Ian Christmann Photo
Hunters leave their boat to retrieve fallen duck.
Some mornings Ed Schwartz hears a “pop, pop, pop” volley of shots from duck hunters in boats on the Quinnipiac River off the Land Trust preserve.
Fellow condo owner Andrea Dobras was awakened on early Saturday mornings over the 2017 Christmas break by shots ringing out and hunters getting out of their boats to pick up the fallen avians.
They both said they worry that the hunting activities – all perfectly legal – pose a danger to the increasingly busy New Haven Land Trust preserves right along the water, with the trails being utilized by more birders, school groups, and tourists than ever before.
So Dobras, Schwartz, and Claudia Elferdink — all residents of different riverine condos on the east side of the Q — have formed Friends of the Quinnipiac Meadows Preserve and are distributing flyers whose headline reads: “Move the Gunfire Out of Our Backyard!” The goal of their campaign: to convince the state to expand the prohibited area of hunting from its current line all the way up the river beyond the section of I‑91 that bounds across the river to the railroad bridges.
They brought their campaign to the regular meeting of the Quinnipiac East Community Management Team meeting Tuesday night at Ross/Woodward School.
Back in 2009, when hunting was still permitted in Fair Haven all along the river to the harbor, a series of fowl shooting incidents around the condos convinced the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Natural Resources Wildlife Division to create a new prohibited area.
To quote from the state Migratory Bird Guide’s list of prohibited areas: Item 25: Waterfowl hunting is prohibited from the shores and waters of the Quinnipiac River downstream from a line extending from the southernmost tip of Fargeorge Preserve (Granniss Island) at the mouth of Hemingway Creek, across the river to Lombard street, south to the Amtrak/Route 1 bridge near the mouth of New Haven Harbor.
Hunting is prohibited in striped area. Organizers want the line moved up to railroad track (curved line).
Roll the clock ahead to this year, and the New Haven Land Trust’s preserve on the Q is busier than ever, far more so than in 2009. The Trust and residents now seek to have that line of prohibition extended northward up the river to the railroad bridges right beyond I‑91.
Dobras and Elferdink made their pitch to 25 sympathetic listeners at the management team meeting. Dobras argued that the area overlooking the preserve, adjacent to which hunting is still permitted is “not an appropriate area for hunting.”
“It’s a safety issue. I look out [of my window] and see people. The preserve is now a classroom,” said Schwartz.
Between the condos and homes on the east and Lombard Street neighborhood by Front Street on the west, there’s no truly safe direction to shoot, Dobras said.
She made clear the decision is one to be made at the state level. She asked people to add their signatures to a petition to be brought to the attention of State Rep. Alphonse Paolillo and State Sen. Marty Looney.
Dobras conceded that none of the hunting incidents she and other residents noted violated the law. In permitted areas hunters need to stay in their boats, remain 250 feet away from buildings, and shoot away from inhabited areas. They are permitted to get out of the boats to retrieve killed birds..
DEEP Migratory Bird Program Leader Min Huang reported in an email that organizers will have to prove their case.
Elferdink and Dobros present.
“It should be noted,” he wrote, “that waterfowl hunting has been taking place safely for many years along several heavily developed Connecticut shoreline areas that have similar situations [to Fair Haven’s]. The Department will not deny hunters the opportunity to recreate on state owned properties or in public trust areas based on concerns or the perception that the situation is unsafe.”
He emphasized if residents feel hunters are trespassing on the preserve or hunting too close to houses, they should call the environmental police. (And this reporter can report that at the DEEP 24-hour hotline to report violations, they do answer the phone: 1 – 800-842‑4357.)
To merit closure, according to current state statutes, an area must either have a history of violations or present what Huang termed “the physical nature of the setting leading to hunters violating the law. “
Dobras emphasized that she feels there are enough nearby residential dwellers on the east side of the river and residents of Lombard Street on the west, to make any shooting unsafe. Those two points roughly make the line at which, going north, shooting is still permitted.
The hunters are allowed to shoot in the early morning. One of the hunters issued a warning back in 2009, Bob Hruskocy, had come down before dawn from East Hartford with some buddies. These days, with more and more houses crowding out open space, “it’s harder and harder to find good spots” to hunt, he said at the time. When ice closes in on his regular hunting territory, he looks south for open water. He doesn’t aim to “piss off” anybody and tries to follow the rules, he said. (Read about that here.)
Ed and Diana Schwartz.
An additional potential argument was offered by The New Haven Land Trust (NHLT) Executive Director Justin Elicker. “Our concern,” Elicker said, “is the increasing [number of] people on preserve trails. It might not have been taken into consideration [in 2009]. There are lots of other areas up the river to hunt. It makes sense to move the prohibition line to the railroad tracks.”
The organizers have already alerted Paolillo and Looney to their concerns, with the hope the legislators will bring the proposal to extend the prohibited area to the attention of DEEP.
“There’s a committee that reviews boundaries,” reported Elicker. “Also I was told it’s in the authority of the” DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee to make changes.
“So shouldn’t we be writing to Robert Klee?” proposed zoning attorney and longtime Fair Haven booster Marjorie Shansky, who was also in attendance.
Elicker at neighborhood meeting with Project Longevity’s Stacy Spell.
“That’s a good suggestion,” Elicker replied.
Dobras reported the group has 150 local signatures, with the number growing. You can review and consider signing the petition here. For those interested in future meetings and developments, the contact is: [email protected]
"He doesn't aim to "piss off" anybody and tries to follow the rules, he said."
We get it, you don't mean to do it. But still, you are showing up at 6 am shooting gun shots within feet from houses/bedroom windows not expecting to piss people off is juvenile.