DRT                                                                Hampshire High School

                                                                                                                                 10/25/2007

                                                                                                                                 10:13:00 AM

     As a homeowner I believe that the deer population is way too high.  Every time I drive home

from work I almost hit a deer or two.  When I get up in the morning I have to scurry away the

deer from my flower gardens. This is getting out of hand.     My group’s solution to the deer

population is to have less laws and regulations for the hunters. Extend deer season, and let the

hunters use guns or weapons of there choice instead of having a designated weapon for a

designated week.       Many of the laws are very confusing so when a hunter sees a deer he's

not sure if he is allowed to shoot the deer, so he decides that the deer is not worth losing his

gun and license.  Then that deer goes of to eat a farmers vegetable garden, eat a homeowners

flowers, eat the small trees in the forest making it look in very poor health, then runs into a car

costing the car owner a possible tow home, and costing the insurance company the cost of

repairing the car!!!

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  From:    Property Protectors - Homeowner - CSHS

                                                                                            11/2/2007            11:15:00 AM

     How do hunters not know what to shoot when in the hunting license booklet it states

     exactly what you can shoot and when you can shoot it?

  From:    Property Protectors - Homeowner - CSHS

                                                                                            11/2/2007            11:16:00 AM

     I think your idea of extending the deer season is great but may not be efficiently

     effective. Do you feel that maybe along with extending the season they should extend

     the number of deer you can bring in per year or season?

       Response    DRT - Homeowner - HHS

                                                                                       11/7/2007        9:49:00 AM

             Not many hunters have time to sit down and memorize the booklet!!!

 

  From:    Kaos Red V.S. Blue - Homeowner - HHS

                                                                                            11/7/2007             1:29:00 PM

     You make a good point however, extending the hunting season may not be in the best

     interest of all homeowners and it still will not solve the problem. Just because you kill

     more deer during the hunting season doesn't mean that those same plants will not die or

     be ruined due to deer eating them. Also to the cost, since it would come out of funds that

     are already gained every year it wouldn't cost anything more, unless someone was

     interested in making a fence themselves.

 

 

Thoughtful Questions

  From:    DRT - Homeowner - HHS

                                                                                            11/2/2007             7:17:00 AM

     Why dont you suggest to extend the hunting season for a few weeks or make the hunting

     limit a little higher that would cost less than building a 8ft fence around every park or

     woodland area.

  From:    Property Protectors - Homeowner - CSHS

                                                                                            11/2/2007           11:24:00 AM

     The first method you talked about the steralization formula to prevent mating by the

     deer during that season. But is it for sure effective in preventing deer from mating or

     could it maybe cause the deer to migrate to another area and migrate?

       Response    Kaos Red V.S. Blue - Homeowner - HHS

                                                                                       11/7/2007        1:36:00 PM

             "If the current levels of hunting and predation continue, the initial number of

             sterilizations is reduced from 200 to 81, but the constant annual rate increases

             to 58."  you can find the rest at this link: 

             http://www.birdandhike.com/jlboone/papers/Deer/deer.htm

 

  From:   We Speak For the Trees - forester - NHHS                              Ask

                                                                                            11/9/2007            7:44:00 AM

     Why should the hunters have to pay for fencing that homeowners want maybe the

     homeowners should pay for it themselves using their own taxes.

 

 

Love Our Home Rappahannock High School

                                                                                                                              11/1/2007

                                                                                                                            6:47:00 AM

From a landowner’s point of view, I feel my land should be of access to hunters at my

convenience. Small amounts of deer are not a problem until crops and vegetation are being

eaten.  Being a landowner, large amounts of deer are not welcome close to the housing property.

 This could be a major inconvenience and potential danger if diseases are being brought around

 neighbors or other housing residents. One disease is Lyme disease, which is caused by deer

ticks infected with a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi. Over 150,000 cases have been

reported in the United States to the CDC since 1982.    Hunting is of personal opinion

depending on the landowner. You can choose whether hunting is of your personal preference

from year to year. You can purchase posted signs if hunting is not allowed on your property. If

I do not want hunting on my land, then decide the deer population is out of hand, the land then

may be unposted for hunters and dogs. This will benefit both the hunter and the landowner.

