The City of Oxford starts deer hunting to remove suburban deer
Several people have noted Melanie Addington’s story in the Friday Oxford Eagle about deer hunting in town. The hunting will be in the eastern parts of town (Grand Oaks and around the conference center– ironically the location where some police officers got in trouble for headlighting deeer not long ago). A game warden’s quote probably meets Micheal Kinsley’s definition of a gaffe (accidentally saying something true in public):
The hunters are limited this week to the Grand Oaks area that has given permission and city-owned property, such as the land near Oxford Conference Center. However, for the 30-day permit, hunting can take place on city property and some university land, except public parks, Patterson said.
To hunt on any private property, they’ll need written permission from the owner.
The hunters are to use their own equipment and will tally the number of deer they kill. Patterson welcomed them during a meeting Thursday afternoon at City Hall.
“With so many people on their scooters and riding bikes now, it is a matter of time before we have a tragedy,” Patterson said. “But we have called in the professionals and we ask that you follow their lead.”
Department of Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks law enforcement officers Bruce Jenkins and Randy Bishop explained to the hunters the rules for the hunt on Thursday.
“This ain’t a trophy hunt,” Jenkins said. “Shoot whatever comes by — babies, mamas. The hunt is on a permit issued by the state, so we are not here to hunt horn; we are just here to kill deer and that’s it.”
Jenkins urged the hunters to use caution, and, when unsure of property lines, to call to verify or not hunt in the area. If any of the hunters violate any of the basic rules, the city’s permit could be pulled and the hunter could be issued a citation.
Why not require lasso-ing them first? Would give the deer a sporting chance, and eliminate stray shots entering human babies and mamas.
Trouble brewing. ‘Specially for mamas and babies and maybe some innocent bystanders. Why did they not include teenagers?
MILFs I can get my arms around. But MILTK … that one makes me wince.
I’ve seen Marlin Perkins and other TV nature boys use nets to capture critters, then relocate them. Couldn’t our local boys just net these deer and relocate them? Holly Springs National Forest surely has room for several dozen more deer.
Just a coupla evenings ago, Sweetie Pie and I were on the back porch enjoying our lemonades and each other’s presence. First, a 6-point (+/) buck, then a doe, then two tiny, spotted fawns emerged from the treeline to graze in our backyard. After the whole family was out in the open, the buck stepped back into the woods. The doe kept grazing, but the fawns eased over toward the treeline where the buck entered, and looked curiously into the trees. Then the buck re-emerged from the woods several yards from where the fawns stood … he slipped up behind them and gave them a sudden bucksnort, which clearly surprised the dickens outta the fawns. This little routine occurred 3 times, and the fawns were startled every time. It was a fascinating and comical scene to watch.
To use the standard-issue comparo, “if we can put a man on the moon,” surely we can move Oxford’s deer population up the road a few miles.
This just in: http://oxfordrebellion.blogspot.com/
For what its worth, the hunting will be with bows: “The city has received a permit through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks that went into effect Thursday and runs through Oct. 7. It allows hunting from sunrise to sunset with a bow. While some cities require bow hunting to be at a certain angle in order to kill, the Oxford hunters will be on the ground.”
And while I am certainly not opposed to hunting (and am a hunter myself), I’m glad this is occurring on the other side of town– my back property line is along the western city limits of Oxford, sort of (it’s actually my West property line, but the city kind of circles around my subdivision) and the hunting is all on the east side. But there are a couple of fawns in the neighborhood this summer, and I’d just as soon them not be hunted while still fawns.
FIRST NOTE: I’ve almost hit deer on North Lamar between the fire station and Lindsey’s Chevron. Deer are a huge problem in Oxford.
SECOND NOTE: Pat Patterson hand-picked the 20 permit holders to hunt. That ain’t right. Anyone qualified should have had a chance to participate, and not just “Friends of Pat.”
THIRD NOTE: The first area to be hunted in is Grand Oaks. Again, this smells politically — let’s clear out the rich white folks subdivision first. The deer are everywhere, including my yard every day. But they are welcome in my yard and I don’t want the momma of the two spotted fawns feeding in my yard hurt – until the fawns are weaned, then momma would be damn good on a biscuit.
