This letter is to people who live near Penn Cove or who just hate to hear the sound of gunshots.

I live in Penn Cove and I do hate to hear the sound of gun shots, because it usually means a life is being killed. I have lived here long enough to see our wildlife reproduce itself and multiply to make a comeback.

Then along comes the duck hunting season and along with it, gun shots – sometimes all day long. After a couple of weeks of that, I don’t see any wildlife around anywhere. The gunshots have frightened them all away. And quite frankly, they have really gotten on my nerves so that I want to go someplace else too.

I have called the police and have been told the duck hunter in his boat is all within the law. I have spoken to this young man, when he came to me for help the Sunday it was so rough on the water that he could not get his boat back to Coupe’s Park launch. I had to drive him to his truck so he could pull his boat from the water on my boat ramp.

I let him know I was one of those that complained to the police about him all the time. He had to listen to all my complaining while I drove him to get his truck. He was very nice and politely listened. I was nice and polite also, but he really didn’t care, because he was back in a few days.

I didn’t hear as many shots, and he didn’t stay as long because he had already chased all the wildlife away. Even the ones he cannot shoot have gone somewhere else. This young man does not live on the island. He lives in Mount Vernon. Most of the people he takes duck hunting are from back east. And he says the fish and game people are his friends.

I would like to encourage everyone that feels the same way I do to keep complaining about the noise. I don’t even feel safe in my own home, with the gun shots going off. I feel like a bullet is going to come through the wall or window any time. This area is too populated for people to be shooting guns.

Julie Lamoureux

Coupeville