Bowhunters Challenge Ban
Hunters for Deer, a not-for-profit based in East Quogue that arranges for insured and proficiency-tested bowhunters to hunt deer on private property, challenged a Sag Harbor Village law that prohibits hunting within the village limits after a member of the group was caught bowhunting in the woods behind houses near Oakland Cemetery.
Christian Killoran, a Westhampton Beach attorney who is the vice president of Hunters for Deer and an avid bowhunter, filed the order in State Supreme Court in Riverhead on Friday afternoon. The group believes that the Village of Sag Harbor has no authority to regulate hunting on private property, calling it unconstitutional, and is prepared to challenge such laws in other villages on Long Island, including East Hampton and North Haven.
Mr. Killoran initially raised concerns about Sag Harbor’s law prohibiting bowhunting soon after it was passed in December. The group was operating under the assumption that the law was not going to be enforced because of a state pre-emption and that the matter was being reviewed based on a letter from a previous village attorney. The State Department of Environmental Conservation regulates deer hunting.
With a new hunting season underway on Oct. 1, a member of the group, Derrick L. Ring of Bohemia, was hunting on private property that Hunters for Deer had been given consent to hunt on, according to Michael Tessitore, the organization’s president. While Mr. Ring was not given a summons, the group felt it needed to take the matter to the courts to avoid any arrests, Mr. Killoran said on Tuesday. Judge Gerard Asher declined a request for a preliminary injunction and adjourned the hearing on Friday to give the village time to respond and justify the law.
Just one day after the adjournment, Mr. Ring went hunting on private property and was again confronted by village police. According to a village police report, an officer saw Mr. Ring hunting in the woods behind 148 Suffolk Street, a wooded area to the south of Oakland Cemetery, just before 7 a.m. Mr. Ring was in a tree stand, wearing camouflage pants, and next to him was a camouflaged compound bow with an arrow notched and ready, police said. Several extra arrows were also with him in the stand. He had a state hunter’s license and a state deer-harvesting card.
Having previously been issued a warning, police arrested him, this time on a charge of hunting within the village, a violation of the village code. He was temporarily detained and his bow and personal belongings held until he was released with a summons. He must answer the charge in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court on Nov. 4.
“I wanted to avert what happened,” Mr. Killoran said, adding that he is now going to file a civil suit alleging wrongful arrest, while also fighting the local law.
Hunters for Deer provides a free service called Need-a-Hunter through a certified bowhunter program it formed that puts archers through a training program and proficiency course and pairs them with participating property owners to target nuisance deer. The group believes hunting is the only effective method of controlling the deer population.
Last year, Mayor Sandra Schroeder received complaints from residents about hunting in the village — despite the law that has been on the books since 1932 prohibiting such hunting. In recent years, the D.E.C. amended its own regulations on bowhunting. The State Legislature changed the law, reducing the setback for the discharge of a long bow from 500 to 150 feet from a house whose owner does not consent to the hunt. Coupled with the fact that the old village law did not specifically include bow-and-arrow hunting, the village board decided it needed to write a new law.
In the week after its passage, Mr. Killoran contacted Fred W. Thiele Jr., the village attorney at the time, on behalf of Hunters for Deer. In a conversation on Tuesday, Mr. Thiele said Mr. Killoran had said the group was going to file a lawsuit based on the state regulations. At that point, the village’s new local law was not in effect, as it had not yet been filed with the secretary of state, and the hunting season was drawing to a close. Mr. Thiele wrote Mr. Killoran a letter stating that the village would not enforce the law and that they would revisit the issue in the new year. Mr. Killoran agreed not to file a suit while the issue was being reviewed.
Mr. Thiele, who is also a state assemblyman, said that after giving the situation more thought over the holidays, he realized he had a potential conflict of interest if the argument being raised was state pre-emption. He recused himself from the matter and asked Denise Schoen, an attorney who represents the planning and zoning boards, to take over. In an email Mr. Thiele wrote to Ms. Schoen on Jan. 6, which he provided to The Star, he wrote, “It strikes me that I might have a conflict here, since I wrote the law that changed the setbacks for bowhunting of deer.” He asked Ms. Schoen to render an opinion on whether the village is pre-empted.
Other villages, like Port Jefferson, have outlawed bow-and-arrow hunting, Mr. Thiele pointed out to Ms. Schoen in the email. “Nonetheless, it strikes me that this argument is not frivolous,” he wrote. “I’ve told the police not to issue any tickets under this law until I can review the issue.”
Ms. Schoen said she would look into it. Mr. Killoran said he never knew she was involved in the matter. Mr. Thiele resigned as village attorney in the spring.
“Given the ever-expanding deer populations on Long Island and the public health emergency created by the proliferation of these animals,” Mr. Tessitore said, the group “will continue to fight for property owners wanting to reduce deer conflicts on their property.”
“I think it’s extremely dangerous. . . . You know how close our houses are here,” Ms. Schroeder said when asked about the challenges to the village law on Tuesday. She used to live in the area in question. “My kids used to play in the woods, and so do a lot of other kids.”
She said she has no intention of rescinding the law until she is advised by the village attorney, now David J. Gilmartin Jr., that she has to. “I wonder if these hunters would want someone this close to their house where their children are,” she said.