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Southern Girl Slayers- Luray H.S.

                                                                                                                             10/21/2011

       We believe that there is an overpopulation of deer almost everywhere in the US.

According to the article Times Topic Blog, it states that professional marksmen are needed

 for overpopulated areas. The marksmen use bait to lure the deer, then, from a

camouflaged tree, platform or other fixed position, they shoot the animals through the

brain. We as hunters believe this is very unethical, because they are allowed to hunt from a

 baited site and we are not. As hunters we believe that one should not be allowed to bait

deer under any circumstances.

        Deer cause 130 Americans to die in car accidents each year.  Deer also prevent

regeneration of forests. They eat tree seedlings and destroy forest understory plants. To

decrease deer herds in some states, hunters must kill 2 does before killing a buck. We

believe this should be done in the mid Atlantic states, without wiping out the entire

population. Also diseases play a big role in the loss of deer. Wasting disease has been a

particular problem in our state and in neighboring states. Lyme disease is by far the biggest

 public health concern involving deer. All nonprofit environmental groups, government

agencies, sportsman clubs, farmers, professional foresters and community groups need to

work together to reduce the regional deer population to a healthy carrying capacity of 10

deer per square mile or less, but could be boosted to about 20 deer per square mile when

the forest is once again filled with saplings. More studies are needed to actually know the

population of deer we have now, then we must target those areas that are overpopulated

and implement management strategies to reduce those populations.

 

    Http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/suburbs

 

 

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Applemen Hunters- Musselman HS-Stevens

                                                                                                                             10/31/2011

In order to control the deer population, they should just have a longer deer hunting season.

 By having a longer deer hunting season the deer population wouldn't be so extreme. By

controlling the population, there would be fewer car accidents caused by deer. By reducing

deer population it will reduce the amount of deer ticks which can cause lime disease. Deer

also have a tendency to get where they shouldn't be and ruin crops. Having a longer deer

season would be better for farmers because there would not be as many deer to go in and

destroy their crop, such as apple trees and corn. In my opinion having the longer deer

hunting season would be the best method for controlling deer population.

 

 

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the way you shoot- Musselman HS-Stevens

                                                                                                                             10/31/2011

One of the main ways you can reduce the population of the number of white tail deer in the

 state of West Virginia is to extend the hunting seasons and increase the number of deer

you can kill from three to five this will reduce the total number of deer in the state.

Another way to reduce the population is the trap and relocates the animals to a state that

has a bad population of white tail deer. The people of PETA would say that the population is

 fine were it is when the forest is being destroyed due to the over population. PETA has

tried to take away hunting in another state and the animals starved in the winter because

of the lack of a food supply. If there are fewer deer there would be fewer car accidents.

Another way to decrease the number of deer in the state is to increase the number of

hunters by getting the younger kids involved in youth hunting season. They need to increase

the number of outlets for the hunter safty course so that the children can go out and have

 fun. We also need to increase the number of parents takeing their child out into the woods

 to show them the sport in hunting a white tail deer.In my opinion these methods can

increase the number of hunters.

 

 

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team Hunter- Musselman HS-Rickman

                                                                                                                               11/3/2011

I think that there is too many deer and it is causing problems.  More and more people get

hurt or killed in deer collisions. If the seasons were longer we would have a better chance

of killing more deer to make the amount of deer reasonable, instead, of the deer population

 becoming over-populated.   People that have to work has only a few days to hunt, if not

only Saturday, so I believe that Sunday should also be open for people to hunt.  Some

people use the deer meat to feed their families; if you took hunting away from them they

will lose their source of food.  Famers get mad , because of the deer getting into their

crops and destroying it.

 

 

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Team Realtree- Musselman HS-Rickman

                                                                                                                               11/3/2011

      Deer hunting is changing.  Minimal tags, hunting equipment prices, and shortened hunting

 seasons are just a few problems for deer hunters.  The overpopulation problem can be

solved by extending hunting season, giving more tags, and lowering hunting equipment prices.

 

    Minimal tags are one of the causes for the overpopulation problem.  In Berkeley County

West Virginia, you get four doe tags and two buck tags for rifle season.  That isn't enough

if we are supposed to help lower the overpopulation of deer.  We believe there should be

more tags given to the hunter community.  Raise tags, lower deer population.

 

    If the hunting equipment prices are high hunters will stop hunting and the overpopulation

problem will get worse.  Bow equipment is one of the most expensive hunting equipment

money can buy.  By lowering the prices of hunting equipment overpopulation will go down

dramatically.

 

 

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We the Hunters- Musselman HS-Rickman

                                                                                                                               11/3/2011

We as hunters believe that killing deer is good for our environment. Hunters feel this way

because we help keep deer population lower. In our opinion, we should have a longer hunting

 season. This would decrease the number of problems cause by deer. For example, car

accidents, pollution in our local water systems, (as in soil ending up in streams, plants along

streams being crushed). White tail deer are very beautiful creatures, so we don't want you

 to think that we "hate" deer. Remember, all deer are not being killed, just enough to make

YOUR environment safer for everyone. Did you know that an insurance company stated

that 1.8 million deer were killed on highways because of car accidents? We would rather

see deer being killed by hunters, rather than in dangerous car accidents where people can

get hurt also. If hunters didn't do their job, then most deer would die in the winter from

starvation or illness anyways. Hunters also help people with crops or farms because deer

often times get into crops and eat the food grown. Deer can do damage to our crops, to

your cars, or to our road. I know we don't like to drive down the road and see a dead deer

lying there, or walk out to see your crops and see that a deer has gotten to them and eaten

 parts of it. You can agree, or agree to disagree. Not many want to think about killing

animals. But think about it, a longer hunting season would make our area much safer and

more efficient.