FOURTH NOTE: I literally laughed out loud, and then cursed a bit, when I read in the Eagle that deer had done $15,000 worth of damage to landscaping at the newly renovated Ole Miss golf course. During the renovation when new trees and shrubs were set out, I sent notes to every one I could think of, from Robert Khayat and Pete Boone, to the guy who runs the pro shop, warning them that if they did not place chicken wire cages around the newly set out trees that in the Fall the bucks would kill the trees by rubbing their antlers on them. The only person that responded was the golf course architect, and he said I was right but that he didn’t have the authority to have it done but that he would personally tell the grounds crew it needed to be done.
Well, guess what? Nothing was ever done until after at least half the trees had been killed by the bucks rubbing against the trees. Then chicken wire cages were put around the trees, even some that were obviously too far gone to save. There is no excuse for that kind of crap.
I live in a subdivision in Ridgeland just off the Natchez Trace, and I am ready for some hunters to get to work here when they’re finished in Oxford. The deer are wonderful to see the first few times, then they’ve eaten our flowers and pooped on our lawn, and suddenly they’re just big pests.
Pop Quiz:
Which problem takes priority for the City of Oxford?
A) Deer populations in Ritzy neighborhoods
B) Lack of a legitimate public transit system
As most here know, I am a hunter and big supporter of the second amendment. With respect to hunting, my passion is waterfowl hunting, but I do enjoy deer hunting on occasions. Having said this, I have a problem with the set-forth deer eradication plan in Oxford, and especially the details as to how it is to be carried out.
First of all, deer seasons don’t start until the first of October when the traditional bow season starts— and for a good reason. By then, most fawn will be mature enough to live without the mother/doe. Fawns and young bucks(less than 4 points) are not legal deer for harvest.
If one were going to authorize such a limited bow hunt within the City limits (where hunting normally would not be allowed), then simply do so when the statewide season opens and impose the same, normal harvest restrictions. This would still help thin out the deer population in the affected areas —which is apparently the desired purpose —without creating all the negative PR.
But instructing the hunters to take ANY deer (if its brown, its down) is not sportsman-like and creates a bad impression to the general population, which includes many who do not hunt, but are not against hunting. Many of this group (and many hunters as well) will not like the idea of killing fawns and other young deer (which would ordinarily not be a legally harvestable deer). Lets don’t turn this segment of the population into “anti-hunters” with stupid behavior.
And if the main problems re the deer are simply that of eating vegetation in yards, or endangering bicylists and those on scooters (I am having trouble envisioning such a dangerous scenario), then the entire plan sounds a little dubious to start with. Throw in the killing fawns part, and it sounds and is terrible. This is an example of a bad plan, with even worse execution.
There are other alternatives to this plan. Plant vegetation that deer don’t like to eat. Or scare the deer away with chemicals or high frequency noise devices that create noise deer can hear, but humans cannot. Get a dog –they love to chase deer. And if you are riding a bicycle or scooter, pay attention. I have never heard of a deer attacking anyone on a bicycle or scooter (so again, I am having trouble seeing this as a problem, but I digress). And if driving a car, use the deer whistles you can buy that emit a sound that the deer can hear, but humans cannot —they mount on the front of your vehicle and are relatively inconspicuous and cheap —and they work pretty good. And except for Hwy 6 or any other highway within the city limits, city traffic should be going slow enough to avoid any deer running out into the road. On the highways, you just have to drive the speed limits and pay attention.
Heaven forbid some rich folks’ flower beds be eaten. Isn’t the whole idea of living in a place like Grand Oaks with huge pastoral lots to be closer to nature? The reality is nobody likes nature; saying they do is just for show. I wish I had deer in my neighborhood.
How about they get a air cannon like the Bost’s. If it’s good for the goose…
Pat Patterson is off to a VERY bad start. I’m not sure Oxford can take 4 more years of the Board of Alderman being this out of touch.
Killing deers, possums etc. in any towns city limits should not be allowed, in the county (outside the city limits is ok following hunting seasons and gun/bow licenses) is permissable.
Seems like a township should have animal control offered by the town.
Oxford is taking the easy/cheap way out for “yahoos” to bag deer.
I don’t live in Oxford, but I do have too many deer. I’ve counted as many as nine in my front yard. This year they ate $200 worth of tulip bulbs. Add in the cost of planting these bulbs and you’re talking $300 – $400 in damage. There is nothing wrong with killing these pests, including the fawns.
