Arlington Co. and its deer problem

[Anonymous]

Can they cull some of the rabbit population too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And the sterilization program was a dismal failure. Look no one thinks you can kill large animals with no pain and we should do the best we can but some of them need to die. Do you think a lion is killing a gazelle without any pain?

A lion kills with a single bite to the spine, severing the spinal cord. It's pretty quick after the lion tackles the prey. House cats would do the same to their prey animals, but no one teaches them the technique.

Wrong. Why spread misinformation?

“Some cats kill instantly with a bite that dislocates cervical vertebrae, severing the spinal cord—for example, cougars in the US. This is not the case for lions, they are stranglers or suffocators.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you hear this, the county wants to pay people to shoot the deer. How is this ethical or safe, what will they do when a sharpshooter mistakenly shoots a child by accident?

https://wtop.com/arlington/2024/06/arlington-co-recommends-sharpshooters-to-reduce-deer-population-in-county-parks/

Gawd you’re an idiot.

Do you even understand what “sharpshooter” means? Do you think a deer and a child look remotely alike? Do you think a child and deer will both be in the same place (in the woods of a park in the middle of the night) for one to be confused with the other?


Serious question - how do you function in life, being this dumb?

[Anonymous]

Is there any way the deer could be rounded up and taken to a sanctuary? I just love deer and this makes me so sad.

[Anonymous]

lol just let hunters take care of the problem. You don’t need to hire a consultant to figure out that you need to cull deer in Arlington. They’re out of control and malnourished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The library had a program and a book talk. Apparently some culling operations in yards is via nets and bolt guns. Book described the "eee eee eee" cries of fawns being killed. It's not painless.
See The Age of Deer pp 190-194.

I am not supportive of culling 40% of the deer.
But I encourage supporters to be clear just what means are planned. Just sharpshooter and head shots? Or....????

Not in my yard.

You don't headshot a deer. The skull is quite thick and a small target

Actually you do. I’ve done it. It’s essentially close-range shooting, at night.

The way these deer removal programs work is you bait an area where it’s safe to shoot with corn and apples every night for several weeks, and condition the deer to show up there. After a few weeks of steady feeding, the cullers set up and wait for the deer to come in as usual. They’re using highly accurate rifles with thermal scopes which see clearly in the dark. They are typically.308 caliber (about 4x more powerful than an AR15 by comparison) and are at ranges of about 30 yds. The rifles are equipped with suppressors that reduce the sound of the gunshot to a level where it sounds more like fireworks, and they shoot the deer in the head (so they don’t run) and drag them away as soon as they drop. Then they go back to their shooting location and wait for more deer to come to the bait. A good baited spot can yield 20 or more deer in a single night. But there’s a lot of work that has to go in beforehand.

This isn’t “hunting”. This is pest control. If actual hunters shot deer like this, they’d be arrested for poaching. But this isn’t hunting, so poaching techniques are the accepted standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The effect of deer browsing — which is described as deer eating leaves, twigs and woody plants — was determined to be currently “moderate” in Arlington County, but does “not bode well for the future forest health of Arlington’s parks,” according to the consultant report by White Buffalo, Inc.”

Did anyone suggest feeding the deer? Throw up a few troughs or feeders and hire some guys to fill it with corn every day. Or plant some apple trees, berry bushes, etc. In the meantime they can go local farms and pick up their seconds of apples and pumpkins and other fruits and veg, deer love those and there’s always too much. What about a local bakery- deer love bread. Do they provide salt blocks right now? They’re like 10 bucks (cheaper in bulk) and last for months. If they have other things to eat they won’t eat as many plants, though it does not sound like an actual problem right now, just a made up problem because some higher up doesn’t like deer eating their flowers or has their pockets tied to white Buffalo.

Instead of killing something beautiful turn it into a teaching opportunity, send some science classes out there to learn about deer behavior and feeding patterns. Heck I’ll buy them a couple trail cams. Let the parents that are hunters teach their kids what they know. Let the kids with extra land plant a garden and test different foods that deer like to eat. They’d probably learn more doing that for a year or two than paying some multi-million dollar “non-profit”.

And this is why Trump will be our president again.

Bite your tongue. Arlington is highly educated!

