Politics & Government

Residents: Private Gun Clubs Hunting Unsafely

Residents of Hillsborough Chase say hunting on private property around their houses is a safety risk.

For Linda Hoefele, the idea of safety at her Crane Court house shattered Jan. 5.

That’s when a member of a local private gun club shot a bullet that passed through an exterior wall, traveled through a linen closet and embedded itself in the bathroom belonging to her three children, she said.

Now, the resident and those in the Hillsborough Chase area that’s between Beekman Lane and New Center Road are asking the Township Committee to investigate what they know is a problem in the area: gun clubs hunting on privately-owned land that encroachs on the neighboring properties—where the residents have not permitted them to hunt. The recent incident also has them concerned about the club’s safety and responsibility, they said during an hour-long public comment session at .

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“This person was out of the permitted boundaries and was also shooting across a major roadway,” Hoefele said. “We don’t know why this happened, but we are all concerned about the lack of the ability of the gun club to give assurances that this terrible incident won’t occur in the future. The only solution that we can be comfortable with is to deny the gun club access to land that is in a residential area.”

While hunting is allowed on several township-owned, public properties, none of the township-owned areas borders the Hillsborough Chase development, according to Township Administrator Mike Merdinger. Instead, the hunting appears to occur on private lands, and is still under investigation by , Mayor Carl Suraci noted.

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“This is first time I’m hearing about some of these private property issues,” Mayor Suraci said. “I know there is still an ongoing investigation with this particular incident. I’m sure once it’s concluded we are going to have a conversation with this club.

“I find it disturbing that some of the private property owners have not been vigilant with this,” he added.

According to Police Chief Paul Kaminsky, the Hillsborough Police Department located the hunter and contacted the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife following the incident. The hunter’s license has since been revoked, he has been removed from the gun club and faces other charges, Chief Kaminsky said.

“Even if the individuals do have permission to be on the property, even if they are sanctioned hunters, even if they have proper hunting licenses, there are several variations of title 23 that they must follow and do so safely,” Chief Kaminsky said. “ This hunter had permission to be on this property off of Beekman Lane.  He did not hunt safely. He failed to use due caution, he shot over a roadway which he was not allowed to do. Basically, where he shot, he should have never been.”

Residents in the area say the hunting is a persistent problem, with hunters encroaching on private property that borders areas where landowners allow them to hunt—many of those areas where the hunters have permission to be are farms, the residents said. Some residents allege that the hunters also hunt on areas where they do not have permission to hunt.

“I personally have experienced the hunters in our backyard,” Suzanna Housel said. “We have a little shy of 13 acres. You think that they would stay off of our land. It’s clearly marked ‘private property’. They ignore it.  .  .Basically, they come thinking that there’s nothing of it. Every Saturday and Sunday, there’s gunfire. The kids can’t even play in their backyard.”

The Township Committee will continue communicating with police on the Jan. 5 incident, and stated that it received a letter of apology from the gun club. It will also address the concern in the Wildlife Commission meeting, set for Thursday, and with the Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting.

The response is expected, but residents said they intend to follow up with the committee.

“It was what I expected,” Hoefele said. “I know how these bodies work. We’ll just have to keep following up with them to see some results.

“I have a definite action I want to see taken, and that’s to have the gun club taken out of our area,” she added. “They don’t belong around children. I’m not anti-gun or anti-hunting. I just don’t want it around kids.”

 


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