Farmington Hills Officials Wrestle with Bow Hunting Ordinance

officials have sent an ordinance that would restrict the use of bows and arrows within city limits back to the drawing board. 

In October, residents in south Farmington Hills neighborhoods reported seeing . The city's current ordinance allows the use of bows except:

• within 100 yards of any occupied or unoccupied building
• across roads
• on school property or any property the school district leases
• in city parks

would have allowed bows to be used on an approved range, or at an approved target, with some restrictions. Officials sent it back to clarify the terms "approved range" and "approved target".

Residents who attended Monday night's meeting said the latest iteration too narrowly defines approved ranges and targets and would prohibit the vast majority of law-abiding citizens from enjoying the sport on their own property.

William Short, who has lived in the community for more than 50 years, said "snatching bows and arrows out of our kids' hands really burns me up." He has taught the sport to children using hay bales and single string bows, and felt the ordinance should differentiate between those and heavier bows. 

Kurt Brauer said the real issue is bow hunting, and all the proposed ordinance does "is change the ability of somebody to target practice." He said the hunters who shot the deer in last year's incidents were violating laws that already exist. 

"At the end of the day, as currently written, this is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist," he said. 

Those who spoke supporting the ordinance expressed safety concerns and pointed out that the city is more densely populated now than in years past. 

Council member Michael Bridges supported the revisions and cast the lone vote against the motion to table the ordinance. Others wanted to see additional revisions to address the difference between types of bows. 

A hundred yards is not enough protection from a crossbow and too much protection from a single string bow, council member Nancy Bates pointed out. "There have to be standards that make sense," she said. 

City attorney Steve Joppich, who drafted the ordinance with assistance from , said he could add language that would differentiate types of bows, but "it's not something I think we can do this evening."

Bow hunting season doesn't start again until October, Mayor Barry Brickner pointed out, giving officials some time to hone the ordinance. 

Correction: The headline of this story was corrected to reflect that it is a Farmington Hills issue.