ForumsWEPRDeer on Birth Control?

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Getoffmydangle
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Getoffmydangle
152 posts
Blacksmith

This cracks me up and it seems pretty wierd:

A town in NY is planning on putting their local wild deer population on birth control to reduce their numbers/keep them from growing.
I don't live there or know the area, but c'mon guys! This seems very silly. What is wrong with hunting and eating them? Isn't that the 'traditional' method of population control?

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aknerd
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aknerd
1,416 posts
Peasant

because any experienced hunter wouldn't shoot if he's likely to hit a house or person.

Doesn't seem to stop people from shooting anything that closely resembles a deer. I remember reading about some woman getting shot who was wearing a bright purple jacket... not exactly safety orange, but who has ever heard of a purple deer? And again, you run into the normal problems of recreational hunters just wanting to bag the biggest buck they can, which doesn't reduce the population and can actually have population-genetics aftereffects, due to people selectively removing a specific type of individual.

Also, if it's in any way organized, you'd have town regulators saying "stay out of the woods during this time..." etc. so on and so forth. Greatly decreases accident chance

Well, yeah. They generally try post hunting signs up. But nothing is ever fool proof- obviously, there would still be other hunters in the area. And this really limits the hunting to a specific area. If the deer population is already constrained like that, then sterilization would be pretty effective and more safe.

Another thing, isn't the birth control more cruel than killing them?

I don't know, would you rather be non-surgically sterilized or be shot and have some random guy hang your head above his fireplace? I don't think anyone knows enough about deer psychology to make any valid statement regarding their opinions on sterilization.
partydevil
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partydevil
5,133 posts
Jester

i dont wanna get into it to deep, i got a lot of work to do lately and this whole topic sounds just silly to me...
anyway:


Well, yeah. They generally try post hunting signs up. But nothing is ever fool proof- obviously, there would still be other hunters in the area. And this really limits the hunting to a specific area. If the deer population is already constrained like that, then sterilization would be pretty effective and more safe.

why are you so scared for a hunter hunting for deer when 95% of all the people can walk around shooting there guns in the woods? helllo it's still the usa. guns and shootings everywhere is normal day-by-day living....
why would a hunter who's professional job it is to hunt. be a bigger danger to society as all those idiots walking around with there guns?

ohhhh there are other hunters.... do you think they will not stay in contact with each other? that they all wonder around through the forrest or w/e like elmer fudd? of course not. --.--'

ow and sterilization costs waaaaayyyyyyyy more money... also doesn't sterilization shrink the population immediately. the amount of deers wouldn't become noticing less for a few year. so the problems this overpopulation is causes wont go away untill a few year after....
so it's both more expensive and less problem solving as just shooting them and sell their meat on the market.

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there are sooo many more stupid comments in here. (mainly in favor of sterilization) but i'm not going to better it all.
@aknerd it's nothing personal that i toke your post to rant on.

I don't know, would you rather be non-surgically sterilized or be shot and have some random guy hang your head above his fireplace? I don't think anyone knows enough about deer psychology to make any valid statement regarding their opinions on sterilization.

humans are the only animals that are able to know that they will die some day.
also, why would a deer have a higher value of life then a mosquito? will kill mosquito's without even thinking about it.
HahiHa
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HahiHa
8,254 posts
Regent

I remember reading about some woman getting shot who was wearing a bright purple jacket... not exactly safety orange, but who has ever heard of a purple deer?

I heard a few stories of people getting shot because the hunters saw a movement -.- sometimes they even shoot party members, fellow hunters. Stupidity knows no bounds.

The problem around here you don't have wast forest territories with no settlement near. There is always some settlement somewhat near, here. Which is why we always procede in locking certain areas of the woods during hunting season. But even then, you should try and leave the paths as rarely as possible.

Though we have enough other unwanted population regulators - little fawns regularly get hacked by harvester-threshers in the fields (a pilot project wants to end this thanks to little drones equipped with heat cameras), and stray dogs lurking on wild animals.
aknerd
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aknerd
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Peasant

why would a hunter who's professional job it is to hunt. be a bigger danger to society as all those idiots walking around with there guns

If you had been following the discussion, you would know the comment I was responding to was talking about recreational, not professional hunters. I already said that hiring professional sharpshooters is the most cost effective (and common) method of controlling the deer populations in large areas.

Recreational hunters are not required to have undertaken any kind of training, and hunting accidents are actually pretty common. There's also the points I have already brought up where recreational hunters tend to only kill male deer, even if directed otherwise. Many states give out "doe only" permits, which increase your odds of getting a hunting permit, but many hunters don't even enter the lottery for them due to the social stigma associated with killing female creatures.

the amount of deers wouldn't become noticing less for a few year.

You would notice the population decline within the year, as deer breed every year. With recreational hunting you might notice a population decline initially, but this probably wouldn't be transferred over to the next year unless you killed a significant number of does.

The problem around here you don't have wast forest territories with no settlement near. There is always some settlement somewhat near, here. Which is why we always procede in locking certain areas of the woods during hunting season. But even then, you should try and leave the paths as rarely as possible.


Yeah, this is the general problem with east coast hunting. But the article in question was referring to a deer population of over 100 that resides within a two square mile town, which is a much denser, urban population than is normal.

Also, its worth noting that this is a pilot study*, so debating the effectiveness is a bit moot.

*Sterilization of deer has been very successful on islands in the past, but this is the first time its been done in an open system.
partydevil
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partydevil
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Jester

If you had been following the discussion, you would know the comment I was responding to was talking about recreational,

but i didn't... i'm obviously not. making the rest of your post futile if it was mend to me only. =)
toemas
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toemas
339 posts
Farmer

Wow, I really wish the guy who thought this idea up gets fired; this really looks like the Government tried to handle this one...

Hey guys! We have to many deer here! Letâs spend 1050$ to "snip" a deer!
Why donât you guys like the plan?? we canât just tell the 50,000+ hunters in NY to kill them for free! We might disturb the hippies playing sitar on Wall Street!!

Government...

aknerd
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aknerd
1,416 posts
Peasant

this really looks like the Government tried to handle this one...


What gave it away? Was it the fact that deer populations are managed by the government?

Wow, I really wish the guy who thought this idea up gets fired

Remember that this is a very local thing, and I'm pretty sure that it won't really effect hunting in the first place. Also, remember that this is a pilot study, just to see how effective it actually is. People shouldn't be punished for trying new solutions to problems, should they? If it doesn't work I'm sure they will discontinue the program.
toemas
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toemas
339 posts
Farmer

oh ok, i thought the plan was 100% in action never mind.

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