New Age/PC logic (or lack thereof)

[DC]

Was watching NBC nat'l news tonite...a piece on the population explosion of deer across the country.
"One million vehicle accidents with deer each year....the majority of deer die....said accidents cause 200 human deaths per year and over $1 billion in damage"....ok so we have a problem.

"Early this century deer were almost hunted to extinction, but with the advent of strict hunting regulations, deer have made a phenomenal comeback, population estimated at 3 times greater than when Europeans began settling North America"....bad ol hunters nearly killed them all until the Staes enacted hunting regs.

"With a deer population as high as this is, it is more than the land can support. Thus the gov't is acting to reduce the population (deer ) to sustainable levels. One program is contraceptive darts." ( Now they interview a minor gov't hunter/employee who darts deer)....guy complains about how hard it is: the deer get his scent and look, and avoid him; takes about 2 hours to even get a shot, $20 per shot, dose only lasts a year.

Now, get this, and point of post...
They interview a senior USDA "environmental biologist"......."Hunting isn't an effective way to control the population; we've allowed hunting for years and we still have this over-population of deer. We need to find a better way"

Sounds very much like the anti-gun position: a criminal assault/violence problem, higher than when everyone was armed....restrict weapons carry, crime goes up, but because some folks can legally carry (though only an extreme minority) , and the crime is high....armed citizens, therefore, aren't effective. Severely limit/restrict a solution and then castigate/dismiss the solution because it hasn't solved the problem.

The mind reels at these transparent morons

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

 

[Phil]

"......."Hunting isn't an effective way to control the population; we've allowed hunting for years and we still have this over-population of deer. We need to find a better way"

Maybe it should be allowed for more than 2 weeks per year. What? You mean we can do that?

 

[Cliff]

Methinks "contraceptive darts" are being fired at the wrong critters.



Cliff

 

[Jack 99]

Wry observation, Cliff. LMAO.

When were deer almost hunted to extinction? ***? I guess truth is the first casualty of "journalism."

What's really sad, apart from the traffic accidents, is the areas like New Jersey where the deer only get to the size of large dogs because of population pressures. I'm sure they look plenty cute and fawn-like to the sheep, meanwhile they're near starvation. That's nice.

I know its about as un-PC as it gets, and even a lot of hunters would object, but some areas of the country need culling. It's pretty ugly business and there's no sport to it, but it will probably have to happen.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Good luck with that more-than-two-weeks stuff. Ain't going to happen.

Mom works for the Illinois DNR. They've already tried that contraceptive idea in many forms. Found to their shock that it doesn't work worth a damn. Luckily it didn't replace hunting.

The landowner we hunt on is a poacher by Illinois law. I can't say it any simpler than that. He lives in a county where the population isn't as bad as it is in other places, but deer and turkey still cost him huge amounts of crops every year. When he gets a chance to shoot a deer, he generally does it. Same with turkey. This is on his own land, of course, and none is wasted, but it still makes him a poacher.

 

[Karanas]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
I know its about as un-PC as it gets, and even a lot of hunters would object, but some areas of the country need culling. It's pretty ugly business and there's no sport to it, but it will probably have to happen.[/quote]

May I suggest Washington DC as a good place to start.

 

[jeffer]

Here's one for peta, FOOD. Deer hunting was regulated to increase the population. It worked. Now lets try to put 2 and 2 together. If hunting less deer increased the population how can we lower the population...............................

 

[Mike in VA]

If we're going to cull things, let's start with the Bambistas. You wouldn't believe the boo-hooing and tantrums these morons pull each year when we have to have 'trained sharpshooters' come in and reduce the local deer population. I'm talking inside the beltway folks.

The deer do tremendous damage to landscaping and gardens, are a real traffic hazard, and thanks to their proliferation, we now have Lyme Disease in VA (Deer ticks, don't cha know), but we can't kill Bambi! It is clearly far more desirable to let them die of disease and automobile trauma whilst they wreck your habitat, but, gee, they're so pretty and gentle. Hell, it's not like there's any shortage of either deer or idiots. I'm all for conservation, but deer don't need conserving.
M2

 

[johnbt]

Jack 99 - FWIW, my father was born on the family apple orchard in 1922 - south of Charlottesville, Virginia and a two-mile drive into the mountains off the last paved road. They/we hunted squirrels, groundhogs, quail, turkey(very rare then) and one bear that was messing with them. There were no deer in the orchard or the gardens. I was born in 1950 and as a kid never saw a deer or heard of anyone hunting one in that area. I've seen his brother skin and can half a burlap bag of squirrels, but even he didn't start deer hunting until the 60's IIRC. Then he could walk out the back door and fill every tag he could get. Things change. Who knew deer liked to eat azaleas? John

 

[bookkie]

From all I know, the Fish and Game departments are SUPPOSED to monitor the herd population. If there is an excess they are SUPPOSED to increase the lenght of the season and or allow for doe tags, multiple tags etc. Folks it's not that hunters are not doing their job, it's that the top brass at the Fish and Game are anti gunners back east. We don't have a major problem out in the west, as hunting is still a legit sport. But I guess it is comming to a neighborhood near you.

