SallyGrowler Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 From Two River Times Opponents Seek Ban On Local Waterfowl Hunting By John Burton A number of area residents are urging state officials to take action to halt waterfowl hunting along the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers. While hunters counter that they are doing what people have been doing here for years and that they obey all laws and state regulations doing it, those opposed to the sport recently ratcheted up their campaign by compiling a petition seeking an out-and-out ban on local hunting. "The discharge of firearms has no place in this densely populated area, and should have been discontinued years ago," states the letter accompanying the petition sent to Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The petition, complied by a group calling themselves Residents for a Peaceful River, contains more than 400 signatures from those who live in the area, but also from people not in the immediate vicinity. While the majority of signatures are from those living in Monmouth Beach, Rumson and Fair Haven, communities located directly on the waterways, there are also signatures from people in Hazlet and the Port Monmouth section of Middletown, in the county's Bayshore area, from West Long Branch and Eatontown, and one signature from as far away as Short Hills. Those opposed to the shooting and hunting cite two major concerns: safety and the infringement on homeowners' quality of life. During the 60-day season, between November and January, homeowners are often subjected to "An unceasing loud report of gunfire," alleged Fair Haven resident Susan Russell with the Residents for a Peaceful River. (Bull! It's been a SLOW Duck Season. She is also a Member of Friends Of Animals and other kook groups.) "It's bothersome, it's noisy, it disturbs a homeowner's peace," she said. (So do the neighborhood kids, but they do it all hours of the day get used to it.) "Even on Christmas morning, you wake at 5:30-6 o'clock to gunshots," said fellow Fair Haven resident Dr. Eugene Cantor. For residents, they said, over the approximately last two decades the area has gotten increasingly developed, with evermore homes popping up along the riverbanks, with the neighborhoods no longer the sparsely populated wooded areas they once were. (So it's the hunter's fault, or is it the fault of the anti-hunters? Without hunters you don't need hunting areas, without hunting areas, you get developement.) "These hunters are so close to these homes," especially in his hometown, Monmouth Beach, said Jim Sickels, "and all along the river that it's just unbelievable to all of us how this is able to go on." (You are a lying sack of ****! You have an agenda, but don't have the balls to say it... watch - it comes up later...) To hunt waterfowl along the rivers requires hunters to obtain permits from both the federal and state government entities, according to the state's Division of Fish and Wildlife, and Karl Buch a Rumson resident who is an avid hunter and spokesman for the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, an outdoor organization that advocates for hunters, anglers and trappers for sporting and conservation means. Along with the permits, or stamps as it's called, hunters must have firearms licenses and separate firearms hunting licenses, that require training and certification. Along with the 60-day season length, there are other restrictions placed upon the hunters, including allowing it from 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset, a prohibition on Sunday hunting and from shooting any closer than 450 feet from any occupied or unoccupied structure, according the division and the alliance. According to the petition and the comments of some residents, there were instances of damage from shotgun blasts - Cantor said his window was broken by a gunshot, though he acknowledged that was quite a few years ago - and reports of shots on Sundays. "If you work at home or are home with a child you get this gunfire all day," Russell said. "When you record it, it sounds no different than Iraq." (Was she in Iraq? I can record a mouse fart and make it sound like a bomb going off...) Those arguments, alleged Buch and Anthony Mauro, a Colts Neck resident, hunter and chairman of the outdoor alliance, are, as Mauro put it, a "red herring." "There has not been, to my knowledge, one reported accident [from] hunting on the Navesink or Shrewsbury river," areas where government regulated hunting has been permitted for more than 100 years, Mauro said. Mauro and Buch said there have been no police reports to substantiate the objectors' claims of damage or especially Sunday hunting. And if it were true, Buch noted, it would be easy to prove. "It's so visible. If you're hunting on Sunday everybody can see you," Buch said. "It's pretty hard to conceal yourself in a boat." A local country club has a skeet shooting range and there is a privately owned skeet range on one of the river islands, which could explain reports of the gunshots, Mauro and Buch said, as did some of the area mayors, who briefly discussed this matter at last week's monthly meeting of the Two River Council of Mayors. In addition, deer hunting is permissible at Hartshorne Woods, a county park in the Locust section of