Here's the latest news article on the situation.....

Board aims at deer options



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June 7, 2010

By BOB OKON [email protected]

Hunters

• Must be 18, meet state requirements for firearm owners and hunters, submit to background check, obtain a hunting zone permit from the forest preserve district and attend a hunter orientation course created by the district for the program.
• Limited number of hunters to be chosen by lottery. Will County residents would get preference.
• Hunting would occur Nov. 19-21 and Dec. 3-5.
• Hunting would be restricted to sections of Goodenow Grove/Plum Valley Preserve in Beecher and Sand Ridge Savanna/Kankakee Sands Preserve in Braidwood.
• Hunters would be required to use shotguns and shoot from tree stands.
Sharpshooters

• Participants would be forest preserve police, other trained professionals or individuals who meet marksmen standards as certified through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
• Sharpshooters who are not forest preserve police would be subject to background checks and would be required to take training course.
• Sharp-shooting would take place in restricted areas of McKinley Woods Preserve in Channahon, Lockport Prairie in Lockport, and Messenger Woods/Messenger Marsh in Homer Glen.
• Sharpshooters must use modern rifles or shotguns. • Usable deer carcasses would be processed for venison that would be donated to charitable organizations.


The program proposed by staff involves shooting deer because they are reportedly trampling vegetation and spoiling certain forests due to overpopulation.
Members of the board's operations committee didn't seem to mind that deer would be shot and killed when they voted 5-3 to move the program to a vote by the full board. What divided the committee members was whether to allow hunters to shoot the deer or restrict the program to trained marksmen.
Residents speaking to the committee voiced worries about the safety of hunters and themselves.
"Every contact I've had with a hunter has been negative," said Melony Rios of New Lenox. Rios said she lives in a rural area where she encounters hunters who don't take necessary precautions when shooting with people are nearby.
But committee members in favor of the program also voiced support of hunters.
"They, too, are having problems finding a place to hunt," said Commissioner Katrina Deutsche, D-Crete. Deutsche noted that she grew up in a rural area where, "I would watch hunters haul out deer that they had killed. I was not traumatized by it."
Some committee members, however, pointed to a staff analysis of the program that projects higher costs for the forest preserve district when hunters shoot deer (between $605 and $1,200 per deer) than when sharpshooters do it (between $103 and $227 per deer).
Commissioner Tom Weigel, R-New Lenox, said he's not against either method of deer management. But pointing to the costs linked to hunters, Weigel said, "I don't think we should pay that much for public hunting."
Forest preserve board President Cory Singer, R-Frankfort, said the answer is to allow more hunters.
Calling the cost a matter of "economies of scale," Singer said the expense would go down if you allow more hunters. At a certain point, if enough hunters take part and fees are sufficient, Singer said, the forest preserve district would generate revenue from the program.
The program now is designed to allow 17 hunters to take part, Singer said, and, "We could employ a safe and well-managed program with a significantly higher number than 17."
Singer suggested 75 hunters.