Southern California bans bowhunters
Recent politicking in Burbank and Imperial Beach
has raised the ire of fans of bows and arrows
By James A. Swan, Ph.D.In sunny San Diego, for decades, archers have been allowed to bowfish for sharks and rays from the pier or shore at Imperial Beach.
And it is thought there never has been a bowhunting-related injury to any of the more than 2 million-plus swimmers surfers or onlookers that visit the beach yearly.
Nonetheless, in early July the City Council passed an ordinance banning bowfishing at Imperial Beach.
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There is still the potential for an accident. … It just boils down to acting in a reasonably concerned manner. ” |
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| — A Burbank City Council member, responding to the fact there have been no bowhunting accidents in area where a bowhunting ban recently was enacted |
Admittedly an arrow could injure a surfer, but archers who wanted to bowfish at Imperial Beach were required to pass a safety course and obtain a certificate. They also were prohibited from bowfishing during the daytime in the summer. And, swimmers and surfers were not allowed within 20 feet from the pier.
If the city fathers wanted to reduce risks, what about those surfers crashing into swimmers, or each other? Recent risk assessment research has concluded that water kills a child every 8 minutes. Maybe the ocean should be banned to make the beach really safe.
A second blow to bowhunting in Southern California was recently struck by the city of Burbank. You may think of Burbank as the home of Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Columbia, NBC studios and the Griffith Park Zoo, but on the northeast side of the city lie the Verdugo Mountains that rise to 1,000 feet.
At more 7 miles long and 3 miles wide at their widest part, the Verdugos are part of the San Gabriel Mountains and home to some 500 deer, along with numerous rabbits, quail and coyotes, which, until this spring, have been legal game for archers.
Last fall some hikers got upset about seeing bowhunters in the Verdugos. Their complaints led to the passage of Burbank City Ordinance 3616, which forbids anyone "but a peace officer or animal control officer" acting in the line of duty from shooting arrows in the city limits — except at public and private archery ranges, of which there are none.
Admitting that there have been no bowhunting accidents in the history of Burbank, one city council member explained the reason for the ban: " … There is still the potential for an accident. … It just boils down to acting in a reasonably concerned manner."
In terms of risk, archery is one of the safest of all sports. Accidents in competition are unheard of.
There are 6 million bowhunters nationwide. From 1993 to 1998, the last five years for which data is available, injuries per year have never been more than 20, and fatal injuries per year range from three to six. Most of these are people falling, especially out of treestands.
Contrast those stats with much more injury-prone golf, tennis, badminton, baseball, touch football and even ping pong, let alone trail biking or skateboarding, and then let's talk about the potential for an accident.
Burbank already has an existing ordinance that makes it illegal to shoot arrows within 250 feet of a road, trail or building. California's Fish and Game code outlaws shooting across roads or within 150 yards of a home, unless it is your own.
The trails in the Verdugo Mountains have growing numbers of speeding mountain bikes, which do cause accidents. Why not outlaw trail bikes and joggers who cause more accidents? Is safety the real issue, or is it hunting?
When the Burbank City Council passed anti-bowhunting measure this spring, they must have expected to receive bouquets from various anti-hunting and anti-weapons groups. What they got was a delegation of angry bowhunters, headed by Craig Fritz, a vice president of California Bowman Hunters, and Curtis Herrmann, state director of National Bowhunter Education Foundation, with backing from the California Department of Fish and Game. The DFG asserts Burbank is interfering with the state's constitutionally guaranteed right to manage wildlife, including setting hunting seasons.
Initially, Burbank did not even file an environmental impact statement on the proposed law. They city elders felt such a decision could have no significant impact on the environment, and thus was exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act. The bowhunters and California DFG quickly challenged that.
For many years bowhunting has been the primary way to manage wildlife in the Verdugo Mountains, especially the deer herd, which ventures into residential areas to forage, wanders onto highways, attracts mountain lions and carries Lyme disease. Bowhunters also have helped control the local coyote population that feeds not only on young deer, but cats and dogs — and represents a threat to young children.
Realizing the error in their ways, Burbank conducted an Environmental Impact Study, which concluded that banning bowhunting in the city limits would not have any environmental consequences. The Council accepted the Negative Declaration on May 20 by a vote of 5-0.
The California DFG has previously contested situations where a local government tried to take over wildlife management without the state's permission, and the state has prevailed. Imagine the crazy-quilt pattern of wildlife management that would crop up if every political jurisdiction could make up its own wildlife laws.
Methods of urban wildlife control also are in question here. Despite what the Burbank Environmental Impact Study may claim, if you stop hunting in an area, animal behavior will change, populations will grow unless something else is done to control them, damages will occur and there will be more human-animal encounters — both positive and negative.
In many areas, including southern California, coyotes are replacing raccoons as the nightly marauders of garbage cans. Raccoons can spread rabies, as can coyotes. Coyote attacks on people are relatively rare, but growing in California. If coyotes lose their fear of humans, they can become brazen. One of my neighbors had a coyote walk into his kitchen, where his toddler was sitting in a high chair eating.
If coyotes do attack, children could be a target; but pets are tops on the menu. Friends in L.A. speak of brazen coyotes stalking cats and dogs in broad daylight and within sight of Disneyland.
You can trap or poison coyotes when they move into suburban areas, but the cheapest and safest approach is bowhunting. It not only reduces population size but restores the animals' wariness of people, which has been normal for as long as humans have been around.
All across America, communities are choosing to manage skyrocketing deer populations in urban areas with bowhunting.
While the Burbank city fathers don't want bowhunters in the their hills, in Milwaukee archery is used to control herds of deer, while other recreational activities continue.
Typically, urban bowhunters pass a special class and pay for insurance, as well as buy a hunting license.
California uses bowhunting to reduce deer and wild pigs on some parklands, such as the Lake Sonoma Recreation Area.
Animal rights activists, of course, don't like bowhunting, let alone its use for urban wildlife control. They advocate contraceptives administered through food — or darts or biobullets shot into does at least once a year.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance recently conducted a survey of the 50 state wildlife agencies on the use of birth control for urban deer herd control. Eighteen birth-control projects aimed at deer have been completed or are underway in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Statistics show only 513 deer were treated during the studies. The cost was $1,509,739, or an average of $2,943 per deer.
Other towns have employed sharpshooters to thin deer herds. The cost per deer runs from about $100 to almost $500. Trapping and relocating deer costs about $400 an animal, and up to 60 percent perish in transport or soon thereafter.
The Wildlife Society and the National Bowhunter Education Foundation have done considerable research on how to create a safe, economic and successful urban deer control program using bowhunting. Burbank has chosen otherwise.
Northern Californians like to think of themselves are somewhat more enlightened than downstaters.
In San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, there is a large outdoor archery range, which is free and open to all. Nearby you can rent equipment, if you don't have your own. There are no security guards or range masters present. They trust people. Accidents are unheard of.
Seems like San Diego and Burbank could learn something from that example.
James Swan — who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films, including "Murder in the First" and "Star Trek: First Contact," as well as the television series "Nash Bridges," "Midnight Caller" and "Modern Marvels" — is the author of the book "In Defense of Hunting." Click here to purchase a copy.
To learn more about Swan, visit his Web site.