Middletown. So, "duck hunting is a fraction of the noise that you hear," Buch said. According to Rumson Police Chief Richard Tobias, borough police have received a total of six complaints concerning possible hunting violations since 2000. Of those six, only one summons was issued, in 2006 for hunting animals out of season, he said. For two of the complaints police could not locate any hunters, one involved hunters who appeared to have wandered into a prohibited area, by Riverside Park, and one where the hunters weren't violating any laws, the chief said. The permitted ammunition for duck hunting is non-toxic steel birdshot. That type of ammunition has a maximum effect range of approximately 75 yards, according to James Harris, manager for The Sportsman Shop, a sporting goods store in Neptune. At 225 feet that should be well out of the 450-foot range of buildings, as required by law. The real agenda here, Mauro argued, "is simply an effort to ban hunting on the Shrewsbury [River]," he said. "This whole thing is that people are angry because people are allowed to hunt," he argued. This is true for Sickels, who, while he is a gun collector and target shooter, said, "I'm totally against hunting. I'm an animal rights activist." That being said, Sickels still insisted there is a safety consideration, given the growing population of the area. (Nice back-pedal... Now he's concearned for people too!) "There are so many homes along the river and everything is just so close," he said. "It baffles me that this is allowed to go on." (I have to filter everything you say because of your stupid agenda.) The state's Department of Environmental Protection does not allow hunting on the Shark River or other waterways. "And we're entitled to the same consideration," Russell said. (Nope - The Navesink River is a Wildlife Management Area... you did mention in the other article that you were a Wildlife Researcher? Wouldn't a Wildlife researcher know where and what is a WMA?) Ultimately, "It boils down to consideration," Russell said. "Hunters can go somewhere else; we can't." (You are a renter. You are not a home-owner. Next time ask the rental agency not to locate you near a WMA... or did you plan it that way?) Mauro and Buch said they would be willing to meet with members of Residents for a Peaceful River. "We don't mind policing our own," Mauro said. In sending the petition to the Governor's Office, Russell hoped to spur action on the state level. Terry West, a spokesman for the Governor's Office recently attended a meeting of the Two River Council of Mayors, to hear the views of town leaders on the issue. West said that the DEP had received six complaints about hunting in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. (West should go on to say that they were "unfounded". Go to the F&W Council meetings - they report this stuff there.) The consensus of the council was that the matter is under state jurisdiction and the mayors appeared more than willing to defer to the Governor or DEP. "We don't have control over this," said Little Silver Mayor Suzanne Castleman. "I've had a number of complaints," she added, noting that this is the first year she has received complaints. She believes the complaints are coming from one caller, who refuses to give her name. "We may be opening a can of worms here," added Eatontown Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo, "if we try to control how the river is utilized." "There's been duck hunting around here forever and a day," Castleman noted. Russell said she would continue to pursue the issue on the state level. And Sickels indicated he would continue his fight, despite what elected officials had to say. (Back at ya, Sicko... err... Sickels!) "Nobody on the official level seems to care," he said. "But it's our right as homeowners along this river to stop this madness. (You are right. If every "Crazy Cat Lady called the officials every day - like you are doing - they'd eventually get the guys in the white suits to show up with the net and straight-jacket.... Btw : It is also my right to publically expose you and your agenda as selfish and retarded with regared to conservation...) 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Nemesis Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 thanks for the report Living the Dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfish hunter Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 not to many rich folks like hunters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudsy Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Rich people? Not entirely true. I know a lot of very well to do folk that enjoy hunting and fishing. The problem is the heavy influx of hard core urbanites who have moved down here and are now trying to force their opinions and way of life on us. My town (Manalapan) has become 95% Brooklyn/Staten Island - you wouldn't believe the crap I have to deal with I just wanta play everyday despite small nagging injuries -- and go home to a woman who appreciates how full of crap I truly am. ~ Crash Davis Social Distancing since 1962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinambition Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 My town (Manalapan) has become 95% Brooklyn/Staten Island - you wouldn't believe the crap I have to deal