After further review … aren’t there more humane ways to solve this problem? Can’t they tranquilize the deer, or lasso them, or net them, then move them away? Maybe to the middle of the Holly Springs National Forest? I don’t live in Oxford, so I don’t have a dog in this fight. But when people, especially children, hear the terrible bleating wounded deer make, and see the trails of blood and eventually the coup de grace, they’re not going to be happy. You can call this “pest eradication” or urban cleaning or whatever euphemism you choose, but this ain’t like stabbing rats or thinning out squirrels or relocating possums and coons. A lotta people … especially the kids (and I) … are going to have a lotta trouble hearing the sounds of agonizing pain and stark terror, and the sights of deer, particularly tiny, spotted fawns, struggling to flee with an arrow or two or three penetrating its body.
“Explain” to a 7 year-old kid that that fawn had to be killed because it was eating mom’s daylillies, or whatever other plant or bush is deemed more valuable than the sights and sounds of wounded, frightened, slowly and painfully dying Bambis.
There’s gonna be a lotta blowback from this. Well deserved, I might add.
There’s gotta be a humane solution to the problem.
Is there a biologist out there? I have a question. Assume that a resident of Grand Oaks kills the deer chewing up his yard. Doesn’t a deer standing in the woods notice there’s some nice unoccupied bit of yard and move in to the territory? Won’t there almost immediately be deer moving in from elsewhere to fill any void the hunters create?
We have a lot of deer in these parts. I can’t imagine how this will help more than very temporarily.
Bottom line: Don’t mess with a debutante’s tulips. You can fight City Hall in Mississippi, but not the Junior League.
With regard to ‘more humane ways to solve this problem,’ lassoing deer, trapping deer, tranquilizing deer requires manpower and money. Oxford is not taking the cheap route – Oxford is exercising a common sense to a real problem. But there are always people who want government to spend more money (never thinking that every dollar the government spends is a dollar taken away from a citizen via taxes).
Did you know that an adult deer eats between five and eight pounds of food EACH DAY.
In truth and in fact removing the deer by bow is very humane when properly done. Deer don’t suffer catastrophic injury from an arrow as they do from a gunshot wound. Modern broadheads are sharper than surgical scapels. The kill zone is the heart and lung area. The arrow penetrates and when the deer runs, the movement of the animal causes the broadhead to move around inside the body, further lacerating the internal organs. Pain, if any, is negligible. The lungs fill with fluid, the deer can’t breathe, lays down and dies. It is a pretty quick process, actually (most often less than 10 minutes from bowshot to death). If the arrow does not hit a vital area, the arrow can actually pass through the deer and the deer can recover from the wound fairly quickly (a week or so) as well.
No one is going to see a deer running around with two or three arrows stuck in it. Ninety-five percent of the time a hunter only gets one shot. And no responsible hunter is going to attempt any shot further than 40 yards.
Wow, Observer, this sounds better than lethal injection or electrocution for humans. I know Utah was still executing humans with firing squads as recently as 1996, do you know if they ever considered arrows with internal organ lacerating broadheads? It sounds like the inmate would have difficulty breathing and in less then ten minutes just lay down and die.
Observer: I love ya’ man, but your post is an insult to my (admittedly limited) intelligence.
But I’ll admit, Observer, that if I’m ever shot in a dark alley by a bullet or arrow or even a photographer employed by my wife I hope it “passes through” and that I recover from the wound fairly quickly (a week or so) as well.
I’m a hunter and am well familiar with controlling deer populations, but let’s be frank here. This plan accomplishes only two goals: Protecting some old bag or old fart’s tulips and giving a bunch of rednecks with razor-tipped hard-on substitutes an opportunity to go run amuck.
I really miss the days when the mayor was a pragmatist but also an intellectual, rather than someone nervous to be spotted in a liquor store.
NMC, I’m not a wildlife biologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. I think you are exactly correct that any such hunt would only have temporary effects, if any. As deer are removed/harvested from an area, other deer will move into the territory to fill the void. We harvest deer on our Delta property every year. And the next year, there are still more deer to hunt. Its like …..magic…..that nature and stuff.
This plan was obviously conceived by bureaucrat golfers and garden clubbers who don’t know a freaking thing about deer hunting, sportsmanship, or wildlife. What a farce!!
LMAG: Funny you mention liquor stores. First time I met Pat, some 40 years ago, he was running a liquor store in one of those squalid little buildings across Jackson where Frat Row used to end. At that time, I could get 2 fifths of Ushers Green Stripe scotch for $15 even. They had to last me 2 weeks. I never observed Pat being reluctant to do business. So I don’t follow your post.
