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Too many deer
Washington Times ^ | 12/8/02 | S. A. Miller

Posted on 12/08/2002 12:22:33 AM PST by hoosierskypilot

Yews stripped of evergreen needles, bushes picked clean of rose and azalea buds, pansies nipped to the stem and thousands of carcass littering the roadways. The evidence is everywhere that the white-tailed deer has taken a toll on the Washington area and most of the East Coast.

They destroy nearly $1 billion worth of U.S. crops, timber and landscaping annually. And each year they cause most of the 500,000 animal-related vehicle accidents that result in about 100 fatalities and $2.5 billion in damages.

Wildlife officials from Maryland and Virginia acknowledge that they have had little success in reducing the deer population, despite making it a priority for more than a decade.

(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters
KEYWORDS: deer; holdmuhdeer
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"Run, Bambi! It's man!"

The article points out that the problem areas are where deer are protected from hunting. Guess the envirofruits hate this truth.

1 posted on 12/08/2002 12:22:33 AM PST by hoosierskypilot
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To: hoosierskypilot
I'm not sure if even hunting would be sufficient. Hunters prefer to shoot bucks, not does, leaving most of the does to reproduce. Also there is a fear that chronic wasting disease, closely related to mad cow disease, might be communicable by eating venison.
2 posted on 12/08/2002 12:33:30 AM PST by Post Toasties
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To: Post Toasties
How true. One state up north (Wisconsin?) required its hunters to cut off the deer's head and submit it for testing. That'd definitely turn me off. It'd be about like a recall on your microwave oven, and when you turn it in, the guy that takes it is wearing one of those suits that protect against radiation, saying, "Oh, don't worry, it won't hurt you!
3 posted on 12/08/2002 12:41:42 AM PST by hoosierskypilot
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To: Post Toasties
"...chronic wasting disease..."

Just another name for democratic socialism,.....didn't realize deer had been infected,..so much for venison.

4 posted on 12/08/2002 12:45:09 AM PST by Cvengr
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To: hoosierskypilot
From the article:Mr. Gordon, who hunts in all seasons in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, also complained about a $120 fine a game warden wrote him for hunting 15 feet inside the 150-yard no-hunting zone around houses.

In this state you can hunt inside the 150 yard zone (of occupied buildings) with the permission of the owner/occupants. Last year I hunted with a bow literally in a guy's yard! I couldn't have been more than fifteen yards from the house!

5 posted on 12/08/2002 12:49:33 AM PST by pa_dweller
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To: hoosierskypilot
LINKS OF INTEREST:

CDC.gov: "BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY AND CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE"

ROCKY MOUNATAIN NEWS.com: "KILLER IN THE HERDS"

WTOP (AP): "ILLINOIS CONFIRMS DEER WASTING DISEASE" (ARTICLE NOTE: "In Wisconsin, where 40 infected deer have been found, officials want hunters to kill the state's entire herd _ at least 25,000 deer _ to eradicate the disease. Illinois officials said they need to test more animals before planning their response. Chronic wasting disease is related to mad cow disease and damages brain and nerve tissue.") (110202)

CNN.com: "COHEN: THE UNITED STATES' FIRST MAD COW VICTIM" (101702)

THE STAR.com - THE TORONTO STAR (CP): "'MAD COW' STRAIN KILLS SASKATCHEWAN MAN 71 Saskatoon Patients Alerted to Possible Exposure" (080902)

MSNBC.com (AP): "DEER DISEASE FEARED IN HUMAN DEATHS" (073102)

CENTER>WKOW TV.com: "WASTING DISEASE" (071502)

JERUSALEM POST.com: "FIRST CASE OF MAD COW CONFIRMED" (060502)

*Note: Some urls may have expired.

6 posted on 12/08/2002 1:02:15 AM PST by Cindy
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To: Post Toasties
I'm not sure if even hunting would be sufficient. Hunters prefer to shoot bucks, not does, leaving most of the does to reproduce. Also there is a fear that chronic wasting disease, closely related to mad cow disease, might be communicable by eating venison.

I haven't done much research on this yet, but a preliminary review indicates no examples of the disease causing health problems in humans. Also, if restrictions are removed from hunting does, hunters will be happy to harvest them for the meat.

If deer become a serious problem simply declare them varmits and remove hunting restrictions until such point as the population is under control. This is not rocket science.

