It's that time of year again...when Jeffrey heads to the mountains with his gear and his gun and sits in the woods waiting for a deer to walk by...then "BANG!" ...venison for the year. Yeehah! I'm such a hick.
There are people who cringe to think of killing a deer (I wouldn't do it personally, unless it came down to me or the deer). I'm a bleeding heart when it comes to the welfare of animals. Fortunately, I have made peace with that aspect of my personality when it comes into conflict with that of my husband's desire to thin the herd and bring home a buck, or a doe for that matter.
As we encroach upon their territory, the deer have nowhere to go. We are pushing them out of their homes and then we complain when our shrubs, flowers and trees are being eaten. The deer have run out of places to well...run. Just this season, I have been witness to the aftermath of two deer/car accidents which ended very badly for the deer. It was horrible.
It's common place now to see small herds of deer running through busy, suburban and even urban settings! Their food supply is down and many of them are starving over the winter. That's why it's so important to cull the herd so that some of them can survive, without fear of starvation.
While there will always be deer/car collisions as long as there are cars and deer and mating season, we can still do our part to make life as peaceable as possible for people and our white tailed friends with hooves.
Don't drive like a maniac especially during rut when the deer are literally chasing tail to pursue or evade other deer. Drive within the speed limit or at least more slowly in wooded areas or near fields where deer are most likely to appear by the road.
Support your local hunters if they are friends, allow them to hunt in your fields if you own some acreage. Help them to control the deer population so that fewer of our furry friends starve this winter.
And above all, learn to enjoy venison. It IS a tastey dish if prepared properly, despite contrary criticism. Lean meat is your friend, and deer are plenty lean. You would be too if you had to run around all over God's creation to forage for food, search out a warm bed for the night and in order to find a good female you spent your evenings dodging cars on Route 309. Be glad you're you.
Rigel -
ReplyDelete(Tell Jeff I say congrats!)
Because we are building more and more into the suburbs there are more and more hunting restrictions and fewer predators of deer, which is why they populations explode and we see so many deer all over the place.
To top it off - PA is ranked #1 for accidents involving deer (http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/04/news/newsmakers/deer/). Over 1 BILLION dollars is spent on repairs due to accidents involving deer. That's a lot of flow.
People should hunt more, we should allow more than one tag at a time and we should also educate people on how good it is for hunters to be out there "bagging" a buck.
Oh yeah - deer and elk meat - devine!
:)
Eric