Kill the deer humanely

More than two years ago I wrote (Deer are like rats) that if government would butt out of deer control and let landowners handle it themselves, deer overpopulation would soon vanish. Of course that will not happen as long as the bureaucrats at ODNR and certain businesses feed off deer-hunting profits.

I suggested in January 2008 that governments should arrange for sharpshooters to dispense with these nuisance animals (Get a grip on the deer problem: Shoot them). I also mentioned as an aside that bow hunting, in my view, is animal abuse, more cruel than a well-aimed bullet to the brain.

Now, a year and a half later, the Advocate editorialist awoke to the need to get serious about the deer nuisance and start killing them,or as she put it, “repel the deer invasion.” With bows.

Bow hunter persons can squee their pants over the chance to kill animals with bows in the city and get approval, and free meat and - yes - even gratitude. But gunning deer is way less cruel and a lot safer if done by professionals; still nobody has had the brains to follow through. And government still hasn’t figured out how to profit from slash-and-slaughter with bows and arrows, so government still doesn’t seem convinced it should participate.

So here’s a suggestion. Hire a deer eradication company, kill the deer humanely, sell the meat to a packer or to individuals and charge a fee. There we have 1) a business or businesses profiting, 2) Newark government profiting 3) deer meat made available to people who like deer meat, and 4) ridding the city of its most destructive pests.

How sharpshooters are employed to kill deer is described in Deer Control Methods and at wiki.answers.com Is deer sharpshooting a good way to control deer population?

Natural Resource Consultants, Inc. of Fort Hill PA specializes in managing deer herds. Its web site is http://agmap.psu.edu/Businesses/2795 The contact is: Bryon Shissler Phone: (814) 395-5335.