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Village of Lansing Trustees set a public hearing for September 15th for the public to weigh in on adjustments to its firearms and bow safety law.  The Village has held a deer population control hunt each year since 2007.  If passed the law will make it easier to manage the official hunt.  Mayor Donald Hartill said the law will also bring Village code in line with changes in State hunting law.

"That avoids the drama we periodically have trying to get everybody on board," Hartill said.  "This is a way of easing that.  It also takes considerable load off of (Village hunt organizer Bernd Blossey)."

Until now state law has required that bow hunters stay at least 500 feet away from residences and other kinds of structures.  This year the distance was shortened from 500 feet to 150 feet.  Hartill said that will enable a wider opportunity for hunters who are approved to participate in the Village program.

In past years Blossey has gone from door to door to obtain written permission from landowners to allow Village approved hunters to hunt on their property for a single season.  A key piece of the new legislation states that once a property owner and his surrounding neighbors agree to allow a bow hunt on a parcel, that permission is granted until they explicitly revoke it.

Hartill said that the new language does not represent a major change to Village law.  Discharging any kind of firearm is prohibited in the Village.  Long bows and compound bows are allowed under certain conditions.  While there has been discussion about allowing crossbows for the past few years, the trustees have not acted to allow their use.

"It's an amendment to the Village firearms and bow safety law," he said.  "It enables us to carry out our controlled bow hunt.  The document has been updated to be consistant.  Longbows have been updated to be changed to compound bows.  We haven't decided what to do about crossbows."

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