Millionaire Virginia developer lies to shut down area hunters

Well today's Washington Post had an interesting story about a guy who is apparently quite proud of himself for falsely registering for a local hunting blind just to keep real hunters from using it.

Larry Hirsch got so fed up watching ducks get shot out of the sky that he hatched a plan to get rid of the hunter who hunkered down in the duck blind behind his Fairfax County home. He's not a hunter, but Hirsch acquired the right to build the only duck blind allowed in that spot on the Potomac River.

Hirsch, 55, went out a few times and fired his shotgun, pretending to duck hunt and thereby fulfilling the requirement of his license.

The plan worked, because Hirsch's landowner rights trumped those of the hunter, who had licensed the empty spot, and he was pushed out of his duck blind at least for a year.

And before you shed any tears for Hirsch, the paper lets us know that he's hardly poverty-stricken.

A contractor, he has built four large houses on the block; the most recent is listed at $3.6 million, he said. All look out on the blind.

So a multi-millionaire is miffed because he built houses that look out on an already-existing duck blind that average people use. That's probably what really galls him. He has to see the great unwashed proletariats who committed the unpardonable sin of being there first.

Of course he shrugs it off for the story.

"These days, I spend more and more of my time in the winter in the Caribbean," he said, "so it doesn't bother me that much."

I guess that's why you went to all the trouble to claim the blind in the first place, eh Larry? That last dismissive statement tends to support the view that it's not the hunting that he hates...it's all those commoners so near his estate. Interesting fellow, that J Lawrence Hirsch.

Well five minutes' worth of internet browsing told me quite a bit more about Mr. Hirsch. He's a democrat who regularly donates thousands of dollars to that party under his own name, his wife's name, or that of his real estate development firm and it seems that he lives in a very upscale, multi-million dollar neighborhood the likes of which most of us will never be able to afford to live in. When not pretending to be a hunter just to bump real hunters from the duck blinds, he's a real estate developer under the name of Federal City Group Inc., which he runs from his mansion at 7615 Southdown Road in Alexandria. His phone number is(703) 765-5544 if you want to ring him up and ask--politely, of course--if he won't mind if you put in to use that blind this year. It's actually in a nice spot--one of the very few places where the average Joe or Jane can try to bag a duck in Fairfax these days. Google map the address and choose satellite view. on the close-in zoom you'll see the blind just to the northeast of Hirsch's mansion.