Deer worship (Ithaca barf alert)

ITHACA JOURNAL ^ | 7/21/03 | George Rhoads

[Catspaw]

Well, actually I'm kinda on the deer's side on this one. I know what a menace an overpopulation of deer can be, but at the same time I find it incredibly offensive when people think nothing of exterminating animal life for their own personal convenience. There's a happy medium somehwere, and we need to find it or the world is going to be a very sterile place. Deer are God's creatures, too :)

Wisconsin has a well-managed deer herd, and it's done in great part by having an annual deer hunt. But when you see a doe & two fawns romping through a yards a half-mile from downtown Princeton, as I did during my last visit there, that's a deer herd out of control. Deer are not urban animals. Squirrels and rabbits are.

[Soaring Feather]

Bambi and his mother made
great pots of stew in winter months
we did not feed the critters in the lane
they fed us...

and it's a shame
Bambi and the clan do roam
in peoples yards all over town
to become denizens
in this once fair town
and spread their fleas
all over town
just what we need
dreaded Lymn Disease
will city coffers pay for this
ridding of this natures pest
will some people give it a rest
Bambi and his mother are wild
and still make the best pot roast in town.

In forests wild they no harm do
leave them there to roam and
do what deer do
we need to curb their
encroachment on us
not foster care the beast at best...

bentfeather a/k/a HML Copyright © 2003 All Rights Reserved

[Phantom Lord]

I have more deer than I can count in my back yard. I haven't gotten around to getting my NC hunting license since moving here from NY. Buy my neighbor is a big hunter and I let him set up tree stands in my back yard. The deal is he can kill all he wants but he must share the meat.

It's a great arraingment. Even though he is 3 houses over, his back yard is not good for deer hunting where mine is perfect.

[tbpiper]

From the George Rhoads bio:

“George Rhodes…….author of ‘The Lost Queen’, a book that remains unpublished for the sin of being unclassifiable.”

Autobiographical, perhaps?

[ought-six]

Deer look good in my freezer. And come deer season this fall, I'll make every effort to do fill up that freezer.

[ought-six]

"What are the odds that the letter's author, who wants to declare deer 'sacred,' supports abortion at will?"

I think that is a given. What's more, she's probably a wiccan.

[hellinahandcart]

LOL...yes, that's why books go unpublished. Not because they're awful, but because they're "unclassifiable".

[ex-Texan]

Bambi cooks up petty good. Ooops! Sorry Bambi !

Actually Bambi is infected with a form of Mad Cow Disease. Try not to hut, shoot and eat Bambi. The life you save may be your own.

[dfrussell]

Deer are overgrown rats that can and will eat almost anything, run in front of cars and reproduce slightly less quickly than rabbits.

There only saving grace is that they're cute when fawns and even cuter as venison.

The funny part is that in places where they've been protected, people now want to put them on birth control because they're everywhere and eating the little old lady tree hugger's shrubs :)

One can only hope that someone develops a taste for Canada Geese... I'm really tired of goose dung in the parking lots.

[Uncle Miltie]

I just received my doe tag for this fall's hunt.

Campfire grilled Bambi tenderloin in a sherry butter peppercorn sauce. Pre-boycott Cotes-du-Rhone, and wild rice rissoto with porcini and hazelnuts.

Yum!

[mhking]

These handsome and harmless citizens should be declared sacred, like their cousins in India. Deer to not cause accidents -- people do. Deer are victims of the evil and ever burgeoning automobile population. Driven by reckless fanatics, cars are noisy, polluting killers of all manner of wildlife, including people.

Deer are speedbumps. Really big speedbumps. [g]

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[Billthedrill]

Please, please tell me this isn't real...

If we weren't meant to eat 'em, why did the good Lord make 'em yummy?

[Range Rover]

I can tell you this about Land Rovers and deer - it only takes one "incident" (and the cost of replacing the grille, radiator, bumper and bonnet) for you to install Rhino Bars to the front of a Rover. After that, the deer just bounce off the front end (Pontiacs too). I would recommend Simbars made in Bristol England.

It's not that I TRY to hit them (happened twice)but both times they just trotted out onto the road - once around a blind curve and once on the Interstate. I live in a heavily deer populated area. A friend had one land ON TOP OF her Toyota after it jumped off of a roadside outcropping (looked just like the posted picture after the fact)and there is no way she could have avoided it. Damn thing just fell from the sky.

If I can offer any advice to folks, it's this: Where there is one, there are others...and they're not the smartest animals so expect the unexpected.

[ken5050]

Perhaps Ithacan would like to support the reintroduction of the mountain lion and the wolf to their neighborhoods...

[Mr. Silverback]

In a recent Reader's Digest article on the runaway increases in deer population, the author described an accident she had while avoiding a deer in the road, and how her life was saved by safety features--an airbag, reinforced guardrails, etc. Then she asked why a country "obsessed"with safety lets animals weighing in at well over 100lbs wonder about on their roadways in massive numbers.

[wysiwyg]

[Ditter]

I certainly know where this writer is coming from. My husband worships deer too. We have 10 deer heads in this room alone. I catch my husband standing quietly in front of one of them every day. I am *sure* he is praying. :0/

[Fresh Wind]

I wonder whether Mr. Rhoads realizes how much global warming air polluting non-renewable fossil fuel energy is being squandered so he can produce his cute little "sculptures"?

[CollegeRepublican]

That picture is great. We need a billboard like that down here in the DC/Baltimore Area. The "Citizen Deer" in my area go in the sights of my bow starting September 15. I can't wait. I have been eating venison like crazy to clean out my freezer from last hunting season.