Hunting in town to be prohibited

The incident of shooting a deer with a projectile in town will be an isolated one, according to the planned actions of mayor Ed Glode.

Saratoga Police Chief Tom Knickerbocker says there is no ordinance that says you cannot hunt in Saratoga. The code says that one may not discharge a firearm or firework, but Knickerbocker says that a BB gun, a pellet gun, a bow or a crossbow may be discharged within town limits providing the projectile does not leave the property. An incident of hunting in town occurred one to two weeks ago and was addressed at the Sept. 15 Saratoga Town Council Meeting.

An similar incident occurred in Rawlins some time ago, Glode said, and Saratoga will adopt basically the same ordinance that Rawlins has in order to stop hunting in town. The relevant ordinance missing in Saratoga reads:

Section 6.04.120 Hunting prohibited. It is unlawful for any person, other than a law enforcement officer actively engaged in the performance of their duty, to hunt, shoot or kill by any means any wildlife or other game animal as defined by the laws of the state within the jurisdictional limits of the city. (Ord. No. 4-97, Enacted, 04/15/97) The deer recently shot in Saratoga was turned over to Wyoming Game and Fish. It is not known whether the intent was to shoot a nuisance animal or to hunt.