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'I don't feel good about it:' Bibb neighborhood concerned about hunting land borders

David O'Leary is pressuring Georgia's Department of Natural Resources to reverse their decision to open hunting grounds near his neighborhood

MACON, Ga. — David O'Leary found out that Georgia's Department of Natural Resources opened land for big game hunting when he came home to find a man posting boundary limit signs right outside of his property.

"'Trespassing, keep out,' that's supposed to protect me. I don't feel good about it," O'Leary said.

O'Leary has lived off of Saint Clara Drive in South Macon for 40 years. Now, he feels his family's safety is at risk because of a decision made by DNR.

"What DNR did was open the land to hunting, archery hunting. So for about 10 months out of the year, we have hunters that can come right up on our fence lines and hunt," O'Leary said.

The hunting zones border many of his neighbor's properties as well, and they're all worried.

"Our opinion is that this is not necessary for Georgia's hunters, that there's a bunch of opportunities elsewhere and that this is an incompatible use, because there's so many homes here," O'Leary said.

The DNR's Director of Public Affairs, Wes Robinson, says they don't see a threat to their safety.

"This is something very routine for us, we have this all across the state, and we've never had any issues and one of the added benefits by allowing this property to be open is that it will be patrolled more by our game wardens," Robinson said.

The state is not allowing hunters to use guns on these hunting grounds, however O'Leary feels archery weapons are still dangerous.

"That weapon there could potentially, if the trajectory was right, and the wind was right, that arrow could travel the distance of the end of the street there," O'Leary said.

He's reached out to DNR multiple times and the commission, hoping to reverse the decision.

"That's our plea to DNR, is to manage the land, we don't mind that, but do it without hunting," O'Leary said.

So far, hes says they've refused to change their policy.

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