RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

Let's say you were a builder. Wouldn't you think it would behoove you to employ people within your organizaion that you thought could BEST suit your company's mission statement....procure work for your organizaion.......AND protect your bottom line?

Kudos to them. They're doing just that.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

I understand the issue that most have with the organizations that hunt outside of seasons and regulations with the intent of "helping to control deer overpopulation,"but I don't see the organization that is linked as one of them. I read through the site and found nothing that indicated that they hunt outside of legal seasons and times and nothing that says they use anything other than bowhunting as their means of managing deer.

The one thing that I would argue with them about is that they claim to be deer management professionals yet not one of the members listed is a wildlife biologist or has a background in that field. What basis are they calling themselves professionals on? They are neither paid for the service (at least not indicated on the site) nor are they acredited or certified.

Other than that though, as far as I can tell they are just a bunch of hunters that came up with an idea to create a website to try to get landowners to contact them so they can get rights to hunt. It really doesn't sound like a bad idea to me, if it is done ethically and honestly.

I may contact them to see what means they use for managing deer populations.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

This forum is a tough crowd.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being professional and organized in order to get access to urban areas. In fact, it is the smart way to approach it, and often the ONLY way to do it. I see no evidence on their websiteof wanting to be exterminators, or any desire to not have to abide by normal regs or any push to get additional "periods". I do see a group of guys hoping to capitolize on what is probably some of the best hunting available.

There are a whole lot of urban and suburban areas all across the country that are being accessed now thru org's just like this one. It is quite often the case that the property owners and at times, the local government need to be shown that deer can be bowhunted effectively by hunters that are considerate, conscientious, and tuned into the special conditions that suburban settings often bring about. Trust me, there is no need to convince anyone in these areas that there is a deer problem, but there IS a need to convince non-hunters to let us hunters be the ones to implement some control measures. If you are right that these areas don't have deer problems now...they will in the near future, you can count on that. You say yourself that there is urban sprawl, and less space for the deer. That doesn't mean they will quit reproducing in those areas. You certainly cannot make generalizations about your state's deer herd and assume those hold true for all urbanized areas - which is exactly what it sounds like you are doing.

We have tons of deer within city limits of StL and surrounding municipalities. While some allowed hunting early on, others have implemented specific regs to allow it (big hoops to jump thru), while others have stayed on their chosen path and not allowed it but yet opted for sharp shooters, trap and transplant, etc. In the areas that have some great suburban hunting...who do you think theyuppies will allow to comeshoot deer - organized hunters with"professional" appearances or redneck joe blow wanting to come "stick some deer"?

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

Actually, the word "tons" is not a good descriptive to use, In some areas, it doesn't take very many deer to be "too many" for what available habitat and/or resident tolerance will allow.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

Robin, that is a great point. Especially your last line which is how I obtain permission on much of the property I hunt. It is through my professional approach and appearance that I can get some doors open that some others in the area cannot.

I just sent the president from the group in the linkthe following email:

"Hello,

I am a homeowner in Phoenixville and live near the Black Rock Sanctuary. As such, there are a lot of deer that live in the sanctuary that come over to our development and eat the landscaping and cross Black Rock Road creating a driving hazard.

There are some wooded areas around the sanctuary and near our development that are, as far as I know, off limits to hunting. What can your organization do to help with the deer population here and what methods do you use to control that population? More specifically what would your management goals be and what will you do to reach those goals.

Thank you for your time,"

All of the information in the email is true and will tell me by their response if they can access seemingly inaccessible property and the methods they use to "manage" the deer.

It should be interesting and I'll share it as soon as I have it.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

PA....

WE (hunters) went to the NCWRC in an effort (in my eyes) to thwart off some of what these organizations are trying to do (in a roundabout way). We told them (NCWRC) that there were areas within city limits of our municipalities that were overridden with deer. We also told them that these areas (at the time of the meetings....and still, to an extent) were off limits to ALL hunting. It just didn't make sense. Many, most, OK.....almost ALL of these municipalities had restrictions fro hunting within them.....and most had "firearms" restrictions that INCLUDE bows.

So......we proposed an "urban archery season".

Whatta ya know?;) They liked it. In '08, for the first time ever.....NC impleented an urban archery season. It ran (and someone who hunted it can help me with the exact dates) from about Jan 1 to the middle of March. SAME bag limits as the regular season applied. Also (and here's the tricky part)....they left it up to the hunters within said municipalities to "sell" the program to their respective city/town councils.

I "think" we had an open urban archery season in 3 places, this year. I know NCHunterman hunted the Elkin, NC urban archery season. Kudos to those who are gaining such access. They're extending their seasons. I'll be at the meeting, this year, when we propose to my city. With the deer pops we have here........I have to think (;)) there's a few slammers hiding out in the city limits.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

PA - the problem with PA has and always will be the hunters themselves. The worst thing the GC did was listen to them. Gary Alt listened to them hollar "we want to see more deer" and he made the necessary changes to make that happen. Then it was "we want to see more bucks and better antlers" so he gave them the means to get what they want. In order to have that they have to reduce deer numbers, period. Does being the first to be harvested. Now they gripe that they aren't seeing deer numbers "like they used to". The problem is that "like they used to" was wrong. I grew up hunting PA and it was not uncommon to see 75 deer a day, and better than 80% of the buck harvest were young bucks less than 2 yrs old. Years and years of overgrazing, overforaging, etc have decimated the nutritional plants in some areas of PA. So essentially these deer are eating lettuce and poor quality lettuce at that. So here we have the GC of today not knowing where to begin to change this and afraid to do anything for fear of being sued and afraid not to.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

But PA says there are no areas like that (overridden with deer)?

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

Jeff I think that there are 9 municipalities(sp?) that are on it this year. From 3 - 9, it seems to be catching on.

RE: Deer exterminators!!!???
 

Well then why is everybody bitching about how many doe tags are issued? If "they" didn't think there were too many of them.....would they still issue tags for them?

Wait.....don't answer that. Someone will have a coronary.:D