Posted on 10/06/2022 8:23:59 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Jose Guzman became the first hunter to legally harvest a deer within Chicago in more than 150 years.
According to Joel Greenberg in “A Natural History of the Chicago Region,” (p. 452), the last deer killed within Chicago city limits [before reintroduction began] was in 1865 by first ward alderman William Cox, according to his son. It was “where `a forest of cottonwoods and oaks contested with a reluctant prairie,’ land that was to become the great stockyards.”
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources opened the first deer hunting season at William Powers this year. Eight of 37 applicants were awarded a 14-day hunting period. Guzman’s was first, from opening day of archery season on Oct. 1 through Oct. 14.
“It is a great privilege to be allowed in the area, I get to set the tone,” he said. “We’re helping to manage the deer population. It’s not like we don’t need the management program. Deer and wildlife management as a whole is really important.”
Guzman butchered the doe himself, then took tissue samples to Strahl to have the doe tested for CWD before eating the venison.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
—”Are those the same hunters who mistakenly lost their best firearms while boating?”
And closely related to the famous old blind carpenter that picked up his hammer and saw!
Interesting background. The Chicago area was a swamp originally referred to to by the American Indians as “chik-a-goo” which meant “stinky weeds”. That’s how it got its name. Some things never change.
—”An old black man came up to a sergeant on the scene and asked for the carcass for the meat.”
One snow storming morning a young’n that worked for me picked up a nice buck that was struck just in front of him on the way into work.
He was a very serious bow hunter...
He proceeded to field dress it on the loading dock!
Yes, he put down some plastic under the work area.
This attracted a crowd... Even though he recently retired,
to this day he is known as road kill Phil.
[This attracted a crowd... Even though he recently retired,
to this day he is known as road kill Phil.]
Waste not, want not. With the way things are going we will probably be seeing more of that.
back when i was a youngin, the Sheriff’s would bring fresh roadkill to families that they knew could use it...
looong time gone
There are more whitetail deer in the US today than when Boone and Crockett were alive.
Part of this is because of state wildlife management efforts but in the last quarter century, but small private game preserves all have become a booming cottage industry. A great many land owners have begun growing deer food plots, which draws the deer and habituates them to their land, then they sell to sportsmen the right to hunt on their land.
It’s a case of Mother Nature benefiting from entrepreneurship and the free market economy. I know land owners who clear enough from their hunting leases each year to pay their land taxes. And most of them are maxed out on hunters and have a waiting list.
When I was a kid deer here were so scarce I knew people who had deer hunted their entire lives and never bagged one. Now even Elmer Fudd can get a couple every season without much effort.
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