MESA — Urban encroachment on the state's wilderness areas is creating a conflict between some homeowners and hunters.
The problem is manifesting itself wherever growth does.
In the community of Gold Canyon, east of Phoenix, some residents want to make it illegal to hunt in a 10-square-mile area. Scottsdale is looking into how to regulate hunting in its planned preserve in the Sonoran Desert. In Cave Creek, Carefree and even southern stretches of Chandler and Gilbert, hunters show up at their old stamping grounds looking for doves or deer, only to anger new residents, state Game and Fish Department officials said.
"I know it's Arizona, and everybody's real happy about weaponry and that sort of thing, but I just don't think it's right for them to come in my yard or anybody else's and shoot game," Golf Canyon resident Rosemary Shearer, who supports the idea of a localized hunting ban, told the East Valley Tribune.
Hunters argue they were there first. Gold Canyon, for example, has long been a popular hunting spot, an area at the foot of the Superstition Mountains that's rich with deer, javelina, quail, coyotes and even bobcats.
"I grew up hunting that area with my grandfather," said Apache Junction resident Kevin Curran, who serves as the game and fish liaison for the Arizona Bowhunters Association but no longer hunts in the area. "It means something being out there and growing up. It really means a lot, and it's hard to leave."
Technically, hunting in Gold Canyon was not allowed since it is private land. But game officials say bowhunting isn't barred near homes — as hunting with guns is — and they can't do much unless the land is marked with "no trespassing" signs.
"It would be akin to speeding on a highway that isn't posted for speed," said Randy Babb, a spokesman for the Game and Fish Department.
At least two deer were hunted with bows this winter near the Gold Canyon Golf Course, horrifying some local residents who say hunting there is unsafe and unethical.
Tales of other trusting deer being shot down near houses have been the talk of the town in the past few weeks.
