Council Discusses Hunting on Township-Owned Property

A recent complaint by a neighbor whose land is adjacent to a township-owned property prompted a discussion about hunting on public lands at Lower Saucon Township Council's Dec. 7 meeting.

Township Manager Jack Cahalan did not identify the individual or the township-owned property that was reportedly being hunted, but said police were called to investigate the alleged incident and "were not able to identify anybody who was doing that."

In response, however, he said he wanted clarification from council on whether township-owned properties excluding parks should be more clearly marked with "No Hunting" signs.

Hunting is, in fact, prohibited on township-owned conservation easement properties, which include the sizable Cloverview and Dravecz parcels, he said.

--was posted with "No Hunting" signs last year, after a tree stand was discovered on the property, Cahalan noted.

Council solictor B. Lincoln Treadwell told councilors that prohibiting hunting is "a simple thing (to do)," but acknowledged that "it gets a little more complicated in the enforcement."

"It's hard to enforce because the property lines aren't clearly delineated in the woods, obviously," he said.

And, he added, in many cases police will go out to investigate a report of trespassing by hunters, but by the time they arrive at the scene of the report they have left the area.

"They just don't know. They don't know where the property lines are," councilwoman Sandra Yerger said of hunters who stray onto private property.

Yerger added that dealing with hunters straying onto one's property by mistake is a common reality for many residents with homes in more rural parts of the township.

Councilman Ron Horiszny questioned whether posting signs on the township's lands was necessary, and stated that the 72-acre Dravecz property at 2388 Apple Street isn't "overbrowsed" in his opinion.

Referring to the Dravecz property again, he said "it sure would be a great place to hunt...at least for archery."

Horiszny was subsequently the only council member to oppose a motion to mark the Dravecz property with "No Hunting" signs and to continue to place those signs around the Cloverview property.

The motion was approved 4-1, and the move will hopefully help limit the amount of hunting occurring on the properties in question, council vice president Tom Maxfield said.

In the near future "we're not going to stop hunting," he conceded.

However, posting the signs may help to "retrain everybody" by encouraging them not to hunt those properties over time, he said.