Mentor City Council To Revisit Deer Hunting Ordinance Tonight

Mentor City Council will once again discuss proposed legislation that would, if passed, .

The ordinance is on the schedule to be discussed at a work session 5:30 p.m. today at . It is also on the agenda for the Council meeting at 7 p.m. tonight.

Earlier this year, Council gave the city administration permission to pursue the permits needed to get a .

This latest ordinance is only part of the city's ultimate plan and not its totality, city officials said.

The ordinance proposes:

• long bow, crossbow and compact bow hunting of white-tailed deer in Mentor during the appropriate state-sanctioned hunting season. No firearms will be permitted.
• hunting would only be allowed on parcels of five acres or larger or a combination of no more than three adjacent properties that aren't separated by a public roadway and are five or more acres.
• hunters must have all necessary state permits, as well as a city permit issued by the chief of Mentor Police Department.
• hunters must have the permission of the property owners on which they hunt
• all hunters must agree to hunt only from a fixed, elevated position at least eight feet from the ground
• no hunting shall occur within 100 feet of a property line, driveway or roadway
• the first deer harvested by a hunter must be an antlerless deer
• any hunter who kills a deer, or any other animal, shall report such a kill to the police department within 24 hours

City Council . However, some Council members had concerns about it so they decided to extend the conversation instead of voting on it in August.

Specifically, Ward One Councilman Robert Shiner asked during the last work session why the city would legalize hunting before it had established a deer culling program.

Shiner said just legalizing deer hunting was "an incomplete system."

"We have not discussed anything about city parks, Metroparks or anywhere else the deer are at," he said.

Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak noted that the city has been pursuing a , since February.

Filipiak added that it takes time to get a Deer Management Plan approved and that he hoped to have the bow hunting legalized in time for this year's deer season, which begins in September.

He said that the city parks would be targeted once a culling program was approved by the ODNR.

Additionally, Ward Two Councilwoman Carolyn Bucey expressed concerns that "problem hunters" would be allowed to hunt in Mentor.

That issue will likely be addressed in more detail during today's work session.