ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Residents who live along Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg said they can’t believe it’s legal under state law for hunters to shoot at ducks near their homes, which has been happening since Thanksgiving, in the middle of a densely populated city.

“It’s really hard to send my children outside when shots are going off within a stone’s throw away from them,” said resident Danielle Imbody. “That’s just not an environment where I want to raise my kids.”

Duck hunting season runs from around Thanksgiving until Jan. 28. Hunters can begin shooting a half-hour before sunrise and must stop a half-hour past sunset. Resident Juanita Suber, 64, said she has been routinely woken up in the morning by the sounds of gunfire.

“Just extremely loud,” she said. “My whole body jumps and then my heart races and it’s just a lot to deal with.”

Next door to her home on Pollanza Drive South, Suber runs the non-profit, My Sistah’s Place, for teens who have aged out of foster care. Suber said she had to close down the transitional home because the hunting has been so disruptive.

“Our girls were so traumatized that we had to relocate them,” she said. “A lot of our girls come in here with trauma anyway having been in foster care … and the gunshots were unsettling.”

Suber said she has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and hunters only began showing up about two years ago.

“I don’t know why it started all of a sudden,” she said. “We want to do something about it to ensure that we’re safe here living on this beautiful lake.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, duck hunting is permitted on any water body that has public access or via private property with landowner permission. There’s also no minimum distance one can hunt from roads or private properties unless that area is a restricted hunting area which Lake Maggiore is not.

Travis Thompson, the executive director of All Florida, a conservation organization.

The rules also state firearms may not knowingly be discharged over a paved public road or any occupied premise and waterfowl hunters use shotguns with non-toxic bird shot that has an effective range of around 50 yards.

“Duck hunting is inherently safe,” said Travis Thompson, the executive director of All Florida, a conservation organization. “To my knowledge, there’s never been a recorded incident of someone harming a non-duck hunter on a duck hunt.”

It’s against the law to intentionally place bait or take other actions to prevent a hunter from legally hunting.

Thompson, 47, said complaints about duck hunting usually center around an unease with firearms and the noise, which the law states a wildlife take can’t be regulated for noise. He believes an uptick in urban hunting could be attributed to a change in the environment and over development.

“We’re starting to see hunters and waterfowl be pushed off some of the more traditional water fowl areas. So, I think this may be why a lake like this has become a new issue,” he said. “Hunters have kind of run out of some other options on where to hunt. No-one and I’m not saying it’s illegal but no-one wants to hunt where they’re looking at houses in the distance or in a more urban setting.”

Thompson said duck hunters are some of the most ardent conservationists and the season only lasts for 60 days per year. The residents said they have no problem with hunting they just don’t want to see it happening near their homes.

“It’s scary. I would never send my child out into a hunter’s woods to go play,” said Imbody. “Yet, I’m being asked to send my child out into the front yard where the hunters are playing.”

Juanita Suber said she has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and hunters only began showing up about two years ago.

Resident Marshia Cox said the gunshots outside her front door scare her dog who walks around with a tail between its legs. Imbody said the hunters and the residents have already had some testy exchanges

“If you ask them politely to please move on (they respond), ‘Now is not a good time,’” she said. “They will taunt. Hang dead ducks above your head.”

Suber has been getting the upset residents organized and they plan to pressure lawmakers to amend the state law or get Lake Maggiore designated a restricted hunting area.

“We’re going to contact our state representatives and see if we can come to the table. We have a diverse group here,” she said. “Living next to a hunting range is not living. It’s just existing and nobody wants to just exist.”

People who believe a duck hunter is acting irresponsibly can report it to the FWC wildlife alert hotline at 1-888-404-3922. The FWC notes the vast majority of duck hunters adhere to safe, responsible practices that are passed down through generations and taught in hunter safety courses.