[Sca-cooks] deer and turkeys

[ysabeau]

There are areas near where I live where the deer are a major 
menace. This topic is hotly debated and no real solution has 
presented itself. Personally, I would rather see the deer trapped 
and slaughtered (hunting with guns or bows in a populated area is 
just dangerous and asking for trouble, IMO)with the meat either 
donated to a soup kitchen or sold to people who like venison. 

I am not a hunter but most of my family is. We have a story in my 
family about my Uncle Bubba (yes, his real "name") rolling over in 
bed and my aunt thinking he was getting frisky until he grabbed 
the gun from under the bed and shot a buck through the bedroom 
window (yes, it was open). Granted, they live miles from their 
nearest neighbor in South Texas.

There is a big market for venison, at least here in Texas, but 
just about the only way to get it is to hunt it yourself. While I 
personally don't think I could pull the trigger on a deer that 
wasn't charging at me, I appreciate good venison and take my share 
from the yearly harvest. If we harvested the deer and sold the 
meat, then we would be able to fund the program. If people 
consider hunting inhumane (I'm borderline on that one...I think 
there are too many hunters that don't know what they are doing.) 
then trapping them and slaughtering them humanely might be a 
better, if more expensive, way to deal with it.

The new issue that is arising comes from the natural predators 
that are now following the food. Coyotes are coming into the 
suburbs and they are attacking people and pets. They also bring 
rabies and other health issues into the neighborhoods. I had to 
call animal control last year because of a rabid raccoon in my 
neighborhood and I'm well within the city limits. The raccoon was 
out in daylight "attacking" cars. I don't think importing natural 
predators would really help the problem, it would just change it.

This is my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Ysabeau




---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: CorwynWdwd at aol.com
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 08:45:45 EDT

>In a message dated 4/19/2005 1:26:16 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
>StefanliRous at austin.rr.com writes:
>But some folks seem to be a bit uneasy about allowing hunting 
>in the suburbs. And others didn't like the hiring of 
professionals to 
>trap "bambi" and ship them elsewhere. The latter is rather 
expensive as 
>well.
>Not to sound grumpy but....
>
>Fine, then we need to reestablish the balance, if they don't want 
human 
>hunters, and they don't want them captured and put elsewhere, I 
suggest the 
>introduction of animal predators. If coyotes haven't come into 
the area yet, 
>introduce them. We might also think about farming and 
reintroducing wolves....
>
>My point (and I have one) is there needs to be a balance, what is 
or isn't 
>wanted is really irrelevant, because they will breed to the 
limits of the 
>available food supply and starve, dying right on these very same 
people's front 
>lawns. AFTER stripping all the trees and shrubs and grass in a 
yard. Nature is 
>often not pretty...
>
>Somebody needs to point that out to the "Bambi" contingent. Just 
saying.
>
>> OTOH, I've cheerfully dropped a dime on people shooting hawks
>> or wild turkeys, and know of poachers who will do the same.
>
>What is the problem with shooting the wild turkeys? Are they 
endangered 
>or even rare?
>
>I thought there were still wild turkey seasons for hunters? Hawks 
yea, I'd 
>turn in somebody shooting a Hawk, or any other bird of prey too. 
Then again, as 
>I've said before, some of my relatives have hunted from the 
car<G>.
>
>Corwyn
>
>There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn 
well please. 
>And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the 
>consequences. -- P. J. O'Rourke
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>
 

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