DC Suburbs Deer Problem

[fabsroman]

Here is an article in the Washington Post about our deer problem. I live in Montgomery County and am about 30 minutes from Columbia. We have deer by my place all the time in this "wetlands preserve" that is surrounded by condos, townhouses, and houses, and I almost hit one of them when we first moved in here. If I don't use some type of tick repellant, my dog would be overrun with the buggers. The next door neighbor found 5 ticks on his pug the other day and he came by to warn me about it. I've been here a year longer than him and already knew about the situation.

For those of you that don't want to read the entire article, suffice it to say that in some places we have 400 deer per square mile. Not too hard to fill the freezer and find some deer with horns.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...050401821.html

[drummer]

They tried "a bait trap and transfer", but it failed because they could keep Marion Barry away from the deer cocain.

[fabsroman]

That's a good one. If I get started on Marion Barry, and the idiots that re-elected him, this would be a long thread. I'll just say that the idiots in his ward deserve what they get. If you want to get rid of crime, violence, and drugs, you probably shouldn't elect a drug addict. I have other stories about him, because I know a guy that was in "jail" with him. Corruption is utterly amazing.

[multibeard]

I know in Va that the DNR will let subdivisions assns. hire there own deer assassins.

My nephew in Newport News belongs to a group of bow hunters does just that. They are paid by the assns. to thin out the deer. They ended up incorporating the group in order to write off the expenses that they incurred having most of the venison commercially processed so that it could be donated to soup kitchens.

All shooters have to shoot and qualify as to there ability with there bows. They have shooting platforms on the top of their trucks to shoot off of. They hunt right on the streets from there truck roofs.

At one time he mentioned that they might get to use 22 mags but I never have asked if that came to be.

It would be a cold day in hadies before the Michigan DNR would let this happen here. They are on a campaign to insulate all the deer in the state but would never let a city subdivision have an easy solution to there deer problem.

[fabsroman]

That is because not enough voters are complaining to the right people. In Montgomery County, the most liberal county in Maryland, with the most tree huggers and bunny kissers, they have even started to allow hunting in parks on the weekends, and they close the parks down for these hunts. Once the deer become a big enough nuisance and people start dying from car crashes, they will allow more hunting of them, especially when the insurance companies get involved. I wonder if the insurance companies could sue the DNR for negligent management of deer populations?

The game management issue seems to be a sticky subject on the board lately regarding deer, wolves, and alligators. I could probably throw ducks in the mix too because they are having the opposite problem (i.e., poor populations).

[drummer]

Now maybe you can appreciate what state wildlife biologists have to contend with.
BTW, I see Nagan also got re-elected.No more bottled water from me.

[fabsroman]

Yep, what a bunch of idiots. I feel no remorse for them either. If you are so stupid that you believe the lies of these politicians (e.g., Nagan), or Kenya West (i.e., Bush sent the hurricane to New Orleans because he does not like African-Americans), then you do not deserve to be in the gene pool.

[Classicvette63]

The slaughtering of deer by a few is one of the reasons I pretty much do not recognize or acknowledge the PGC. I find that policy wholly unacceptable. If a location has too many deer, let the hunters in there, in some way shape or form, to take care of it. If they don't want to allow hunters, tough... deal with it. Same goes for the farmers. None of this "crop damage, lemme kill unabated while posting my property" crap. Don't get me started.

[fabsroman]

Classic, it is a tough issue that you deal with. If all hunters were reputable people, wouldn't take ill advised shots that are dangerous to the public, and would leave the place better than how they found it, I would agree with you. However, as you and I know, there is no way to ensure this.

I know exactly where the guy in that article is hunting, and there are a ton of houses in that area (i.e., it is densely populated). IN fact, rifle hunting is not even allowed in that county or the county I live in because of the population density, and in the county I live in it is illegal to fire a firearm in half the county, so it is bow only hunting there.

Personally, I think there should be a program where hunters can bond themselves for any damages caused to a property owner's property, but that still wouldn't solve all the problems. For instance, how about the hunter that leaves the farmer's gates open? How about the hunter that guts and skins a whitetail in the farmer's spring water house/shed and leaves a complete mess, not to mention the stealing of the farmer's wine? Does the farmer really want to go through the trouble of recovering against a bond.

In the end, the few bad apples have made it tough for the rest of us. We should all turn in the bad apples and get rid of them, but most of us don't.

[Classicvette63]

Fabs, Too many "what if's" cop outs that people use. If the farmers finds someone that is a schmuck, bounce that person, don't lump all of us together. I could have a friend over and he trips and falls, and I get sued. Guess I shouldn't have any freinds over just in case. See my point? It's too easy to be negative on the farmers part.

Everyone and I mean EVERYONE has hunted on another person land at some point in their life. People don't seem to be so inclined today. The game commissions need to address that and try to change or force change in that (pizz poor) attitude.

[fabsroman]

Classic,

Easier said than done. Last I checked, you had an aversion to LEO's, as do I, but that aversion is based upon a couple of bad encounters that we have had with an LEO or two. So, we lumped all LEO's into the "they are out to get us" category instead of they are decent people that are upholding/enforcing the laws passed by the people we elect into the legislature.

I caught myself being prejudicial on Sunday, right after I wrote a response to an immigration thread. My wife and I went out for a bike ride on the bike path that winds through Rock Creek Park, which if you aren't familiar with Rock Creek Park, it is a bunch of small parks linked together. Anyway, we started at one of these small parks and there were a bunch of hispanics playing soccer and speaking Spanish. I made an off color comment that they should be speaking English. Then my wife reminded me that my father usually speaks Italian when he is around his friends and sometimes with my mother, and my mother used to speak to my grandmother in Italian, and my grandmother barely knew English, and my wife's mother's side speaks Italian when they get together. I felt like a jackass.

It is way too easy to prejudge. We all do it, no matter how hard we try not to. Yeah, I don't think the farmer's should, but try being in their shoes after dealing with a couple of jackass hunters. I wouldn't want to deal with it either.