LEWISTON – Homeowner Paul Perron said he was surprised to see a camouflage-clad bow hunter duck into the woods outside his Blanchette Street house early one morning last fall.
“This is hundreds of feet from Montello School,” Perron, of 16 Blanchette St., told city councilors Tuesday. “We have children walking through that same area every day. We have joggers out there.”
Bow hunters are not the breaking law, however, and Perron said he hopes councilors will change that.
“At least in an area like this, a residential area, this needs to change,” he said. “The city has grown and the hunting rules need to grow too.”
Councilors sent Police Chief Bill Welch and City Administrator Jim Bennett back to draw up some city rules to limit bow hunting around schools or residential areas. Bennett said he would bring them back to councilors at a workshop meeting later this year.
“When it’s on some place like Blanchette Street, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to allow it,” Councilor Renee Bernier said.
All of Lewiston is included in one of Maine’s bow-hunting zones. Archery hunting in those zones is intended to cut back on deer populations in residential areas pocked with small woodlots. Archery season began Sept. 10 and runs through Dec. 10.
Other bow-hunting areas in Maine include Augusta, Bangor, Waterville, Camden, Bucksport and parts of the area north of Portland.
Many of those cities put limits on bow hunting, however. Augusta requires bow hunters to get a city permit. Bucksport, Waterville and Castine and have designated areas and ask hunters to check in with police before they go out. Portland bans all hunting within city limits.
Welch said he wouldn’t want to ban bow hunting. The hunters serve a need, thinning Lewiston’s growing deer population.
“I know that along that East Avenue area, deer are a dangerous problem, especially in the morning,” Welch said. Councilor Stavros Mendros agreed.
“I don’t think a bow hunter up in a tree is much of a threat,” Mendros said. “Frankly, I think Lyme disease is a bigger concern for most kids than bow hunters.”
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