The state will likely open the highlypopulated Baltimore County?s Soldiers Delight park to archery deer hunting this year, officials confirmed Monday.
The details of the plan ? the hunting area, season length and number of hunters allowed at one time ? will be discussed at a community meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening, said Paul Peditto, the Department of Natural Resource?s director of wildlife and heritage services. He said the state supports the hunting of white-tailed deer in overpopulated areas.
In Soldiers Delight, near Reisterstown and Owings Mills, the deer are destroying threatened plant life, he said, and are responsible for at least three dozen car crashes on adjacent roads.
“We have globally rare species in there,” Peditto said. “In fact, this is the most significant number of rare, threatened endangered species in the state.”
Residents near and in the park oppose the plan, saying misfired bows could harm hikers and children. The state extended a public comment period to appease residents who said they didn?t know about the proposal until recently.
DNR is proposing two potential hunting scenarios with different boundaries, but both would open at least 300 acres to between 15 and 20 hunters per day with safety zones 150 feet from occupied homes.
One scenario would allow hunting from Sept. 15 to Jan. 31, and another from Nov. 11 to Jan. 31.
