Bill Wayne's Political Pages - The Gadfly
Gadfly 221
Submitted to the Warrensburg Gazette for January 1, 2004


The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

NAt a recent City Council meeting, one of the council members mentioned that a constituent had broached the subject of Warrensburg’s deer population, suggesting that allowing bow hunting might be a rational way to control it. Emotional opposition was immediately voiced by some council and media members present. I don’t doubt that the do-gooders and animal advocates will do their best to shoot down what is a sound control method.

Deer overpopulation is dangerous to both humans and deer. According to police reports, vehicles hit deer all too often. While most of the accidents are at fairly low speed, cars are damaged, resulting in police reports and insurance claims. There’s always the possibility of injury, perhaps serious, especially if the driver swerves to miss the deer and runs off the road. The injured deer must be shot by an officer, unless it has already crawled off into the brush to die a slow and painful death.

Traffic problems aside, overpopulation also causes increased deer predation on gardens and ornamentals, at some economic cost. Of more consequence is the possibility of disease affecting the deer and spreading rapidly among them in high density populations. Dead deer cause disposal problems.

I would hope that the city carefully researches the possibility of allowing archers to take deer in season. Look at the number of accidents and their cost in public response and private property damage. Look at the experience of other cities that have allowed deer hunting to determine just how safe or unsafe bow hunting is to the general public. See what areas can be safely set aside for hunters on either public or private land. Find out what kind of revenue can be generated from allowing a hunt. Then, decide based on fact rather than knee-jerk emotional reaction.


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