Recently, it was brought to our attention that there is a bill to go before the Maryland Senate on March 5th, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. that proposes an increase in the safety zone to 500 yards around school property for any kind of hunting with a firearm or bow. Here is the link to the proposed bill: Maryland Bill SB0754
I personally understand the need for safety around schools and I remember a few years back when someone shot a hole in a wall at a daycare (or school I cannot remember exactly) while hunting. That was when safety zone requirements changed and became larger for hunting with a firearm. Here we are again asking to make it 500 yards for a firearm or bow. We hunt with bow, but still understand the importance of the 500 yard safety zone for a firearm, because if you are hunting with a shotgun, rifle, or muzzleloader, a bullet could be harmful around a school at that distance. However, for all of us bow hunters the probability that an arrow could make it 500 yards is not realistic or probably possible. So I guess you could say we don't agree or disagree with this bill. It seems a little harsh to roll hunting with any implementation into one bill, but we also understand and support the need for school safety. The unfortunate fact is that this bill could cost a lot of people their favorite bow hunting spots, considering many bow hunters hunt in small areas that are in many cases close to homes, businesses, and probably schools. Granted this bill will not affect everyone, as I am sure there are more people that do not hunt near schools in Maryland than there are that do. However, this bill was passed along to us and we wanted to pass it along to you so that you knew what was going on and what changes could be coming next year. If you have an opinion about the bill, you can write or speak with your local senator about your feelings on the bill before it goes to the Senate on March 5th.
