So Many Deer, So Much Development

washingtonpost.com ^ | Sunday, December 12, 2004 | Brigid Schulte

[crushelits]

Growth Thwarts Va. Hunters

The dawn is still, a faint brightening just above the dried husks of a Purcellville cornfield, the moon still bright. Jay McKeever freezes and slowly inches down into a squat. A white-tailed buck emerges from a thicket of bare trees, the "big boy" he has tracked all morning.

The buck, colorblind to the blaze orange baseball cap McKeever wears, comes to a halt. It would be a perfect shot -- and a rack of antlers worth mounting. McKeever curses quietly, his Browning .270-caliber deer hunting rifle, with scope, untouched on the frozen ground next to him. The buck startles and bounds back into the woods.

"I could have shot, but I don't know where the bullet will go," he whispers. "It could hit a bone and deflect." These days in Loudoun County, a ricochet could be deadly. The plastic-tipped rifle bullet McKeever uses can keep goingafter it passes through a deer and travel up to a mile if he misses. And though they are invisible beyond a rise at the edge of the field, a Christmas tree farm and a new development of $700,000-plus homes sit in his line of fire. Some of the yards have brightly colored slides and jungle gyms. Hunting in the shadow of mansions, McKeever says, is "like a head-on collision. There's just no place to let a rifle bullet loose around here that's not going to wind up getting in trouble."

[palmer]

untouched on the frozen ground next to him

The ground hasn't frozen here so far this year.

[palmer]

Many new Loudoun residents buy or build in what was until recently farmland or forest, and are then surprised that they have to deal with displaced wildlife and the other problems inherent in country living.

The idiots in Fairfax just ripped up a fairly decent tract of woods by the Vienna Metro. Now the deer that had taken cover there are being hunted by all the drivers in the area.

[crushelits]

Here in Annapolis I've seen deer roaming next to crowded avenues.

[BraveMan]

Meat recovery was very reasonable for a 100 yard shot. Although the holes look big, there was very little extended meat damage.

I thought this was satire until I scrolled down and viewed the picture of the dressed buck . . .

[palmer]

Probably eating out of dumpsters. Next they'll be head butting people on the street for handouts.

[P.O.E.]

Maybe starting a (sub) urban legend that deer meat is an aphrodisiac will drive up poaching?

[Vinnie]

So I'll opt for the Winchester model 94 (.44Mag w/ hollow points) or a Remington 11-48 12 guage shotgun with 00Buckshot.

Wondering how the .44 gets the job done.
I've been toying with getting a lever in .44 or 35 Rem.
(why I don't know as I don't hunt, just have the urge for a big bore)

[spodefly]

Wondering how the .44 gets the job done.

That gun, the Winchester 94 in .44Mag, is the one gun that I would keep if I could only have one gun. It is small, lightweight, reliable, easily maintained, durable, and powerful.

There are a wide range of loads available in .44Mag for game from small to large, and if it were your only gun, you could even use shotshells and go bird hunting with it (though I haven't actually tried that.) They are accurate out to a 150 yards, and I can hit what I aim at with nothing but the iron sights. Here is a FR thread on the Model 94.

[mamelukesabre]

It's a state law in Iowa...shotguns only.

[mamelukesabre]

Some states have no provisions for crossbow use...ie, they're illegal.

[Ladysmith]

From the link to the original article: Lately, the talk among hunters at the 7-Eleven coffeepots has been about the explosive story out of Wisconsin, where a Hmong hunter who had been on someone else's deer stand on someone else's land shot and killed six hunters. They say the man was a criminal, not a hunter. They fear that the story will give hunters a black eye and embolden hunting opponents to push for more restrictions. But they acknowledge that some of the same pressure that drove Chai Vang to trespass on private property -- the loss of hunting ground to development -- is being felt in Loudoun in spades.

Use www.bugmenot.com for login and password for the whole article.

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[Iowa Granny]

Thanks for the ping.

[Petronski]

Seriously. If he's afraid of the shot travelling too far, he ought to try a shorter rifle.

[mad_as_he$$]

Crossbow.

[mad_as_he$$]

Crossbow.

[Cornpone]

You're right about that...a .270 wasn't made for brush hunting...it's an open range gun...

[gieriscm]

Time to buy a crossbow.

Not legal in VA, unfortunately, though there should be a bill introduced before our General Assembly next year to change that.

I live and hunt in Loudoun County. The area I hunt on is safe for a rifle, only because I prefer to stay on high ground and shoot down into streambeds and drainages. Otherwise I'd use either a handgun or a bow.

[Dan from Michigan]

Sabots my man, sabots.

[crushelits]