 

 

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Chicks Dig Hunting- Musselman HS-Rickman

                                                                                                                               11/4/2011

The deer population is progressing at the years go on. Some people are against killing

animals, but what they don't think about is how the deer are affecting our environment.

Deer may damage people's fencing which would allow their animals to get lose. If those

animals get loose they could harm humans. Deer could eat farmer's crops and cause the

stores to not get enough fruit and vegetables. Along rivers there are plants and trees to

help keep the shape of the river, keep it cool, and put nutrients into the water. The deer

are eating these plants and stomping on them. This is causing the water to get soil in it and

not get enough nutrients. The plants and trees also help keep pollution out of the water.

Without them we get pollution in our water; our water could go bad. Deer increase the

number of car accidents. They will run out on the road. Most people's reaction is to

swerve, which causes them to hit other cars. Many people have died from wrecks caused by

 a deer running into the road.

With that being said I think it's a good thing that humans hunt deer. If the deer population

gets too high then more crops will be damaged, along with water, and fences. It also

decreases the rate of people having wrecks do to deer. The hunting season should be

extended longer. By extending hunting season, it would decrease Lyme disease. Deer carry

ticks that have Lyme disease. Hunter's Safety Course should be held more frequently to

increase the amount of hunters that we have. The prices for hunting equipment should be

lowered to allow people to buy more things. By buying more things it will increase the

chance for hunters to kill a deer.

 

 

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Dead Shot Deer Hunters- Musselman HS-Rickman

                                                                                                                               11/4/2011

The hunter has been searching, killing, and eating animals for a long time, since the

beginning of the human race. Technology has changed and with so has the want/need to

hunt. Hunters have become more scares and they are looked down upon from people who

no longer believe that killing animals is right or humane or just don't or never have hunted.

I hunt and have been hunting for a couple of years and do believe that it should be allowed

and that it is necessary to honestly keep the deer population alive. Yes hunter do kill animals

 however most kill not just for sport but for the food the animal will supply for their

family and for others to whom what's left will be given to. Hunters also do save the

animals should they be in danger of being extinct with the wildlife preserves and relocation

programs. Hunter also help by reducing the numbers of a highly populated area of animal

which in turn helps balance the natural area of predator and prey and keeps animals from

destroying themselves by destroying their ecosystem.

 

The good of hunting is overcast by a shadow of the few bad ones so the good ones are

looked as bad also. The rude manners and bad decisions made by bad hunter is looked at

more than the good actions of the good hunters because they are quiet and do not raise

attention do to the fact that they are quiet like any good hunter to get a deer.

 

 

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Hillbilly Doe Hunters- Musselman HS-Stevens

                                                                                                                               11/4/2011

    Here in the state of West Virginia we have an overpopulation of white-tailed deer.  Two

of the reasons the deer population has been allowed to become so large are trophy hunting

and hunting carnivores such as coyote and wolf which have bounties.  If we protest that

the DNR change hunting licenses so that we have five or so doe and spike buck tags

automatically and purchase buck tags instead of doe tags we would be better off.  If this

idea were put into action we could much more effectively control the deer population by, in

essence, killing 3 deer at one time. Then we would be killing the doe and prevent the birth

of twin future offspring.  In addition the meat on does and young bucks is more enjoyable

to eat so hunters will less likely waste the meat.  This would leave the big bucks to produce

offspring that could survive the winter since their ancestry would be hearty.  And last but

not least, more carnivores would mean the death of the weak and sickly and reduce road

accidents.

 

We could increase the population of carnivores by restricting bag limits on these valuable

parts of the ecosystem.  

 

  These solutions would cost virtually nothing in taxpayer dollars while greatly improving the

ecosystem by giving hunters a healthier deer.  These solutions  could save some areas

money      

that would have been spent on hiring profesional marksmen to control the deer population. 

This plan would not effect my family since we already do not trophy hunt.All in all this plan

should be more efficient than man other plans.

 

 

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DCT(deer control team)- Musselman HS-Stevens

                                                                                                                               11/9/2011

I, as a hunter, feel that the deer problems can be fixed by allowing the hunters to shoot

more deer per year or lengthening the deer hunting seasons.  By shooting the deer it

eliminates the over population which cause many problems with the forest.  If we dont

shoot the deer what else are we going to do?  The deer populations are rising in some areas

 because we are pushing them into smaller living space to make room for our buildings and

industries.  As the deer population rises the area in which they live is decreasing.  So the

solution to let the hunters decrease the population would be a reasonable approach to this

growing list of problems.  There are hunters everywhere and most of us supply our own

families with the deer we bring in.  Having the opportunity to bring home more deer a year

will help our families yearly cost on food which might help us finactially in this economy. 

There are many good things that would come from this solution including the environmental

help and the help of the people.    please tell me where you stand on this solution.  I will be

glad to explain further in necessary.

 

 

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