Published: March 20, 2009 10:05 pm      

How far is 300 yards?

OK, OK. I think I know what happened.

On Feb. 22, everybody had other things to do. Maybe you were out of town. Maybe one of your children had a birthday party. Maybe some relatives from out of the area were visiting. Maybe you were watching a rerun of the 1985 Chicago Bears doing the Superbowl Shuffle.

Something must have been going on to keep you from reading my column that day about House Bill 1309 in the Maryland General Assembly.

Let me give you a real quick capsule of that bill.

If it passes and is signed into law, the safety zone for shooting guns, bows, slingshots and for throwing spears will expand from 150 yards to 300 yards. Pretty quick, wasn’t it.

Ladies and gentlemen of the hook and bullet clan, this bill is alive.

As long as a bill is alive, it has a chance of passing. If it passes, it has a chance of being signed by the governor. If it is signed by the governor, it becomes a part of the law of the land or, in this case, of the Mary-land.

What would a safety zone of 300 yards mean to you?

You would not be allowed to shoot your shotgun at a rabbit if there was a home within three football fields. You would not be allowed to shoot an arrow from your treestand at a deer if there was a home within 300 yards.

Considering the seriousness of this legislation, I’m not sure why the hunting world has not exploded with astonishment, anger and with voluminous phone calls to the chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee who is Delegate Maggie McIntosh and who may be contacted via e-mail at Maggie.McIntosh@house.state.md.us and by phone toll-free at 1-800-492-7122.

One of the sponsors of this bill is Delegate Barbara Frush. I always look for Frush’s bills on the Internet (www.mlis.state.md.us) because she annually introduces legislation that would eliminate or hinder hunting.

Thus far this session, she has not introduced a bill to end the bear hunt or one to make it illegal for Marylanders younger than 13 to hunt, but she has in the past.

In essence, this bill would make it illegal for everybody to hunt if they are within 300 yards of “a dwelling house, residence, church, or other building or camp occupied by human beings.”

The way I read it, you could not shoot a squirrel on the Green Ridge State Forest if you were closer than 300 yards to an occupied tent at a primitive campground.

Maybe there is enough common sense in the Environmental Matters Committee or on the general House floor to kill this bill should it get that far.

I would suggest, however, that it is not worth taking that chance and that respectful opinions from hunters should flow rapidly to Delegate McIntosh and also to the delegate who represents you. Out here in Almost Maryland, those duties fall to Wendell Beitzel, Kevin Kelly and LeRoy Myers.

The same phone number works for them.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.