the Deer and Beer... every fall.
Posted on 11/18/2009 6:20:00 PM PST by HokieMom
Archers will take to tree stands in Colvin Run Mill Park and Colvin Run Stream Valley in coming weeks to reduce the area’s burgeoning deer population, which poses a threat to motorists, hikers, flora and fauna, Fairfax County officials said.
The Fairfax County Police Department’s Animal Control Division, working in conjunction with the Fairfax County Park Authority, began allowing select hunting groups into the wooded park areas on Nov. 16. Archery hunts also will be held at Laurel Hill Park in Lorton.
Officials estimate the county is home to about 25,000 deer, or 60 per square mile, which is roughly three times the maximum amount that can be maintained while preserving other plants and animals.
“We have lost a huge number of species in Colvin Run Mill Park,” said Charles Smith, a Park Authority natural-resource specialist. “Basically, the forest has been vacuumed.”
Fairfax County since 1998 has had a deer-management plan, which was sparked in part by a deer-vehicle collision that killed a Great Falls librarian in 1997, Smith said.
Archery is an ideal way to cull the deer herd because it’s almost silent and done at short range, with hunters shooting from tree stands toward the ground, county officials said. By comparison, a bullet fired from a rifle can travel a mile or more.
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The county police department’s tactical squad sometimes hunts deer using suppressor-equipped rifles, but this method is costly and useful only in larger parks, Smith said.
Only established archery groups, whose members have qualified for accuracy on the weapons they intend to use, were asked to participate in the archery hunts, Smith said.
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(Excerpt) Read more at sungazette.net ...
Hmm, Deer meat festival anyone?
Sixty deer per square mile. That’s a feast.
Cross bows are silent and relatively short range.
This is a good thing! In many areas of VA, I’m sure there are many more deer than people. I know that’s the case where I live. We usually hit one, or nearly hit one every year. The dammed things will dart out in front of your car and leave you with almost NO time to react. Last year we hit one and it was over before it registered in my mind that it happened.
I’ve happened upon three in the last week: one standing in the road in my lane, one hit in the road and was trying to get up and couldn’t (pitiful), and one dead in the ditch. Time to put them in the crock pot.
Silent is a good thing. Gunfire scares the neighbors.
the Deer and Beer... every fall.
That always sucks. The one we hit almost made it across the road in front of us, but we hit it pretty hard on the rear, and it flipped twice I think and landed off the road. It got up and hobbled into the woods. I got out of the car and heard it in the woods thrashing around a short distance away. I felt heartsick for it. I didn't have my handgun on me that day. If I'd had it, I would have went in and ended its suffering.
Glad you and your family are okay. The one I almost hit caused me to swerve into the other lane and if anyone would have been coming at me, I guess I would have tested out my airbag.
Not unless you have them tested for BSE first. Its everywhere.
That’s OK, just don’t eat the brain. Creamy and buttery brains, yum.
BSE is in US cattle but the FDA refuses to let the industry test and report findings. Most cattle are slaughtered before 4 - 5 years of age. BSE doesn't manifest until later.
No one knows if a cow has 'inherited' BSE from its mother when it goes to slaughter unless it is tested. This is a huge thing that no one wants to admit for fear of destroying the economy.
Eat Bison. If they are slaughtered in a facility 'infected and contaminated with beef slaughtered prions - you will still have a better chance of dodging the BSE bullet.
A large percentage of dementia goes untested - no autopsies - since the procedure for sterilization for prions is expensive - more expensive than the autopsy. The only way to denature prion proteins is to high-heat treat everything - cutlery and all surfaces. Bleach doesn't touch it.
If a female cow gives birth every year to at least one offspring (usually two) from the age of 3 on for 8 years and all are contaminated with BSE and half of all female offspring go to slaughter (the other half breed more) before they manifest symptoms and the mother doesn't show symptoms until she is 10 years of age when she can no longer walk. How many people have eaten BSE contaminated beef? Now multiply that by hundreds of thousands and you get the picture of what we are doing to ourselves in the name of a 'sound economy'.
You can bet your bottom dollar that it's not safe to eat beef, period. Kosher butchering helps but only statistically since it's impossible to determine if a slaughtered cow is contaminated by way of its mother.
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