Portland, Tennessee, Residents Given OK to Hunt Geese

Residents in the Drakewood Estates subdivision in Portland, Tennessee, have been annoyed for the last time by the geese that inhabit the 12-acre lake near their property. Residents had been afraid to hunt the geese because of a Portland law that prohibits the discharge of a firearm within city limits, so they asked the permission of the city's legislative committee to hunt the animals, which were marring their properties with feathers and feces.

When the city council convened on Sept. 4, they looked at an opinion expressed by the State Attorney General John Knox Walkup which said that since the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Association had not excluded cities from where hunting with firearms could legally take place that cities had no grounds to impose restrictions against it, and that by doing so they would be conflicting the TWRA sanctioned hunting seasons.

The council went on to say that residents would be responsible for purchasing all of the necessary licenses and stamps required to hunt geese in the state of Tennessee. To purchase the necessary licenses and stamps to hunt geese during the official TWRA season of September 1 through 15, 2007 will cost residents a total of $66. However, this seems a small price to pay to some residents who are at the end of their ropes with the constant mess from the geese, which inhabit the lake.

They also brought up the issue that individual hunters would be responsible for hunting in a safe and responsible manner. In the confines of a subdivision, even one with the approximate 1 to 5 acre lots such as at Drakewood Estates, the safety precautions that a hunter must take are much greater than those that would need to be maintained in a forest somewhere. They went on to point out that anyone hunting within the subdivision would be responsible for any damage to people or property that their hunting may cause. While it may mean taking extra precautions, many residents are gearing up to hunt in their own neighborhood for the next couple of weeks.