This time, hunters were in the majority when the East Hampton Town Board discussed the May turkey hunting season announced last year by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which the town can opt out of.
Three weeks after the board heard from residents urging it to opt out of the spring hunt, some 30 people were in the main meeting room at Town Hall Tuesday, many of them applauding speakers who urged the board to opt in.
The new turkey hunting season would span the month of May, with hunting allowed from a half-hour before dawn until noon and a limit of one male turkey per hunter. The new season would be in addition to a youth hunt that this year will take place on April 22 and 23, and a fall hunting season that this year will span Nov. 19 through Dec. 2.
There are 18 properties in the town where small-game hunting is permitted, Councilwoman Cate Rogers said. The town board could permit the new hunting season in its entirety, she said, or prohibit hunting on certain days, such as weekends. It could disallow hunting during Memorial Day weekend, or opt out of the hunt altogether. No decision will be made until after a public hearing next Thursday that is simply to correct a scrivener’s error in the town code pertaining to hunting on town parklands, but a resolution should be passed “immediately” afterward so that the public can be informed, she said. (A code change would not be required.)
Given the very small percentage of town properties where small-game hunting is permitted, a May turkey hunt should not create conflicts between user groups, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said. He acknowledged “differing views about hunting” and strong arguments that can be made for and against it, but said that it is “important for people to be tolerant of differences among us” and to “allow opportunities for everyone to be able to express their beliefs and lifestyles as much as they can without interference from others who may not feel the same way.” He said that he would support a spring turkey hunting season, and did not anticipate a significant impact on the turkey population. He did, however, suggest a pause on Memorial Day weekend, specifically May 25 through May 29 this year.
Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez agreed with the suggestion, and Councilman David Lys, who said that the nature preserve committee will discuss the matter today, seemed to concur. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, while recognizing that hunting is a traditional activity in the town, noted that “May is a month to celebrate mothers, a month to celebrate those who have died in service to the country, and I think it’s a time to put our guns down.” She asked that the weekend of Mother’s Day, falling on May 13 and 14 this year, also be excluded.
“Hunting in East Hampton Town is a tradition that dates back to the middle 1600s [sic] when the area was first settled,” states the East Hampton Town Hunting Guide, which does not acknowledge the hunting that also took place for centuries before that. “Hunting is still a popular sport, and everyone who hunts in New York today must have an up-to-date state hunting license.” These themes were emphasized by many of the dozen-plus speakers who addressed the board prior to its discussion.
Terry O’Riordan of the East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance said that the group “wholeheartedly supports making town lands currently available for small-game hunting open for this season, in addition to the pre-existing youth and fall seasons,” which he said have taken place without incident for the last 11 and 14 years, respectively. The wild turkey population has continued to thrive despite the existing hunts, another speaker said.
“People want to change our local traditions,” said Steve Griffiths, who described himself as a lifelong resident, a 45-year volunteer with the East Hampton Fire Department, and a hunter since 1972. “If this goes through, it will be deer hunting next.” Lynn Caiazza, another lifelong resident, also lamented that “another thing could be taken away from our community. . . . I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it’s right, I don’t think it’s just.”
But Bill Crain of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife pointed out that opting out of the May turkey hunt would simply maintain the status quo, and not take away an existing right. “This is an expansion of hunting,” he said of the town potentially opting in. Turkeys are sentient beings with feelings, he said. “They want to live. Don’t they have as much right to live as we do?”
A petition asking the town to opt in had 283 signatures as of Tuesday and would be presented to the board, a Sportsmen’s Alliance official said. That prompted Betsy Petroski, calling in to the meeting, to call for the Group for Wildlife to also have an opportunity to present a petition asking the board to opt out.
