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Baker's Dozen- Luray H.S.

Pedestrian                                                                                                            10/18/2011

Our point of view on this topic is that there are many ways you can look at this.  I believe

that there are too many deer that are running free around the roads, and too many people

get hurt everyday by hitting deer in their cars. Also, my husband is a crazed hunter and he

thinks there is a deer shortage.  We have to come up ways  to help resolve both points of

view.  If people helped out and put up fences in front of their yards, and if they live on a

high traffic road, then the deer would be secluded to specific areas outside of the road. 

That way the hunters out there would have a better chance of killing a deer.  Even if we

were to do this we still believe there would be problems.  Just as any other situation there

is a good side and a bad side.  If we were to do this then more deer would be getting killed

and we would soon have a very small population of them.  But just last year I was driving

on the highway at night and a deer jumped out in front of me and cost me over a thousand

dollars in property damage and raised my insurance by ten percent.  I know I am not the

only person that has had this happen to them and I definitely cannot afford this to keep

happening to me and I am sure other families feel the same way.  State Farm says there

were twenty one percent more accidents reported in  the 2009-2010 survey than five

years earlier, even though vehicle miles driven increased only two percent.  It means that

either drivers are getting worse at avoiding deer, or there are a lot more deer on the roads

 than there used to be, which seems extremely likely.  Maybe both instances have some

truth.

              We should come up with ways where everyone can go hunting who wants to, and try

and cut back on the deer population somewhat without endangering the public.  Twice a

month we should have a Sunday hunt, and everyone who hunts should be allowed to hunt on

those days.  Donating to Hunters For The Hungry and finding meat processors who are

able to offer free meat processing in exchange for tax breaks will help solve both hunger

and deer population issues.

 

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The Crew- Luray H.S.

Fish & Wildlife Biologists                                                                                     10/18/2011

                  The Crew's Point of View

 

        We believe that deer herds are not managed correctly.  Lopsided hunting pressures

are creating uneven populations. As the laziest employees in the Fish and Wildlife

Department, we'd like to see people change some things.

          The ratio of bucks to does in heavily hunted areas is way off.  This is caused by laws

 restricting the hunting of does.  In areas with few deer, most hunting laws restrict harvest

 to very few does, and bucks only.  This only allows the population to grow slowly.  Deer

have polygamous relationships, meaning one buck can impregnate many does.  Theoretically,

the removal of one male deer from a population could mean five or six less fawn the

following spring.  In contrast, the removal of one doe would mean only one or two less

fawn the next spring.  New laws, reversing the old ways in places with small deer herds,

limiting buck harvest and carefully managing does would actually help them grow faster.

       On the other side of the spectrum, there are areas that are overrun and rampant with

deer.  Hunters in these areas take bucks first and only think about harvesting does later. 

Some areas in Northern Virginia have already enacted programs, EAB (Earn a Buck), to

help reduce the populations. 

       Many communities are facing the challenge of managing locally-overabundant deer

herds in areas closed to hunting.  Fencing and repellents can help manage site-specific

problems; however, these methods may just move deer and potential damage to other

locations.  As long as adequate food resources are available, deer populations can double in

size every 2-3 years.  Eventually some form of population management is needed to control

 herd growth and maintain deer numbers within the social carrying capacity.

 Laws like EAB' need to be applied and enforced in more places with over large deer herds.

Another solution for overpopulation in urban areas is an extended archery tackle season. 

Many urban homeowners aren't hunters, some disapprove completely.  Media supporting the

 controlled harvests and explaining the benefits may help win over some landowners.

 

1.  http://wildlifecontrol.info/deer/pages/deerpopulationfacts.aspx

 

2. http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/regulations/deer.asp

 

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Musselman Band- Musselman HS-Stevens

band group who just planted alot of trees                                                             10/31/2011

 AS the Band directer of Musselman High school I am getting really frustrated with these

deer. I recently planted a bunch of trees around the band field. I keep going out and trying

 to make sure all of my baby trees are doing well and I find them all torn up because of

those darn deer rubbing up on them or eating them. THe trees are there to help absorbe

the run off from the parking lot and to  keep four wheelers of the band feild. Of course I

want the problem fixed but as an environmentalist I want it to be done right! For right now

 I've put up exclusion fences and tubing around the trees. There are also deer cameras

with bait to see where they are.  But I also feel that the community should start using deer

 apples sites (AWAY FROM MY TREES) so that the deer stay away. I'd prefer if they

didn't make the hunting season longer but if that will help my trees I'm all for it!

 

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For the deer.- Musselman HS-Rickman

deer                                                                                                                        11/3/2011

As a deer, I think that we shouldn't be hunted. I'm very sure that humans would not to be

hunted by us so we don't understand why they hunt us. When my friends and family get hit

 by cars, it's not on purpose; we don't mean to run in the road. We just run when we get

frightened. How do we avoid these things? We can't. It's like a set up, they have food out

and we're hungry so we go to eat. Then like it's nothing we get hurt. Sometimes we don't

even die, we suffer forever. With broad heads left in us and sometimes even bullets. Why

would hunters want to be so mean? We don't mean to hurt people and cause car accidents.

 

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