Hunters benefit from the hunting space and landowners benefit because inconvenience of the

excess deer is managed.            Incremental change would satisfy our POV because the amount of

deer is not going to dramatically change overnight. If the deer were hunted at a rate that would

 maintain a low population, it would help landowners not to worry about them eating gardens or

causing as many accidents in the housing areas. Although the deer would be missed, the safety

of the people is more important.http://www.aldf.com/lyme.shtml

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Photo Opts Rappahannock High School

                                                                                                                              11/1/2007

                                                                                                                            9:54:00 AM

There are two different point of views of landowners regarding deer. Some landowners would 

prefer having deer on their property. As other landowners would rather them not be on their

land. We would rather the deer to not be on our land. We say that because if deer were to come

 on our land they would be into my gardens and plants. After one deer came and started feeding

on things that we owned then more and more deer would come also.There is no one simple cure

for deer damage to landowners. But there are methods that can be taken that can stop deer

damage to landowners. For instance you can use repellants. You could also let hunters come hunt

 on your land. You can put up fencing that will protect your land. But this is costly it cost 6-8

dollars per linear foot. The recommend type of fence is electric.          One positive reason for

deer to be on your land is you could do research on deer and where they migrate. Or you might

just like to spot or watch deer in their natural habitat.  To help deer come into your land you

have to take certain steps to get deer’s attention. Step one you have to evaluate your land.

Second you have to select the right management practices for your land.

http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/forestrypage/pubs/infobroch/by%20topic/deer_beaver_sull

ivan-curtis.htm http://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/deermanagement/NAWsika_0206/

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/mammals/deer/manage.htm

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Dont eat my daisies Rappahannock High School

                                                                                                                              11/1/2007

                                                                                                                           12:29:00 PM

Deer to landowners can be good and bad. They can be good because you can limit the population

 by hunting them..  They can be bad because they eat crops and destroy gardens.  The more deer

 numbers increase the more damage there is to farms and gardens.  Ways to keep deer off of

your land include deer chasers, spray repellent, and high electric fences.Some landowner’s

feel that if they plant deer feed it will help the whitetail deer survive through harsh weather. 

Most don’t know that by feeding them only makes them dependant on someone giving them food.

 Landowners feel the need to feed deer mostly so they will stay away from their plants, shrubs,

and other things they destroy by eating. People also spend a lot of money in buying deer feed to

 make the deer bigger to hunt, not knowing it really is bad for them.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/dmap.asp

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/wildlife/white-tail-deer.shtml

http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/forestrypage/pubs/infobroch/by%20topic/deer_beaver_sull

ivan-curtis.htm.www.pittsburghlive.com.http://www.deerout.com

www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife

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Property Protectors Clear Spring

                                                                                                                              11/2/2007

                                                                                                                            11:01:00 AM

Washington County Community HomeownersHow do you feel about deer invading your yard? 

Many people around here see deer as a property menace.  Deer vehicle collisions account for

about 10 million dollars of property damage a year, deer are also known to eat about 3 ½ - 8

pounds of vegetation a day and about 1.25 tons a year.  Some people are looking for solution to

keep deer out of there property because some people have a lot of money put into their yard in

plants and shrubs but then they get destroyed.  Some ways people are using to keep deer out are

 spraying repellents around the perimeter of their yard to keep deer from coming around,

making mechanical devices to make noise to scare deer off and keep them from coming around.

 Another method is putting up a big enough fencing around the perimeter of their yard that

deer can’t jump over or get through, so they stay away. A problem these solutions may cause is

whether or not they will even work and if the owner has pets how would it affect them and

would it cause problems for their pets.  Another problem this causes for the people is that they

have to spend a lot of money on these things and some don’t want to spend a lot of money on

these because they don’t have the money to spend on items like these or they feel they shouldn’t

 have to.  They look at this as the deer are there and they don’t want the deer there so it brings

up issues.  Now the people are looking for alternate ways for paying for items like tax money

and insurance to help them out because they feel that they shouldn’t have to pay for it.  Another

 big issue is homeowners feel they should have a special license to be able to shoot/kill the deer

 that invade their property.  But an issue with this is the people that live in a compact

neighborhood with people surrounding won’t be able to do this because it could harm others

around them.

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Happy Houses North Harford High School

                                                                                                                              11/5/2007

                                                                                                                            7:52:00 AM

The over-population of deer has become very problematic for homeowners.  Homeowners are

aggravated over the fact that the over population of deer has affected their gardens and their

environments.  I believe that the deer populations are too high and are hurting the environment,

 especially for homeowners.  This really affects the homeowners that live near open areas such

 as farms because deer are eating plants and crops.  Also, homeowners that live around woods

are greatly affected because deer are eating the understory near their home.  Some possible

and affordable solutions would be, extending hunting seasons, building fences, or create an

increase in predators.  These solutions would be paid for by the state, or hunting fees.  These

soulutions would directly manage the deer population and make it so less homweowners would be

 effected by deer.

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