Arlington just paid multiple people to figure out that deer eat plants and like some plants more than others. They could’ve figured that out in week at the local library. Now they want to pay more money for people to kill then when multiple people will literally do it for free. So they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to solve a problem that could have been solved in a week with a waiting list and a few extra hunting permits, maybe an overdue book charge. They’re clearly so educated they’re stupid.

You pay expert sharpshooters for the liability shield. The guys who “will do it for free” are not properly insured and like to drink a beer while they shoot. What could possibly go wrong?

Most hunters aren’t wandering around drunk in the forest with weapons, you’re an idiot. If they use bows I imagine they’d be a terrible shot if they’re boozed up anyways. It’s easy enough to check a truck for alcohol on the way into the park if that’s your actual concern. Hell you could make them do a breathalyzer on the way in and out of the park and you’d still have more people signed up than you need. You must be one of the smart people from Arlington I hear so much about.

Brilliant idea to let random hunters wander around forests adjacent to dense communities, shooting at deer. Again, what could go wrong?

The whole point of using professional sharpshooters is that it’s a canned hunt with pre-vetted and insured contractors or government employees themselves. They use bait stations positioned in areas with clear shots and are positioned such that the shooter is not firing toward housing or other shooters. Plus lots of markers to warn the public to not enter adjacent areas. They do it at night and use night vision optics to minimize disruption to the public use of land or from a tragedy happening (where a park user wanders in the firing range).

This is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. The county does not need overpriced consultants to figure out how to reduce the deer population. This is something that could be done with regular hunters using bait stations during the day. They don't need to spend millions to hire trained deer snipers with night vision goggle. This is why Arlington has to raise taxes every year, because they waste money on stuff like this and no one has any common sense.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way the deer could be rounded up and taken to a sanctuary? I just love deer and this makes me so sad.

You *think* you love deer. Clearly you know nothing about them (or any wildlife) if you think there’s deer sanctuaries out there, and they can be rounded up like ponies on Chincoteague.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way the deer could be rounded up and taken to a sanctuary? I just love deer and this makes me so sad.

Possible, probably, but would be more wasteful than the idiotic trained sniper idea. Don’t give them any worse ideas, they clearly don’t need them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The effect of deer browsing — which is described as deer eating leaves, twigs and woody plants — was determined to be currently “moderate” in Arlington County, but does “not bode well for the future forest health of Arlington’s parks,” according to the consultant report by White Buffalo, Inc.”

Did anyone suggest feeding the deer? Throw up a few troughs or feeders and hire some guys to fill it with corn every day. Or plant some apple trees, berry bushes, etc. In the meantime they can go local farms and pick up their seconds of apples and pumpkins and other fruits and veg, deer love those and there’s always too much. What about a local bakery- deer love bread. Do they provide salt blocks right now? They’re like 10 bucks (cheaper in bulk) and last for months. If they have other things to eat they won’t eat as many plants, though it does not sound like an actual problem right now, just a made up problem because some higher up doesn’t like deer eating their flowers or has their pockets tied to white Buffalo.

Instead of killing something beautiful turn it into a teaching opportunity, send some science classes out there to learn about deer behavior and feeding patterns. Heck I’ll buy them a couple trail cams. Let the parents that are hunters teach their kids what they know. Let the kids with extra land plant a garden and test different foods that deer like to eat. They’d probably learn more doing that for a year or two than paying some multi-million dollar “non-profit”.

And this is why Trump will be our president again.

Bite your tongue. Arlington is highly educated!

Yeah I see all the ridiculous ideas from all these highly educated people on how to cope with the deer population without killing deer.

Rounding them up? Birth control? Feeding them? Planting food crops for them? Fencing off the woods?


Yeah. All brilliant ideas by such an educated population. Bravo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The effect of deer browsing — which is described as deer eating leaves, twigs and woody plants — was determined to be currently “moderate” in Arlington County, but does “not bode well for the future forest health of Arlington’s parks,” according to the consultant report by White Buffalo, Inc.”

Did anyone suggest feeding the deer? Throw up a few troughs or feeders and hire some guys to fill it with corn every day. Or plant some apple trees, berry bushes, etc. In the meantime they can go local farms and pick up their seconds of apples and pumpkins and other fruits and veg, deer love those and there’s always too much. What about a local bakery- deer love bread. Do they provide salt blocks right now? They’re like 10 bucks (cheaper in bulk) and last for months. If they have other things to eat they won’t eat as many plants, though it does not sound like an actual problem right now, just a made up problem because some higher up doesn’t like deer eating their flowers or has their pockets tied to white Buffalo.

