Don’t Take Chances In The Forests

To the Editor:

I would like to urge all those hikers, mountain bikers, dog walkers, horseback riders, and nature lovers to please be aware that the two state forests and several parcels of the former water company lands are currently open to deer and small game hunting.

Hunters are required to wear 400 square inches of neon orange above their waist upon entering the forest. This requirement is suggested but not mandatory for others using those resources.

Over the last several weeks I have on several occasions encountered people who were walking in the forest wearing dark clothing or clothing that blended with the surroundings. In one case it was a man and his young daughter, whom another hunter had approached and warned of the potential danger. In another it was a group of girl scouts with their troop masters up from the coast to hike, wearing their green uniforms. They had no idea there were hunters in the woods!

The last state stocking of pheasants takes place just prior to Thanksgiving, so it has become a tradition that on Thanksgiving bird hunters flock to those sites that are stocked, and chase that imported bird. Always one to join in, I was on my way into the forest on Thanksgiving when I saw three dogs, none on a leash, come running out of Brody Road (the fire road in the upper forest). Behind them was a mud covered mountain biker. I approached him and asked if he knew hunters were in the field and he responded, “Yes but I don’t look like a deer and neither do my dogs.” I asked him if he was familiar with the law regarding unleashed dogs in the forest and he wasn’t. I explained that the only dogs allowed in a hunting area unleashed are hunting dogs being used for such purpose. I further informed him that should his or any other unleashed dog chase game and be shot by a hunter there would be no recourse for the owner. This fellow then stated that he was “one of 50 bikers who are all over the trails in the forest.” I then took him over to the bulletin board and showed him the posting which stated that mountain bikes were allowed only on Brody Road and only on portions of the blue trail that included Brody Road. The guy ignored my warning and rode off with his dogs.

Please, if you are going to use the forests while we are hunting therein, wear a hunter orange vest, which can be purchased for under ten dollars at Kmart. Why tempt fate and risk your life?

Lou Reda

17 Tamarack Road, Newtown                               December 2, 2003