Eureka archery hunt to proceed

EUREKA SPRINGS — An archery hunt for deer apparently will proceed as planned in Eureka Springs.

The on-again, off-again hunt has been an emotional topic of debate for the City Council in recent months. Deer have become a nuisance to many who live in the city of 2,073. The animals forage on gardens and collide with cars. But some people think a hunt could endanger residents and pets.

On Monday, the council voted 4-0 to proceed with the hunt, which is scheduled for Nov. 10 to Feb. 28. Hunting will be allowed from 30 minutes before dawn until 30 minutes after dusk.

The hunt will be primarily on private property in Eureka Springs, but only where landowners give permission. The urban hunt won’t include city parks and trails.

Aldermen Karen Lindblad and Lany Ballance abstained from the vote. Both argue that the hunt has evolved into something different from what voters approved 474-393 on the November 2010 election ballot.

“The citizens of this town had no idea what they were voting on when they voted,” Lindblad told the council, saying the ballot wording was vague.

Lindblad said the ballot wording was for a hunt that would be conducted by state Game and Fish Commission under its Urban Archery Hunt Program. Seven other Arkansas cities will have deer hunts through that program this year. They include Bull Shoals, Cherokee Village, Fairfield Bay, Heber Springs, Horseshoe Bend, Lakeview and Russellville.

But the city’s Deer Hunt Committee instead decided on a hunt under the commission’s Deer Management Assistance Program. That means the commission would act more as a consultant, providing the city 50 tags, which will allow hunters to kill does.

Once a hunter has killed a doe in the city, that hunter can kill two bucks, which is the season limit on bucks in Arkansas.

The city will also have more control over how the hunt is conducted and who is allowed to participate. Hope is the only other Arkansas city that will have a hunt under that program this year.

After the 2010 vote, it was determined that Eureka Springs didn’t have enough public land to have the hunt under the commission’s Urban Archery Hunt Program, said Alderman Robert “Butch” Berry.

“Game and Fish is comfortable with what we’re doing,” said Berry. “Nobody has ever been hurt from what we’ve found from urban deer hunts in Arkansas.”

Alderman Ken Pownall moved Monday that the issue “be taken from the table and turned over to the administrative portion of City Hall, the mayor’s office, for execution of the deer hunt.”

On Wednesday, Pownall said the City Council has done all its due diligence in the matter.

“We had exhausted all of our legal alternatives as a council,” he said. “My intent was to state, ‘Yes citizenry, we have listened to you. We have tried to get things changedwithin our boundaries.’ ... Therefore, if something goes wrong, we did everything we could.”

Pownall said he had received 37 calls from constituents who were against the deer hunt and nine who were for it.

Ballance said Monday that residents may take legal action against the city if the council intends to proceed with the hunt.

Diane Wilkerson, who is Mayor Morris Pate’s assistant, said 15 hunters were approved for the hunt. Police Chief Earl Hyatt has said the Deer Hunt Committee would consider police and hunting records before approving hunters.

“I’m going to call them to see if they still want to participate,” she said Wednesday.

Wilkerson, who has been organizing the hunt, said shealso had four or five alternate hunters.

The City Council formed a Deer Hunt Committee that has been working on details of the hunt for most of this year.

The council voted July 23 to put the hunt on hold. On Aug. 13, aldermen revived the hunt with a time frame shortened by three weeks.

On Aug. 27, the City Council voted 3-2 against proceeding with the hunt.

But on Aug. 30, City Attorney Tim Weaver sent a letter to Wilkerson saying the last vote didn’t count because it wasn’t made “on a proper motion to reconsider.” The Aug. 27 vote took place when Alderman James DeVito was absent. DeVito voted for the hunt in other meetings because he said it was the will of the voters.