Sharpshooters May Take on Camp David Deer

[DoYouEverWonder]

April 7, 2005, 8:55 PM EDT

HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- Too many deer roam the woods surrounding the presidential retreat at Camp David, and the government is considering sharpshooters as one way to manage the outsize herd, an official said Thursday.

A workshop will be held April 20 to gather public comment on four alternatives derived from more than 20 years of study at the 9.1-square-mile Catoctin Mountain Park.

The alternatives include using National Park Service sharpshooters to kill approximately 900 white-tailed deer; using fencing, repellents and contraceptives; using a combination of lethal and nonlethal controls; or doing nothing.

The government will choose a strategy in 12 to 18 months, said Scott Bell, the park's environmental protection specialist.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-camp-david-deer,0,3987822.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines


OMG, they're going to kill Bambi. :sarcasm off:

This story is a good example of what's wrong with this country. First they spend 20 years studying the problem and they still can't figure out what to do? I wonder if the fundies will go nuts if they try to give the deer birth control?

[Vektor]

1. Well ya know...

They'll vote to kill them. If the government is given a series of options, and one of them is "kill..."

Well, Duh. It's their favorite.

[rodeodance]

2. birth control has worked on some species-I had not heard it applying to

deer. -but sure would be a good way to do this.

[Vektor]

6. If that option is available - I am all for it. n/t

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. I'm surprised good ol' Georgie Boy

doesn't take his own rifle (has he ever even shot a gun) and take care of the problem himself. If would play so great with the gun crowd and what a photo op it would make.

[Vektor]

5. He's all about the photo op.

If he tries it, I'd like to see a "When Animals Attack" type of situation ensue.

[adwon]

4. No No No

You can't give Bambi condoms; abstinence is the only way.

[LiberalEsto]

7. Send Cheney and Scalia out there with guns instead

They love killing animals and this would be majorly fun for them.

[Bridget Burke]

Why don't they reintroduce large predators?

A few bears & mountain lions, a pack of wolves.

They'd keep down the deer population. And perhaps eliminate a few Republicans, while they're at it.

[freestyle]

10. The bears are a little farther west, and are being killed too

Farther west in Maryland, black bears are making a comeback and people are getting scared and annoyed. The first bear season in decades was last year. Maybe trapping and relocating would restore some balance. If sharpshooters are employed, there also need to be butchers prepared to handle the meat so it can be donated to food pantries. It would be criminal, and criminally disrespectful of the deer for them to be slaughtered en masse strictly for human convenience.

[Igel]

16. Maryland was never known for its large predators.

Native Americans excepted. They must have had some sort of medium-sized cat, but they wouldn't have been the primary predator.

Humans kept down the underbrush that the deer feed on, and if the deer population surged, the Native American population would increase.

On edit: Oddly, I clicked "reply" to post #9, but it shows that I'm replied to the OP, and threads it with the previous poster (#8)? Me thinks the server is hiccuping. (Or hiccoughing, if you prefer.)

[Bridget Burke]

9. Why don't they reintroduce large predators?

A few bears & mountain lions, a pack of wolves.

They'd keep down the deer population. And perhaps eliminate a few Republicans, while they're at it.

[OneTwentyoNine]

11. What are they terrorist deer??

Their eating and destroying the native plant life?? How the hell did that plant life survive before man came along with arrows and guns?

Deer can be a real problem like they had in KC at their airport a year a few years back. Aircraft and deer don't ever need to meet. I thought they rounded them up and moved them instead of just blasting away.

Hmmmm.....

[Coventina]

14. Large predators, particularly wolves

Which of course, we've eliminated.

[SOS]

12. OT - Related item re: The Bush family and their "compassion"

"Ronald Reagan used to feed the squirrels acorns that he
kept in his desk drawer after collecting them on weekends at Camp David.
On warm, sunny days, Mr. Williams recalled, the squirrels would gather
outside the Oval Office and wait expectantly for the presidential largess,
perhaps an earlier case of compassionate conservatism.
The first President Bush, scrapping the Reagan policy, not only put a stop
to such handouts but also sent his dog Millie after them. The squirrels,
he said proudly, "were history."

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. I heard W got po'd at his dad

because his dad didn't let him have first crack at them.

[LiberalEsto]

18. Danged welfare-grubbing, lazy squirrels!

We not only need to stop feeding those squirrels, we need to get rid of their health care benefits and privatize their Squirrel Security accounts.
Oh yes, and outsource their jobs to Asian squirrels that consume fewer acorns.

[maxsolomon]

15. as long as they're eaten, i don't care

deer thrive not only becasue of the lack of predators, but because we have created so many more edges to the forest.

the suburbs have caused this problem. there are more deer in the burbs than i ever see in the mountains.

let them cull the deer population. but eat the meat. and * should lead the way. my sis lives in SE indiana, and they take their limit every year. the neighbors do the same, but often they bring the deer, sans head & rack, over to my sister because the farm wives won't eat venison. they prefer the styrofoamed beef from walmart. but venison is lean, delicious & organic.

[Igel]

17. Shoot them, skin and butcher them, and give the meat

to a homeless shelter if the deer don't have chronic wasting disease (has it gotten that far east?).