7 posted on 12/08/2002 4:06:50 AM PST by toddst
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To: toddst
Right toddst the dnr is always complaining that we can not shot enough deer but they still strickly enforce nonsafety violations on deer hunters. If they want more deer shot they have to loosen the regulations.
8 posted on 12/08/2002 4:10:54 AM PST by riverrunner
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To: Post Toasties
While the hunter ethic is to take bucks, controlled harvesting by use of "antlerless deer only" permits can address this situation. What is the problem is the restriction of hunting combined with the absence of predators.

What the Enviro-Nazis don't want you to know is that there are many times more deer in North America than there were when the white man first arrived. Whether the Enviro-Nazi Bambi-Lovers want to admit it or not, we, man, is a valuable and necessary predator in the food chain. Disney may want you to believe otherwise, but we must perform that duty or the herd will be decimated by disease and famine.

9 posted on 12/08/2002 4:21:52 AM PST by Redleg Duke
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To: riverrunner
In Californicatia, they have a thriving pig population. The limit is one...per day...all year long. Wild pork is delicious and the population doesn't seem to be hurt by this brutal hunting pressure.

Maybe we need to consider a year-round season for deer hunting. That would take the emphasis off of the annual "Red Army" in November (never guess I grew up in Wisconsin, would you?). I know that the Enviro-Nazi Bambi Lovers will cry that it will leave thousands of baby Bambis orphaned, but so does road kill.

The burgeoning population may have pushed us to seeing the deer herd as just short of varmint status.

10 posted on 12/08/2002 4:27:10 AM PST by Redleg Duke
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To: hoosierskypilot
The azaleas are a victim of genocide. Those poor gardeners. How do they go on with their lives? Such brave souls.
11 posted on 12/08/2002 4:28:12 AM PST by sakic
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To: hoosierskypilot
"Wildlife officials from Maryland and Virginia acknowledge that they have had little success in reducing the deer population, despite making it a priority for more than a decade."

A promotion is requiring me to move from lovely New Hampshire to northern Virginia next summer. This is a great incentive!

12 posted on 12/08/2002 4:28:26 AM PST by Redleg Duke
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To: Post Toasties
Of course, most hunters would prefer a deer with a nice rack but most hunters would take either sex. I can't speak for other states but here in Alabama the most popular hunting days are those that are hunters choice, ie, you can take either. While it depends on which county you reside, the hunters choice here in Madison county is only nine days long while the bucks only season is seventy days. (Note, for some counties hunters choice is all seventy days.)

It's not so much that hunters prefer bucks but that restricting the days one can hunt does, increases the deer population since the does survive to breed.
13 posted on 12/08/2002 4:42:25 AM PST by DugwayDuke
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To: riverrunner
If they want more deer shot they have to loosen the regulations.

10-4. Actually, a coalition of hunters and farmers can probably get restrictions reduced. The excess population problem will then quickly be dealt with.

14 posted on 12/08/2002 4:43:53 AM PST by toddst
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To: Post Toasties
"I'm not sure if even hunting would be sufficient."

I think you are right. Ohio has a few too many deer and plenty of deer hunters but they barely make a dent in the population. Actually, by my observations drivers that hit deers bag more than the hunters do. The insurance companies must hate it. None the less, the state fish and game agencies could not operate without the income produced by hunting licenses and tags.

The deer like other wild creatures have adapted to suburban living. In the burbs hunting is not practical due to the lack of open space. The deer know this and find the garden greenery much more tasty than the farmers crops. I have watched the family SUV back out of drive ways, and seconds later the deer hop the fence to enjoy a nice home grown meal.

15 posted on 12/08/2002 4:45:51 AM PST by SSN558
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To: toddst
>>This is not rocket science.

It is for touchy-feely Leftist animal rights types, which is why we've got the problem.
16 posted on 12/08/2002 4:46:58 AM PST by FreedomPoster
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To: hoosierskypilot
BUMP
17 posted on 12/08/2002 4:59:14 AM PST by RippleFire
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To: hoosierskypilot
Two drivers were killed in auto vs deer accidents in the Kansas City area in just the last two weeks.

Mark
18 posted on 12/08/2002 5:08:35 AM PST by MarkL
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To: hoosierskypilot
I'm the opposite of an envirofruit, but I hate that truth too. I like animals, and I don't like hunting, but it looks like it's the best thing to do.
19 posted on 12/08/2002 5:14:41 AM PST by Savage Beast
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To: Cindy
Those pesky little Prions

Check out an interesting site: (http://www.clickitnews.com/emergingdiseases/index.shtml),for some reason link wouldn't work.

Don't know what to make of all this,but reminds me of bad things on a Biblical level.

20 posted on 12/08/2002 5:22:22 AM PST by invenire
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