Donald Ward has a legitimate concern that he took to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners on Monday evening. The Chocowinity resident presented a petition asking commissioners to ban hunting from highway rights of way.

He is not the first to come forward on this issue.

For some, hunting is no longer a sport of man versus animal in the wild. It has devolved into man driving his pickup truck over asphalt trails as hunting dogs flush prey out of the woods and into the open. No muss, no fuss — an easy kill from the back of a truck.

As Ward puts it, it’s time to put the “hunt” back in hunting.

During the ensuing discussion, Commissioners Hood Richardson and Stan Deatherage mentioned receiving complaints from folks around the county.

“There are good people that hunt from the sides of the road,” Deatherage said. “I lease to them. I have few complaints. But there are some problems, too, so we really need to look at this closely.”

Ultimately, commissioners voted unanimously to refer the matter to the Animal Control Committee — consisting of Richardson and fellow Commissioners Robert Cayton and Al Klemm — for further study and a recommended course of action.

This is an issue that has come up before the board in the past with little or no results.

We applaud commissioners for moving forward on a resolution to this problem for the entire county. As the county continues to grow, the time has come for a serious look at hunting and finding answers to hunting-related concerns.