Posted: 4/20/2005 4:30:18 PM EDT
| www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--deer-swatteam0418apr18,0,3404657.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia |
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I used to work at the Rock Island Arsenal. A few years ago, they used military marksmen to thin the population on the island. And those deer weren't a threat to anything. Maximum speed limit on the post was 30mph. 25 for most of it. I've never heard of anyone hitting a deer on the island. Dave |
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They had considered a special permit bow season, but some state regulation got in the way. Frankly, having been through there a number of times, a few SWAT cops with rifles on a couple of mornings aint gonna be enough. Lots of places, btw, eliminate nuisance animals with SWAT marksmen. |
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It's all about the nanny state. Those in charge will take care of us since it is assumed we can't take care of ourselves, even when it comes to culling the herd. This is ill advised. It relegates deer to being "targets of opportunity" so the l.e.o. shooters can get in some practice. I teach hunter safety and every year I can produce forty or more young graduates from my class who would love the opportunity to be involved in a hunt like this. The common denominators with newly certified hunters are: their eagerness to pursue their sport, and their lack of access to opportunities. This would make an ideal youth hunt for the community. What a missed opportunity for the town. Assassinating deer with silenced weapons and hunting are not the same at all. Bad juju on this one. I sincerely hope the affected hunting community will speak up. Incidently, around Virginia deer shed between February and March +/-. |
This is not hunting, this is culling animals in a densely populated area. I don't want just anybody shooting across a golf course at 0400. |
yeah... I'd love the liability of having 25 12 year olds on their first hunt on a golf course!! Sounds like a blast, can I come videotape that? Sure kids... a golf course is a grrrreat place to hunt!!! I appreciate the fact you teach hunter safety, you are doing us all a service... but this hunt is not in the right place for a kid his first time in the field. |
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There was an article in the Buffalo-NY news recently where the PD of a NE suburb (Amherst) were thinning deer in E. Amherst... they put a round through a window in a neighborhood ---- the same neighborhood I watch being built back in 91/92 --- I lived on the other side of the tree line from there, kinda the next street over from there in the adjoining neighborhood. We always had deer coming out of the woods and munching shrubs and flowers. About 1 mile north of there, you could see hundreds of deer collected in athe fields. Stupid Buffalo News wont let me have full atrticle without sign up and payment... -------------------------------------------------------- SHOOTING DEER IN AMHERST Article 41 of 200 found. Published on February 24, 2005 375 words The Amherst bait-and-shoot deer program has its critics, and their case was only bolstered by what appears to be an odd set of events resulting in a bullet from a police officer's rifle hitting a home on San Fernando Lane. While the bait-and-shoot program, now suspended until March 7, should not be abandoned, steps need to be taken to ensure residents are safe. For Amherst police, that means taking a hard look at firearms, ammunition, tactics and siting. Amherst Police Chief John |
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Are you kidding me? Here is one VA county's way of addressing the growing deer population:
From VA Hometown 
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Guess I'm going to have to reconsider my support of young AR shooters based upon the logic of a few posts here. Seems that some here feel we can't trust young hunters..(or any non-leo)-hunters to be involved in culling the deer population in that community. It might, therefore, be reasonable to suggest that all young..(or non-leo)- shooters need to submit to marksmanship testing. God forbid they might fire at a target across an open area without being pre-certified. I'll re-state what should be obvious; assassinating Bambi's mommy with a silenced weapon for target practice is just plain wrong. Anyone who has a difficult time understanding the difference between sport hunting and stone cold killing has my pity. |
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Nuisance animals get killed all the time. Mice, rats, cats, dogs, coyotes, prarie dogs... what should make deer special? At least in this case the meat is not wasted. But this does appear to be a misuse of the SWAT team. The golf course should hire them on their own dime. |
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They wanted to cull deer in some of the parks around Detroit a few years ago, They let hunters do it, but you had to qualify in your shooting beforehand. Shotguns and muzzleloaders were used. I would have loved to do it, but I already had a hunt scheduled in PA. The meat was donated to food banks. |
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What a waste of taxpayer money. That could have been done with an additional season with more deer taken. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quoted: When do bucks in Virginia lose their antlers? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- good question because in MO. its Jan. and you wouldn't know the difference until its too late You can tell the diference between a doe and a buck even if they don't have there antlers. The bucks will have a wider flater skull, and you can also look at there scent glands. Jay |
It isn't the golf course that is complaining. There is a lot of recent residential construction in that area and the deer are literally tearing everything up. Nobody has allowed hunting in those areas for at least 10 years, and as a result what was once a manageable deer population is now totally out of control. The deer have lots of food, water, and utter and complete safety from everything but cars. Something needs to be done. A few SWAT guys wacking deer with ninja weapons is not going to solve the problem. They are going to have to figure out a way to do a special bow season. |
