<p>The deer are amazing around here. I’ve seen bigger bucks in Millburn, NJ than ever in Hunterdon County, NJ. They’ve eaten off a lot of the native plants along with all those lovely yards and gardens.<br>
here is our latest issue
<a href=“http://www.friendsofanimals.org/news/2007/january/stop-netandbolt-deer.html[/url]”>http://www.friendsofanimals.org/news/2007/january/stop-netandbolt-deer.html</a>
“Net and bolt” means trapping deer under nets, then attempting to restrain them, pressing a captive-bolt gun against their heads, and firing a retractable steel rod into their brains.</p>
<p>From the above article:</p>
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I don’t think this organization knows deer very well. A six foot fence (the max allowed by most building codes) is like stepping over a sidewalk crack to a deer. Besides, few people want accept placing a 10 foot fence around the perimeter of their property even it it were allowed. Raidway reflectors - I don’t think so. Organizations like this one are generally clueless. Let them come up with some realistic effective counter controls if they expect to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>I live inside the city limits of a midwest college town. The incredible number of deer that wander through our neighborhood leads to some strange sights. Every few months we discover a deer impaled on the iron fencing along the twisting “parkway” that runs through the neighborhood. Pretty gruesome sight for the kiddies on the school bus. This fall during hunting season–a big thing here–we watched a neighbor leave his house at the crack of dawn, all decked out in camouflage head to toe, complete with phony leaves glued all over him, hoping hoping for a shot at a deer sometime over the weekend, blissfully unaware that there was a sleeping deer six feet from his back deck, curled up under his bird feeder. Safe and sound, and well-fed on the neighborhood landscaping.</p>
<p>As of two weeks ago we have a coyote prowling our back yard. Outdoor kitty spends a lot more time inside now. (Not that she minds, given that the last month has been nothing but snow and ice.)</p>
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That would have made great video!</p>
<p>Mountain lions and cougars have never left the Pacific Northwest. When I as a teenager a family in a far Seattle suburb discovered an injured cougar that had been immobile for weeks under the porch. They found the remains of a missing family pet or two next to the cougar.</p>
<p>And in recent years next door in British Columbia, cougars have maimed cyclists and hikers.</p>
<p>That is one of the problems with a hunt around here - unskilled “hunters” are a danger to all.<br>
my all time favorite story is from a neighbor who grew up in upstate NY. A hunter with a deer tied to the car was stopped by the police. Imagine his amazement when he found out he’d shot a GOAT. He had no idea it wasn’t a deer.</p>
<p>LOL Oldin.</p>
<p>On a serious note, I am reminded of the hunting accident story from Maine a few years ago. A nitwit hunter shot and killed a young mother who was on her backyard deck. In court he swore that from a distance her figure appeared to be a deer. Apparently her kitchen mittens looked like a deer’s hind end from a distance through the woods. Well, the jury/judge bought it and he was completely exhonerated. What a terrible result. Seemed to me to be a bit of ‘blaming the victim’ at the time, which the hunting advocates were clearly inclined to do.</p>
<p>Lake Washington, I lived in NE when that happened. I have never worn white mittens since, nor bought them for my kids.</p>
<p>I had a friend who lived in upstate NY, until the day a bunch of hunters pulled into her front yard with guns out. Once she was able to stand up after crouching below window level with her two year old, she put her house up for sale and moved away.</p>
<p>It absolutely galled me that that poor woman was blamed–I don’t care if there was a herd of deer holding a tea party on her back deck much less just her and a pair of mittens–how can someone be shooting so close to someone’s home???</p>
<p>…the judge & jury were undoubtedly hunters themselves. Maybe they didn’t really blame the victim, but saw it as an accident that could have happened to themself:acquit on the “there but for the grace of God am I” mentality (like many drunk drivers get off, because jurors tend to think "I’ve made the same mistake…I can’t send this guy to jail for drinking.) Hunting’s very big in our area, too because it’s ideal rural habitat for deer (river, sand pit lakes, woodlands & farms but it’s only 20-30 miles from two different big cities…so all the hunt-once-a-year guys hang around. We’ve been in the area for nearly 30 years. Virtually all the hunting accidents we hear about are the party hunters…accident report usually includes the words “alcohol may have been a factor.” When will people learn that guns & vehicles don’t make good mixers with the booze?</p>
<p>Part of the problem obtaining a conviction in the ME case was that the victim lived in a brand new subdivision abutting still-undeveloped land. I believe the jury included more than a few old-timers who had objections to the loss of the strictly rural character of the area. A similar, but less dangerous, situation was becoming commonplace in western Massachusetts at the same time, as new houses were plunked down next door to farms that still used uncomposted manure, in large quantities. The new people objected to the smell, but of course the farmers objected to their houses.</p>
<p>oh those new folks. Right here in suburbia there was a large lot next to an upscale riding stable. McMansions were built on the smallest bit of land you can imagine. What a lovely suprise for the new owners when they understood what building on a field of manure, now covered with turf, would smell like in the warm spring air. Plus the stable is still next door.
Adding insult to supposed injury (I love the smell of horses) as of two years ago, 2 years after moving in, I was told taxes jumped from 12k a year to 17k a year. heh.</p>
<p>I think, though, that we can all agree that there is a major difference between dwellers in new subdivisions complaining about farm smells (which is a ridiculous complaint), and dwellers in new subdivisions who do not want to be shot at–whatever one thinks about the new subdivisions.</p>
<p>…at least that’s what the old timers used to say. Think they were referring to the future sale of the steak-still-on-the-hoof that was the original source of the stinky smells…little did they know that the actual stinky manure would turn into a very expensive mini-acreage for a McMansion (do the owners of McMansions ever figure out they could have a much bigger lot if they cut several thousand square feet off the house?) Around here, were call the new McMansion with-horse-barn/we’ve always wanted to live in the country and have horses developments “hoity-toity-horseyville.” Some new horse/new house owners are downright funny: overheard a couple of women in the local drugstore one day trying to figure out how to eliminate the horsey smell from their brand new houses…old gal at the check-out told them there’s only one way…get rid of the horses! (they were not amused-obviously thought the local-yokels were having fun at their expense…I didn’t have the heart to tell them she was not joking.)</p>