By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            A resident who regularly attends Levy County Commission meetings tossed out an idea at Tuesday’s board meeting to possibly resolve an issue regarding residents who ride horses in Goethe State Forest during the 11-day deer hunting season. Some hunters are worried about horse riders and carriage riders not wearing fluorescent orange clothing like hunters to make them more visible.

            Diane Garte said she read a recent story in Spotlight discussing the issue of hunters and horse riders using the same areas during the 11-day deer hunt in Goethe State Forest and she said there are some members of the equestrian community, though not all, who would be willing to turn the entire forest over to hunters for the 11-day period of the hunt. But she said they want hunters to contribute to the general upkeep of the forest just like the equestrian community.

            “I’m not saying everyone would, but some people are willing to do that, but the question that came back is what is the hunting community doing for the forest to make general improvements?” Garte said, noting that the equestrian community has contributed money for improvements to the forest on a regular basis.          

            The riding community holds two fundraising events every year that provide money directly to Goethe State Forest for improvements such as running water and flush toilets and the marking of trails in the forest, she said. Are the hunters willing to make similar contributions for general improvements to the forest?

            “That’s a good question you just asked Ms. Garte. That’s a real good question,” said outgoing County Commission Chairman Rock Meeks, a deer hunter who uses dogs to flush out the deer. He made no formal commitment other than to say Garte raised a real interesting question.

            Meeks was quoted extensively in the Spotlight story regarding his concerns about someone accidentally being shot by a hunter while riding on trails because they weren’t wearing fluorescent clothing to make themselves more visible. Hunters are required by state law to wear 500 square inches of fluorescent orange clothing while hunting deer to make them more visible to others in the forest. Horse riders and carriages aren’t required to do the same.

            Garte said the hunters are not supposed to be on the marked trails during hunting season. She said a friend of hers riding in a carriage was seriously injured recently when her carriage struck a deep vehicle tire rut in dark mud on a trail that’s not supposed to be used by motorized vehicles.

            “The two riding wheels went completely in a foot-deep tire rut and she was thrown out of the carriage and ended up in a very dangerous situation – amazing she didn’t break both of her legs to tell the truth,” Garte said.

            In the Spotlight story, Meeks talked about how the state seems to ignore the fact that horse riders are traveling on trails used by deer hunters and without any type of fluorescent clothing. He said the riders sometimes blend in with the forest they are passing through and he felt their close proximity to hunters with rifles trying to kill a deer was a danger that shouldn’t be ignored by the state. He said absolutely no one wants an accidental shooting.

            Garte was responding to the story with a few thoughts of her own and directing her comments to Meeks in the public comment portion of the county commission meeting.

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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting December 20, 2022; Posted December 22, 2022