Heads up, hunters! Shooting at power lines can be costly and dangerous.

By Vic­to­ria Scharf DeCas­tro

As dove-hunt­ing sea­son approach­es, Georgia’s elec­tric coop­er­a­tives are remind­ing hunters about the haz­ards of fir­ing at doves perched on pow­er lines and fiber-optic lines.

Pow­er lines are pop­u­lar roost­ing spots for doves, which typ­i­cal­ly con­gre­gate on the lines while tak­ing a break from fly­ing or before descend­ing to the ground to feed. This makes them easy tar­gets.

Though it may be tempt­ing to shoot at a bird while it is sit­ting on a line, fir­ing at pow­er lines is always a bad idea. Shoot­ing in the direc­tion of pow­er lines, fiber cables, insu­la­tors and oth­er elec­tri­cal equip­ment can result in exten­sive dam­age that could cost thou­sands of dol­lars to repair. Dam­age to equip­ment also could leave busi­ness­es and homes with­out pow­er and inter­net for extend­ed peri­ods of time.

Fiber-optic cable often runs adja­cent to and beneath the elec­tric lines. Opti­cal fibers are pro­tect­ed by glass tub­ing, which shat­ters when shot and can dis­rupt phone and inter­net ser­vice.

On open­ing day of dove sea­son last year, a main fiber cable was shot in Clarkesville-based Haber­sham EMC’s ser­vice area. The out­age affect­ed 120 mem­bers, includ­ing inter­net users who were with­out ser­vice until repairs could be made. That same after­noon, anoth­er fiber cable was shot, and the next day, a third fiber cable was dam­aged.

Cen­tral Geor­gia EMC in Jack­son expe­ri­enced 15 inci­dents of shoot­ing dam­age in the 2022 and 2023 hunt­ing sea­sons. The co-op is still gath­er­ing the con­struc­tion, labor and mate­r­i­al costs for replac­ing the dam­aged fiber, but splic­ing costs alone have sur­passed $27,000, with the cost of labor and mate­ri­als pre­dict­ed to far exceed that.

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive equip­ment has even seen its fair share of dam­ages. In 2016, one ill-aimed round of bird­shot cost more than $17,000 in repairs when a hunter rid­dled a fiber-optic cable used for com­mu­ni­ca­tion between the co-op and sub-sta­tions, which is cru­cial to our elec­tric sys­tem reli­a­bil­i­ty.

Fiber repairs are expen­sive and can be tedious, as a strand of fiber is about as thick as a strand of hair. When a tech­ni­cian begins splic­ing fiber to repair a dam­aged sec­tion, it’s akin to per­fect­ly match­ing and fus­ing two strands of hair on each end of the sec­tion being replaced. For a 96-count fiber line, two crews—one at each end of the replaced section—will make a total of 192 splices, and it could take 6–8 hours to com­plete.

Shoot­ing elec­tri­cal equip­ment also pos­es a risk of phys­i­cal harm to one­self and oth­ers. Dam­aged pow­er lines can pro­duce high-volt­age arcs that can ignite sur­round­ing veg­e­ta­tion and start a fire. Plus, a downed line may elec­tro­cute peo­ple on the ground.

“When it comes to safe­ty, hunters should always keep a rea­son­able dis­tance from pow­er lines and elec­tri­cal equip­ment,” says James Thomas, Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Safe­ty and Train­ing Coor­di­na­tor. “A wise pre­ven­tive mea­sure would be to note in advance the loca­tion of pow­er lines and oth­er elec­tri­cal equip­ment on the prop­er­ty where dove hunt­ing will take place.”

Dam­ag­ing elec­tri­cal equip­ment vio­lates Geor­gia law*, which states that any­one who “know­ing­ly and with­out author­i­ty and by force or vio­lence inter­feres with the oper­a­tion of any sys­tem of pub­lic com­mu­ni­ca­tion, pub­lic trans­porta­tion, sew­er­age, drainage, water sup­ply, gas, pow­er or oth­er pub­lic util­i­ty ser­vice or with any con­stituent prop­er­ty there­of” could face crim­i­nal charges and/or be held liable for the cost of repairs.

Although most hunters are com­mit­ted to safe­ty, gun­fire dam­age to pow­er lines and fiber lines is a grow­ing issue statewide. To help ensure a safe and suc­cess­ful dove-hunt­ing sea­son, remain aware of the dan­gers involved and the dam­age caused by fir­ing at birds perched on pow­er lines and fiber lines.

If you notice a downed wire or oth­er unsafe con­di­tions along pow­er lines, stay away, keep oth­ers away and imme­di­ate­ly noti­fy Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive or call 911.

* Code O.C.G.A. § 16–7‑22(b)(2)