Posted on 03/19/2005 8:29:04 PM PST by neverdem
Forgive us if you are among the millions of gardeners, farmers, bird-watchers, drivers, fence builders, claims adjusters, body-shop operators, roadkill scrapers, 911 dispatchers, physical therapists and chiropractors who know this already.
White-tailed deer are a plague.
In their overwhelming abundance, they are prime examples of an ecosystem badly out of balance. They denude forests, making life impossible for vulnerable native plants and birds while allowing invasive species to thrive. While deer profoundly vex suburban gardeners, that annoyance pales next to the lethal danger they pose to drivers.
Now, even bird lovers want the deer subdued. The New Jersey Audubon Society, in a report last week, urged the consideration of lethal means to solve the problem, arguing that fencing, contraception and other gentle tactics have proved largely ineffective. The group wants the government to rethink conservation policies it says are intended to maximize herds for hunters, and to consider - especially in the suburbs, where hunting is too dangerous - bringing in sharpshooters.
It may sound harsh, even strange coming from an organization whose mission is to foster "environmental awareness and a conservation ethic." But the group - which does not speak for the National Audubon Society - has it exactly right.
Deer are simply heeding the biological imperative to go forth and multiply. With no natural predators, and the suburbs a year-round salad bar, they have slipped out of their ecological niche - and it's our fault, not theirs. The deer did not ask human beings to create the kind of predator-free suburban landscapes in which they now thrive. But the mountain lion, gray wolf and bobcat are not about to return, and the houses and highways are staying put. People, therefore, must own up to their place in a compromised food chain, and assume the responsibility for managing it well.
Unfortunately, deer contradict our innate assumption that only ugly creatures can be vermin. As the recent release of the "Bambi" DVD reminds us, they seem miscast as villains. But wise conservation means looking at the environment as a whole - from the smallest wildflower on forest floor to the biggest brown-eyed herbivore. The whole system - not just the prettiest mammals - needs protection.
Go BOWHUNTERS!
A few mornings ago, I saw SEVEN deer running through my neighborhood here in Massachusetts. I have never seen so many deer in one place before. This deer thing is getting out of hand.
If you can't beat it, eat it.
CT is very densely populated on average but I'm in the eastern half and there are acres and acres of wooded, hilly terrain. We have coyotes, bear, lots of deer and reports, so far unofficial, of cougars. Some nights when I try to put my dogs out they won't go, I listen and I can hear the howling. If I go out with them they will go but I do carry a pistol.
By far, the most important reason of all to reduce the deer population,(if you live anywhere in the Northeast); is that they are the primary carriers of the deer tick, the insidious carrier of LYME DISEASE. Lyme claims 17,000 new victims each year. Truely, a horrible disease. Yes, by all means reduce the deer herds.
Actually, I did a google search, and it seems that there is an elk farm in Liberty, MO. "North Slope Elk Farm."
That might be it... I could have been wrong about the critters. I didn't think that they were big enough to be elk, but maybe the ones I saw were juviniles.
Mark
The top photo reminds me of a short road trip my late wife took with one of her girl friends. They made it nearly to the Carolina/Virginia border up in the mountains. Just after my dear wife commented that she hoped they’d see a deer – one came through the windshield. No one (but the deer) was hurt, although the car (big old Buick) was totaled and their pants and car seats were wet. The driver’s head was bracketed by the antlers.
They decided the Sheriff’s deputy who helped them could have the deer.
Kentucky Fried rat?
I just don't want to do that, while I could be sleeping in a nice, warm, comfortable bed.
Re: Bambi.
My dad used to joke that a better Disney movie would have been
The Rutting of Bambi's Dad. No doubt the rating would have been XXX for nudity, strong sexual content, and gratuitous violence.
NY Times is a city paper with schleps wringing their city hands while most of America west of the Hudson find the solution to the deer problem very tastey.
Regarding the NYT recommending removal of feed since starvation is painless: Excellent analysis.
I was a little uncomfortable with the birth control idea. Not that I'm a Catholic, but I had some doubts about our athletic ability to run them down and insert diaphrams and/or condoms. Of course, it WOULD have the secondary benefit of limiting Antlered Aids.
If only we could get them to nibble a little garlic and onion right before the trigger is squeezed......;)
Years ago I discovered that -deer- were stealing all the sunflower seeds from my bird's feed.
They'd just hop a 4 foot fence from a standstill, help themselves and hop back over.
The DNR is suppressing cougar reports in a lot of states, apparently.
People west of me have literally spotted them yards away and the DNR denies that it's even possible.
My Ibizan Hounds used to present me with -live- gifts of mice.
The first time, I thought my old girl had a string hanging out of her mouth so opened her yap to find a live, very freaked-out mouse lying perfectly still on her tongue.
I thought surely it was dead and took it from her and the mouse snapped out of his stupor and hit the floor running.
One Doberman I had would bring me the heads of woodrats.
Never the body...just the head.
I could never decide if she had an "Alfredo Garcia" or "John the Baptist" kind of thing...;))
There was one killed here in Citrus Heights that had a belly full of porcupine needles. You can't tell me that wasn't a hungry cat. As it was there were two cats, this one a young male, and another who was getting the local dog population.
Giant rabbits. And they taste good.
Ridgefield, CT, a town of 23,000 in Fairfield County, recently bought an incinerator to burn all the deer run over by cars in town.
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