New Hampshire Woman Goes On Anti-Hunting Tiraid

Eleanor Sarcione, Derry, N.H. Conservation Commission member lost her head the other day in protest of hunting on town land. In return she produced a head to prove a point – a deer’s head that is. She was mad after a heated meeting about whether to allow hunting on a parcel of town property of which it would be safe to conclude she was opposed to.

In protest, she went into the woods somewhere and found a deer’s head next to a gut pile and trespassed onto Fish and Game Department Commissioner, Stephen Nottonson’s home, showed him the head and went on a verbal rampage.

“She produced a deer’s head which she found ‘in the woods’ along with a gut pile,” Nottonson wrote. “She then went on a tirade which implied that the person who did this should lose their license, and this was a typical example of the reprehensible behavior of hunters in general.”

At one point in the conversation, Nottonson said Sarcione became so irate that she said “she often carried a handgun, and can ‘hit what she aims at.’”

How comforting! She did however submit her resignation to city council Chairman Brian Chirichiello stating that the reason was because of her ongoing battle with Lyme disease. I’m sorry and don’t want to come across as unsympathetic to someone with Lyme disease but this has to be a joke. One of the biggest reasons people contract Lyme disease is because of the overpopulation of deer, especially in urban areas. Yet, she is out fighting to prevent hunting deer on a town parcel of land that is overrun with deer and spreading the disease. Go figure!

But what should be pointed out is what Ms. Sarcione had to say about hunters in general.

and this was a typical example of the reprehensible behavior of hunters in general.”

This is not the person you want representing the people of any town. She has shown her real side and that is her biased opinion against hunters and hunting by making the generalization that all hunters are poachers. Intelligent people know this is as far from reality as anyone can get.

I will give Mr. Nottonson credit. He is a bigger man than I am in how he has handled this issue so far.

“As a Fish and Game commissioner, I hate to see someone violate a Fish and Game law,” he said.

Nottonson, who initially denied in an interview last week that the incident happened, said Tuesday that he wrote the letter because Sarcione violated at least one state law — no one shall have a deer or moose in their possession without the appropriate tags. Nottonson’s home is also posted with a ‘no trespassing’ sign.

Still, Nottonson said he thinks Sarcione was just doing what she thought was right and trying to protect the residents of Derry. He even commended her for stepping down from the commission.

“We have a woman who in her heart of hearts believes that she is doing the right thing,” Nottonson said. “She believed in the strongest way, with a good deal of emotion, that she needed to show the Fish and Game commissioner … I’ve got to prove to him visually that hunters in Derry are not behaving themselves in a manner I think they should be behaving themselves.”

An investigation is ongoing to determine if any charges will be brought against Sarcione and I hope she takes some shooting lessons so she will be better able to hit her target.

Tom Remington