. Here is the link.  http://www.lebocitizens.com/Lebo_Citizens/Podcasts/Entries/2015/8/15_Entry_1.html

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Elaine, my take from the meeting as yours was is that Tony and Jody are nothing more than matchmakers who do nothing more than to build a relationship between property owners and archers with the goal of marrying the two forever and for their matchmaking services of no more than 7 archers, Tony and Jody walked away with more than $15,000 of taxpayer money. I'm trying to figure out what part of the program is actually managed being that no one is actually overseeing the actions of the archers once they are in the yards and that non-participating archers are encouraged to participate in hunting with no oversight. I believe the ultimate goal is for urban deer hunting to become more of a norm. Once Tony and Dave do their job, they're done and their hands are clean.

Nick M.

Lebo Citizens said...

Nick, here is what bothers me the most. Since Jody Maddock said that the archery will take place from September through January EVERY YEAR, how do the commissioners expect us to stay out of parks and the golf course for five months out of every year?

If there is nothing to stop this except a 50 yard safety zone on public and private properties, and it is going to take place every year indefinitely, then all public properties should be pulled from the killing program. Wait till revenues drop at the golf course! I bet the recreation department will have something to say about that!
Elaine

Anonymous said...

I asked about public areas being used because the presentation was specific to private properties. Keith McGill and Jody Maddock didn't have or want to share any information with the group regarding public areas, they just referred us to the September 8th meeting. Will there be a presentation for public areas, my guess is no...but we'll see.

Nick M.

Anonymous said...

So someone can hunt in the parks from Sept to Jan anytime except nightfall? Wow - way to promote a healthy lifestyle Mt Lebanon. Park use is going to dip tremendously if hunters are sitting in freakin' tree stands. I already know people who haven't gone back to the parks since the corralling.

Lebo Citizens said...

I think another important point must be made. Jody Maddock is going to ask the commissioners to permit him to bait. Then it does not become a hunt, but a cull which requires a permit from the PA Game Commission. That should really tick off any hunters since it is not ethical to bait.
Elaine