Greetings to you all. I just wanted to raise your attention to a bill in the Texas State Legislature concerning feeders and hunting blinds.

Rep. Scott Campbell (R) from the San Angelo/Scurry area has written a bill about the placement of feeders and blinds within a lease or property. It proposes a ban on placing a blind of feeder within 150 yards of an adjacent property. The only way you could do this is if you get written permission from the owner of the other property. If you lease or own a piece of land, you will have to get permission from the owner of the property next to you if you want to (or in some cases need to) place a blind or feeder within medium gunshot range of the property line. This bill could also effect the placement of duck/goose blinds. It applies to all permanent and temporary blinds.

The bill is HB 185 and has been submitted to the House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism. If it passes the committee's vote, it will go to the House and eventually could move on to a law that would come into effect next season (September 1, 2005).

I am sure there are already plenty of different opinions out there by now. We would all hate it if someone put a feeder right up against our lease and shot all of the deer that would come over from the land we are paying for. However, for those of us that cannot
afford huge pieces of land to hunt on, setting a blind near the edge of the property line is a geographic neccesity. If you have a small plot in the West Texas canyons or the East Texas woods, you have limited opinions for setup. You usually have to place your blind
near the property line to hunt the interior of your land. Either way, there are already laws that prevent people from harvesting deer from other properties. Do we need more laws telling us what we can and cannot do with land that we either lease or own?

Visit the Texas State Legislature's website at
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/

I strongly suggest that whatever your feelings, please take a few minutes and write a letter to the members of this committee to expess your veiws. I realize how easy an email would be but members of government do not place as much weight on an email as they do a mailed letter or phone call. I have, from time to time, written my U.S. Representative and Senators and have gotten mailed responses for every letter I have mailed.

Well, that's about it. No matter your views (hopefully you share mine), take part in this piece of legislation. Contact the committee and let them know how this will effect the sport and culture we all enjoy.

Regards,
Don VanDeLinder