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Owner of Vienna hunting preserve tries to reassure neighbors of safety
All hunts guided, owner assures neighbors, Vienna officials
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
An owner of Candywood Whitetail Ranch hunting preserve in Vienna Township tried to reassure several Vienna residents, the Trumbull County commissioners and state legislators that hunting guides accompany every hunter at his facility to ensure they shoot safely.
“All are guided hunts,” Mike Mullenax told about 15 people in the county commissioners meeting room Monday in answer to several questions about the safety to the surrounding neighborhood.
The preserve began hunts in September on the former Candygood Golf Club, which now has a fence around it to contain the elk, deer, and other wildlife that are hunted.
Mullenax also said hunting hours are from sunup to sundown and hunters are never allowed to shoot toward homes on Scoville North Road or state Route 82.
State and county officials answered many questions by saying the preserve appears to be operating legally, but that was little solace to several Vienna residents who said their property values have dropped, and they feel unsafe.
“Property values are down,” Linda Fabrizio of Vienna said. “Those bullets are not going to stay in the fence. I’m begging you to do something before something happens.”
Rodney Bender of Vienna said Ohio hunting preserves are usually established in remote areas of the state, farther from homes and cars than the one in Vienna, which is close to a highway and homes on Scoville North.
People are watching to see how things go at Candywood and will be tempted to do something similar at other former golf courses, Bender said, adding that lots of golf courses have closed in recent years because of the cost of operating them.
When someone asked about the safety of children getting on or off their bus or playing in their yard nearby, Mullenax reiterated: “There is no person in there without a guide.”
Vienna Township Trustee Phil Pegg said an elk died in the preserve and was eaten by hogs, which Pegg said suggests that firefighers or ambulance personnel could be at risk of being attacked by animals if they entered the facility to rescue someone.
Mullenax said first responders will always be accompanied by a guide if they are called to respond to the property.
Among the people attending were state Reps. Michael O’Brien of Warren and Glenn Holmes of McDonald and state Sen. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta.
Pegg asked them to attend because preserves are under the authority of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and state law.
Sean O’Brien told Mullenax that he actively opposed the establishment of the hunting preserve, but since it is there, “we’re going to make this as safe as we can.”
Mullenax said he would defer questions about how the clubhouse would be used in the future to the ranch’s attorney. Pegg and Fabrizio were appointed to present that and other questions to Mullenax. It cannot be used to house hunters under its current zoning, said Mike Sliwinski, the county’s chief building official.