with Oh I think I have an idea Sorry couldnt resist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyGrowler Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 not to many rich folks like hunters Only 400 signatures out of a large geographic poll... Tells me the opposite. Kooks don't like hunters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudsy Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Oh I think I have an idea Attachment 96789 Sorry couldnt resist EXACTLY !! I just wanta play everyday despite small nagging injuries -- and go home to a woman who appreciates how full of crap I truly am. ~ Crash Davis Social Distancing since 1962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass-o-matic Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 What really burns my a$$ are the people signing the petition that don't even live in the area. It's probably the same kooks that are fighting the new bridge from Seabright to the highlands. "I just do what the voices in my tackle box tell me to do." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybeach Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 What really burns my a$$ are the people signing the petition that don't even live in the area. It's probably the same kooks that are fighting the new bridge from Seabright to the highlands. Interesting point. Why are they kooks if they are opposed to the bridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsrat Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 hey sudsy im a little insulted . i grew up in SI and i enjoy and support hunting an fishing . do you think i look like that BASSTURD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass-o-matic Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 I don't want to high jack this thread so this is the only post I make make on this subject in this thread. I lumped them in with the other grass roots group that wants to save the bridge because that group wants to keep the draw bridge due to the impact on the view from the Twin lights but yet some of them also live in Colts Neck and probably have never even been inside the Twin Lights. They want everyone to bear the expense of maintaining and operating a draw bridge because the view would make them feel good. Not to mention having to wait in traffic every 15 minutes in the summer when the bridge opens. They state the same type of safety concerns with out knowing anything about what they are talking about. How many of them are engineers and have designed a bridge? If they are really serious why don't they pool their money and form a non-profit group that would buy the existing bridge and maintain and operate it. Put a permanent lien on their properties to guarantee the money. If the money does eventually runs out the bridge reverts back to the State and they can do as they want. As a resident of Seabright wouldn't you like to see the annual summer traffic jam on Ocean Ave go away? A fixed span bridge would do that. "I just do what the voices in my tackle box tell me to do." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudsy Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 hey sudsy im a little insulted . i grew up in SI and i enjoy and support hunting an fishing . do you think i look like that No, You got more of the treehugger hippy look going Disclaimer: If you fish or hunt please disregard my previous comment - especially if yer a member of SRSA I just wanta play everyday despite small nagging injuries -- and go home to a woman who appreciates how full of crap I truly am. ~ Crash Davis Social Distancing since 1962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybeach Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 As a resident of Seabright wouldn't you like to see the annual summer traffic jam on Ocean Ave go away? A fixed span bridge would do that. bass, I hear ya. In all honesty, I've learned to live around the jams. I doubt that that the fixed span will eliminate the traffic in Sea Bright. It will simply put the jam in another location. Ocean Ave is still one lane. Beach club caravans all head back into Rumson at the same time when the beaches close. Idiots still slam into one another rubber necking. The Rumson bridge will still open. Monmouth Beach will still halt a line of cars waiting for people 100 yards away to cross Ocean Ave. No way the traffic goes away, its a beach town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseystriper Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Im glad someone posted this on the fishing site. I duck hunt the twin rivers a lot and know that all the noise complaints, safety complaints and other anti-hunting complaints have nothing to do with noise or safety and everything to do with not liking hunting and hunters. If they close down hunting, fishing,crabbing, clamming won't be far behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dsexton Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Im from rumson an i love to hunt the shrewsbury. Someone please inform these "kooks" that there is a skeet range at rumson country club thats why they hear gun shots on sundays they need to get their facts straight. Plus i live directly on the river Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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