One of my favorite spots to deer hunt was in the far north east corner of CA where I grew up. About 15 years ago a disease came through and bout wiped out the mule deer. The heards have still not come back to anywhere near where they should be. And you think that running into a little white tail back east will do damage to your car, you ought to try running into a good sized mule deer. Mom did.... totaled her monty carlo.



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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!

 

[Don Gwinn]

I know in Illinois they still manipulate permits quite a bit. Lots of female-only and antler-only in different areas, depending on what they think needs to be done in that area. But I don't think they increase the sheer numbers of permits much no matter what happens.

 

[Danger Dave]

I think Liam Neeson thinks the deer population is a problem.

1 broken pelvis, 1 banged up Harley, 1 less deer...

If you think deer vs. cars are a big problem, you don't ride a motorcycle!

A couple of months ago I was riding down the road in a business area, I saw the truck in front of me whack a deer hard. Nothing he could do - two ran out right in front of him, he got the second one just as he touched the brakes. We were right behind it, when we came by, the deer was trying to get up and was bleeding from the mouth. I called the Humane society. If it were in a more rural area, I might have just dispatched it, but I'm not going to jail to end an animal's suffering - how sad is that?

On the plus side, I have gotten to enjoy a deer that was "poached" with about a 72 cal. T-Bird! So, I guess everything has its good side.

 

[DorGunR]

johnbt is correct.
I grew up hunting squirrel & rabbit in Western Tennessee, North Mississippi and Northern Alabama, and left there in 1950 (joined the Army). I NEVER saw a deer or turkey at any time on any of my hunts and fishing trips. Now you had better keep an eye out for deer when driving in any of these areas, they are everywhere.

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."

 

[Jack 99]

Hmm. Well, I'd never heard of deer-shortages anywhere before. Interesting. Coming from Idaho/Montana/Wyoming, I can show you pictures from the 1950s of my grandfather, dad, and uncles coming back from hunting trips where everyone scored. Not only that, they occasionally brought home an elk to boot!

"Hunted nearly to extinction" makes it sound like there were almost no deer anywhere. Regionally I'm sure there were some areas that were overhunted, but I'd be surprised if the U.S. deer population as a whole ever got anywhere near "extinction."

 

[anodes]

I know people who swear,"You have to get them off the grill before you get them on the grill!"

As I understand the new AZ law, you can take home your road kill if you notify the Game and Fish Dept. The good ol' boys will tell you, "There's too many elk and not enough turkey and deer!" Nobody's ever happy.
anodes.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Hunting isn't a good population control measure because they move away from the hunters - duh.

My kid almost bought it swerving around a Bambi in the road.

Me - too. There are areas in the cities in TX that are flooded with the critters.

We were driving down a major 6 lane in the city street and a deer jumps out of a wooded area into the traffic, gets hit by a SUV in one lanes, flips into the next and gets nailed again and I thought we were next but
it stayed down.

A friend of mine was on the city council and whenever they tried to get rid of them, the PETA folks were all over the place.

They can't even stop the nutty old people from feeding them.

I think we should carefully bow hunt them out of the urban areas. Rant!

 

[Futo Inu]

Exactamundo! Saw the same story. Makes no sense. They give a couple seconds to the guy explaning how (DUH) hunting has always traditional way of control, then comes the explanation that "hunting hasn't worked, so we need to do something else". HUH? The OBVIOUS answer wasn't even mentioned - loosen up the hunting laws, and allow hunters to take more game; more does, more bucks, longer seasons, whatever!! I definitely saw the idiot, errr, liberal slant I mean, to the story.

 

[TMoney]

Quote"
They interview a senior USDA "environmental biologist"......."Hunting isn't an effective way to control the population; we've allowed hunting for years and we still have this over-population of deer. We need to find a better way"

DC, you are right; this is the opening of the door to do away with hunting. When hunting is no longer allowed, what use would a hunting gun be?
These people are getting more blatant every day.

On another note, send you huddled masses of deer to the NE Texas area around Hunt County. I'd love to see my Mother's face when bambi shows up feeding in the back yard!

 

[johnr]

"Methinks "contraceptive darts" are being fired at the wrong critters..."
Cliff, you got that right! Down here in Georgia deer have become such pests that hunting females is permitted-- a thing strickly verboten when I was growing up.
Deer/car collisions are no laughing matter-- a grown deer will wreck most cars, and (human) fatalities aren't uncommon.
Though if you really want to see something nasty, nothing beats hitting a 40 lb. turkey buzzard with your car-- you never get the smell out!

 

[JimR]

To follow up on JohnR's post, not only are does OK to hunt here in GA, the season deer limit is eight! Gives you some idea of the pest level.