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Many years ago Brown County Park in central Indiana had a problem with whitetail deer. They were so overpopulated it was beyond comprehension. The State decided to hold a special deer hunt, and allowed hunters to take 4 or 5 deer each. The mayhem that resulted was indescribable. The mistake the State made was not closing down the park while hunting occurred. Wounded deer were running out of the park in herds, collapsing on picnic blankets, front yards and in traffic. It was not a good testament for hunters in general. The State shut down the special hunt, and in the end, brought in “sharpshooters” to cull the deer. Maybe this is an attempt to avoid a similar problem, although my preferred solution would be to live-trap the animals and transplant them. That’s how Michigan, for example, got it’s current elk herd.

Yes, they are “invasive” in the sense that FDR brought them in.

Which is kind of a laugh. The greatest hero of the left in America brought in invasive species all over the place, in his various projects. Yellow pine in New England. That hugely invasive vine all over the South. And many others.

Liberals just can’t help doing things, and then having to undo them.

But there’s no reason I can see why a reasonable number of deer and elk can’t live on the island. And adjust the length of the hunting season so the numbers come out right.

Yes, they’d rather have sharpshooters than real hunters. On the island where I have summered in Maine since 1947, the islanders used to jack deer when they were hungry, and hang them in the larder, or later, the freezer. Then the mainland government moved in and stopped it. Now there are hundreds of deer all over the island, everyone has to put up deer fences, you have to watch out when you drive at night, and dozens of deer starve to death every winter.

They’ve just voted to take care of it—by bringing in sharpshooters. Why not just let the Islanders do a little hunting for their food?