# Anti-hunting ordinances in Saginaw



## PWood (Aug 6, 2004)

MUCC's Camo Coalition
Policy Report
9-15-06
Your help is needed- sign on to help fight
anti-hunting ordinances
The City of Saginaw has enacted new ordinances
banning the discharge of any firearm or bow within
the city limits. Normally a local government would
have to petition the DNR to comply with a public
hearing process if they were going to limit or
eliminate hunting within that government's
jurisdiction. However, the Court said the City of
Saginaw did not have to comply with that rule because
firearm control is different than hunting regulation.
If this decision remains it opens the door for every
local government in the State of Michigan to simply
enact firearm and bow discharge prohibitions, thus
banning hunting in the state of Michigan despite the
fact that the DNR is supposed to be the exclusive
authority managing the taking of game.
Because of these new Saginaw Rules there is
federal land in Saginaw that cannot be hunted as well
as large tracts of privately owned land, and hunting
cannot be used by the USDA Wildlife Services or the DNR
as a deer population management tool. MUCC's members
passed a resolution at the June 2006 Annual
Convention to fight any attempts to limit or
eliminate hunting in any local government, including
townships, villages and cities.
MUCC is filing an amicus brief with the Michigan
Supreme Court in opposition to this ruling. A local
unit of government should not be able to ban the
discharge of firearms or bow and arrows, effectively
stopping all hunting, without having the DNR's
permission. Please help us fight this battle by
signing on your club to MUCC's amicus brief. All we
need is the name of the club and the President for
every club who would like to support this brief. As
more and more anti-hunting initiatives take root, we
must stick together to protect our outdoor heritage!
We need to send a strong message NOW before this
happens in other communities across the state!
Call or email Erin McDonough by October 1st if
your club wants to sign on to this effort (
[email protected] , 517-346-6475).


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

I also thought the township of Saginaw had banned hunting?


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## john warren (Jan 25, 2005)

cities have the right, and in general exercise the right to ban firing weapons in ntheir limits. its general accepted as a safety concern. i don't know th area your talking about , but can't imagine there being a very big buffer zone for safety withing the city limits.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

Ban bow discharge for safety??? give us a break.

For a long time in MI we have had a 450' rule for occupied bldgs. It started out ?? but in the 70s until? it was for firearm discharge. Then all of a sudden we have a 450' rule banning HUNTING. Lately there has been discussion on a 450' rule on ANY building even on a back 40 that is just a shack. I seem to see a trend here.

There is no reason for a 450' ban on bow hunting/discharge or within the city limits. Rifle?? we didnt oppose when Podunckville did it now it comes to Ourtown, MI and wow. Press em.


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## PWood (Aug 6, 2004)

john warren said:


> cities have the right, and in general exercise the right to ban firing weapons in ntheir limits. its general accepted as a safety concern. i don't know th area your talking about , but can't imagine there being a very big buffer zone for safety withing the city limits.


As it mentions in the article, there are several large tracts of private land and federal land affected by these ordinances. Also, the city did not follow normal procedures. They didn't contact the DNR to discuss hunting issues and they did not go through the public hearing process. The public in general was left out.
Through open discussions some compromises could have been made instead of forcing legal action.


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## bucketmouthhauler (Sep 24, 2005)

I would have to say that the problem of saginaw people getting hit by bullets sure doesn't have anything to do with hunters. They have a lot of nerve. :rant: If I had anything to do with it I would bulldoze saginaw down to bare dirt. (minus the forested areas). Shoot the only place in saginaw city you can hunt is at shiawassee federal refuge. I would have to say the feds can control the hunters a whole lot better than mayor wilmer ham! I think the usfws should do something about this. I am sure it will affect the overall health of the wildlife refuge.


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## Rusher (Jan 6, 2006)

Not trying to upset anyone but M.U.C.C. hasn't done their research. Should they had checked throughout Michigan the majority have past ordiances years ago prohibiting discharging of firearms & bows.


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## eddiejohn4 (Dec 23, 2005)

Maybe its time to get rid of some of your public officials, we need to be as voicerous as the antis and get out there  

Vote them out !


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## answerguy8 (Oct 15, 2001)

Are there really areas to hunt within the city limits of Saginaw?


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## Liv4Huntin' (May 24, 2000)

Boehr may know the facts, but I believe Kalamazoo has been that way for many years. An archery shop had to get some special variance or something to even have a 3-D range outback! And there are lots of deer around and in Kazoo.....many get hit on the highways.
~ m ~


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## Rusher (Jan 6, 2006)

Where in the State of Michigan may anyone hunt within any city. As for a variance it is used for building and usage of said business. Anytime an ordiance or law is passed by a city it is because of public safety not anti hunting.


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## Spartaned (Jan 24, 2006)

I hadn't heard anything on this until now, but I have an idea of how this all started. There is a hunt club of sorts located in an open, agricultural area on the outskirts of the Saginaw City limits. A few years ago, when the club owners bought the property, neighbors of the hunt club started accusing them of various wildlife violations, including poaching deer, shooting at night, etc. They claimed the hunters were going on adjacent private and city-owned property and driving deer to the hunt club where they would be shot. The neighbors didn't like hearing guns discharged across the street from their homes and shooting "their deer". Keep in mind, this is not in an urban neighborhood. It's a situation where there is a small group of homes, on a private dead-end road, off by themselves. The DNR is well aware of this situation and has had officers over there checking the hunters, but from what I understand they aren't enforcing the weapons discharge law for some reason. Perhaps because of the City's law enforcement jurisdiction. It seems that the City has been reluctant to get involved with a "hunting type discharge" as opposed to the more criminal discharges that their officers normally deal with. This whole issue has been fairly quiet. At least I thought so until I read these posts. It sounds like this issue in Saginaw is heating up again, just before hunting season. I believe this issue is all based on neighbor disputes in a specific part of the city.

As far as federal land in the city, the only tracts managed by the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge that aren't hunted because they're within city limits, are a 51.64 acre area on the north bank of the Tittabawassee, and the 76-acre Green Point Environmental Learning Center, which is leased from the City. As far as Saginaw Township, they allow gun and bow-hunting in the township as long as folks are hunting 1000 feet away from a dwelling. The Township has maps showing the legal areas.


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## lang49 (Aug 1, 2005)

Rusher said:


> Where in the State of Michigan may anyone hunt within any city. As for a variance it is used for building and usage of said business. Anytime an ordiance or law is passed by a city it is because of public safety not anti hunting.


If you want to believe this- go right ahead. However, a 51 acre parcel in the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge doesn't exactly qualify as a small parcel in the middle of downtown Saginaw!


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