The squirrels on South Lamar used to eat my tulip bulbs regularly. Until I got a Terrier which ate the squirrels. My rescuegrey/black tabby and the Westie used to tag team the rats with the cute tails and proudly bring me their leftover spoils. That plan will save one’s tulips better than a compound bow any day . . . Earth dog+Felix domesticus
That aforementioned team also worked for moles and voles by the way.
For deer I recommend Weimeraners not terriers.
Bow Hunting in the City – You got to be Kidding Me!
This is a GOOD THING!
If you or a love one have ever been in a collision with a deer you know firsthand that deer are a clear and present danger. NO Question – the Deer need to be harvested.
Using Bow Hunter is the way to go – Don’t waste money on Sharp Shooters – Let the Hunters do the Deed.
If you enjoy hunting and would like to possibly extend your hunting season ( and find a really great place to hunt) stop by the Hunting Resource Center at http://www.BearMountainQuest.com (you will be glad you did)
Well now … sez here that the State of Ohio botched an execution and “continued” the matter for a coupla weeks. After two hours of mucking about
trying unsuccessfully to find a vein for the injection shunt, with the prisoner himself doing what he could to help, they canceled the show.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ohio-execution-halted-after-first-attempt-botched
So here’s where those broadhead arrows could be used. Just rip a coupla broadhead into the prisoner, which will be painless because they’re so sharp, and pretty soon they start ripping open arteries, veins, and other thingamajigs, his lungs fill up, and he dies peacefully and painlessly.
Bow and arrow men … Saddle up.
I’m not a hunter, or even a gun owner. But, I know that the Hell’s Angels carry ball-peen hammers for weapons. Limit it to ball-peen hammers and let the fun begin.
Instead of a family of deer in your yard, you could see a family of deer in your yard and a couple of folks carrying ball-peen hammers running through your yard. Sounds like twice the fun to me.
There’s an old Oxford story involving the auto parts store on north lamar and a deer and a ball-peen hammer, WTBAL. I’m not kidding.
Amazing who drops by this blog- Moose Man appears to be the owner of a Russian boar hunting camp. How do these people find this blog? Google searches I suppose. At any rate, if you ever get a hankering to blow the bezeejus out of a Russian boar, he’s your guy.
It always amazes me when folks like Ben @6:33 try to talk about something they know nothing about. I would wager that Ben has never deer hunted much less even shot a bow. Stick to blogging what you do know…Just my two cents
Well, the Clarion-Ledger is now reporting that any hunting will be carried by conservation officers and city officials only.
Drago – Aren’t you particularly comforted by the phrase “any hunting will be carried out by . . . . city officials only,” part?
Personally, I think hunting in town with any weapon is just too big a risk – and I have done plenty of hunting.
Having been on the other end of a relocation program, I have a little different take on this story. I used to live exactly 5 miles outside of a town of around 150,000 on a country road. 5 miles must be some kind of magic distance for “relocation” of city nuisances – of any species. It also seems to be the exact distance required for abandonment of unwanted pets.
Can you imagine daily releases of raccoons, possums, deer, and other critters in your front yard? The skunks were really special! People abandoning pets out in the country are just wrong. There were a lot of fat coyotes in the area.
The German shepherd in the front yard took care of most of the critter problems (except the skunks) but didn’t help much with the pet dogs dumped in the yard. If you think you can’t fight city hall, you should try fighting the city hall of a city you are not a resident of.
Justthefacts@8:39: It always amazes me when folks like Ben @6:33 try to talk about something they know nothing about. I would wager that Ben has never deer hunted much less even shot a bow….
I was just restating what an expert bozenarra poster said. See Observer@11:14 above: Modern broadheads are sharper than surgical scapels. The kill zone is the heart and lung area. The arrow penetrates and when the deer runs, the movement of the animal causes the broadhead to move around inside the body, further lacerating the internal organs. Pain, if any, is negligible. The lungs fill with fluid, the deer can’t breathe, lays down and dies. It is a pretty quick process, actually (most often less than 10 minutes from bowshot to death).
If the process is good enough for mamas and babies, it oughta be plenty good enough for a death-row felon.
Roger that, DeltaLawMama. No doubt one’s election or appointment to city office naturally confers as well a sharp eye and steady hand on the bow.
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