Well, the taxpayers there certainly don't think so. The deer are destroying lawns, gardens, dang near everything in those areas. That doesn't sound bad until you realize how much it costs to repair a lawn and landscaping destroyed by deer and how much it devalues your property to have a bad lawn. They wanted to do a special bow season initially, but apparently some state regulation says that they have to do a whopping huge bow season that could have hunters hunting at the same time the golfers are golfing. Can you say liability? In the end, though, I don't think they are going to have an alternative to a special season. |
I agree with the nuisance animal statement - I cull deer for a couple of local tree farms, and let me tell you - the deer were literally browsing them out of business.... None of the meat ever gets wasted, and I'm a picky shot - I rarely have to track a deer... I also shoot woodchucks in the summer for a couple of dairy farmers - they don't much care for losing cows after the cow has stepped in a woodchuck hole, and broken it's leg... People make too much of a big deal about the killing of nuisance animals - but it's all relative - after all, they don't have a problem with killing a mouse in their house... As for the use of the SWAT team - I'm not so sure it's inappropriate - it sounds like the community as a whole realizes there's a problem... It would be nice if there was a more cost effective alternative - they should change the law to allow for special hunting seasons when needed - many areas are using bowhunters to curb deer populations - my bow typically outscores my gun every year when it comes to taking deer... - georgestrings |
Not exactly the link I was looking for, How to Identify "Button Bucks" But, I'm sure much of it applies in this case. |
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"You can tell the diference between a doe and a buck even if they don't have there antlers. The bucks will have a wider flater skull, and you can also look at there scent glands." I don't know about all that - an experienced hunter can usually tell a mature buck by it's head and build even w/out antlers - IF he can glass it for a bit in decent light - but a 1-2YO buck can be difficult to tell from a doe after he's shed his antlers - and any culling operations I've been involved in tend to focus on the taking of young does to curb the population... As for being able to spot their scent glands - not that easy to see, IMO - especially in low light... - georgestrings |
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Hmmm. Taxpayers money vs. free. (didn't FFX Co. try this and spend a ton of hrs with little success, where it ended up costing approx $1K per deer killed by Police?) I can understand the whole deal with the property involved being near residences etc. But why not do it like Quantico Marine base has done for the last 5yrs I know of where a bow-hunter can take 2 deer a day in the residential areas woods that don't count agaist the hunters big game tags. The bowhunters wanting to hunt in these areas are required to take an archery shooting test and must use a tree stand. But it still doesn't cost anything to the taxpayers. |
It is flat out irresponcable to turn loose new hunters with NO experiance to shoot deer in a populated area I don't car how much supervision you have. |
Aha! A nice, Texas winter day is what you're saying. What's the problem? Never deer hunted in shorts before? 
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One thing - if you follow these threads at all, you KNOW how emotional these arguments get. Residents, let's call them "sheeple" are either 1) terrified that there'll be full auto weapons fire all around and lots of stary bullets flying around, and 2) "those poor deer". About the only way you could convince them to allow the culling to occur is if you promise Carlos Hathcock is going to do the shooting. |
My father -in-law owned a golf course ..... I used to carry my "12 iron" (12 gauge) for snakes in the ponds ..... And during deer season, My "7mag iron" has founds its way into my golf bag ... 
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That's true. I experienced that with the friggin Dept. of Conservation guy. He insisted "we have our guy who does that"--but the wealthy landowner didn't want a stranger on her property, so SHE insisted I be allowed to do it. His great concern was a rifle would be used (Illinois is fanatical about rifles being "bad" or "dangerous" and only shotguns and muzzleloaders are allowed during deer season (and since then, handguns). He questioned me for 20 minutes over my experience with using a rifle to hunt. I told him I had hunted deer with a rifle for thirty years--without incident. That seemed to calm his fears. 
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You're confusing population management with sport hunting.  These were in my backyard a few weeks ago. About 25 yards away. Deer that have little fear of humans don't exactly make for a fun, sporting hunt. And no amount of extended season would eliminate these deer....they're in places where there is no hunting season. And no, I don't want any hunter - newbie or otherwise - shooting deer this close to my house. I'll do it if need be, but I'm sure my neighbors would have the same problem with me shooting in the neighborhood as I would with them shooting in the neighborhood. |
Dorchester County,MD still allows it,IIRC. Virginia's ban is more oriented around preventing stray rounds from leaving the area. MD's ban was because buckshot can tend to be a deer wounder. Buckshot would actually make a bit of sense for this Culpepper scenario. It's short range,yet you can kill quite a few deer with a nice modified choked shotgun and a magazine full of buffered buckshot. I'm still wondering why bowhunting was prohibited. DGIF grants deer management permits all of the time. I wonder why they won't do it for bowhunters in Culpepper? |