Instead of killing something beautiful turn it into a teaching opportunity, send some science classes out there to learn about deer behavior and feeding patterns. Heck I’ll buy them a couple trail cams. Let the parents that are hunters teach their kids what they know. Let the kids with extra land plant a garden and test different foods that deer like to eat. They’d probably learn more doing that for a year or two than paying some multi-million dollar “non-profit”.

And this is why Trump will be our president again.

Bite your tongue. Arlington is highly educated!

Arlington just paid multiple people to figure out that deer eat plants and like some plants more than others. They could’ve figured that out in week at the local library. Now they want to pay more money for people to kill then when multiple people will literally do it for free. So they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to solve a problem that could have been solved in a week with a waiting list and a few extra hunting permits, maybe an overdue book charge. They’re clearly so educated they’re stupid.

You pay expert sharpshooters for the liability shield. The guys who “will do it for free” are not properly insured and like to drink a beer while they shoot. What could possibly go wrong?

You’re going to need to cite this, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The effect of deer browsing — which is described as deer eating leaves, twigs and woody plants — was determined to be currently “moderate” in Arlington County, but does “not bode well for the future forest health of Arlington’s parks,” according to the consultant report by White Buffalo, Inc.”

Did anyone suggest feeding the deer? Throw up a few troughs or feeders and hire some guys to fill it with corn every day. Or plant some apple trees, berry bushes, etc. In the meantime they can go local farms and pick up their seconds of apples and pumpkins and other fruits and veg, deer love those and there’s always too much. What about a local bakery- deer love bread. Do they provide salt blocks right now? They’re like 10 bucks (cheaper in bulk) and last for months. If they have other things to eat they won’t eat as many plants, though it does not sound like an actual problem right now, just a made up problem because some higher up doesn’t like deer eating their flowers or has their pockets tied to white Buffalo.

Instead of killing something beautiful turn it into a teaching opportunity, send some science classes out there to learn about deer behavior and feeding patterns. Heck I’ll buy them a couple trail cams. Let the parents that are hunters teach their kids what they know. Let the kids with extra land plant a garden and test different foods that deer like to eat. They’d probably learn more doing that for a year or two than paying some multi-million dollar “non-profit”.

And this is why Trump will be our president again.

Bite your tongue. Arlington is highly educated!

Arlington just paid multiple people to figure out that deer eat plants and like some plants more than others. They could’ve figured that out in week at the local library. Now they want to pay more money for people to kill then when multiple people will literally do it for free. So they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to solve a problem that could have been solved in a week with a waiting list and a few extra hunting permits, maybe an overdue book charge. They’re clearly so educated they’re stupid.

You pay expert sharpshooters for the liability shield. The guys who “will do it for free” are not properly insured and like to drink a beer while they shoot. What could possibly go wrong?

Most hunters aren’t wandering around drunk in the forest with weapons, you’re an idiot. If they use bows I imagine they’d be a terrible shot if they’re boozed up anyways. It’s easy enough to check a truck for alcohol on the way into the park if that’s your actual concern. Hell you could make them do a breathalyzer on the way in and out of the park and you’d still have more people signed up than you need. You must be one of the smart people from Arlington I hear so much about.

Brilliant idea to let random hunters wander around forests adjacent to dense communities, shooting at deer. Again, what could go wrong?

The BEST plan, since Arlington is also overpopulated with liberals, in addition to deer, is to do nothing at all. Let it be overrun with deer. Do nothing. Let tick populations exploded and Lyme Disease run rampant and have forests and yards eaten bare. Let auto collisions be the only population control and have car insurance rates rise accordingly.

This is the best option. This is the option I want Arlington to pursue.

[Anonymous]

But we see this little herd on our walks. For about 2-1/2 years.
The male has two pronged antlers covered in velvet now and there are two spotted fawns.
We are very attached to them.
If I see signs and corn bait I will chain myself in the spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can they cull some of the rabbit population too?

And the car jackers population too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The library had a program and a book talk. Apparently some culling operations in yards is via nets and bolt guns. Book described the "eee eee eee" cries of fawns being killed. It's not painless.
See The Age of Deer pp 190-194.

I am not supportive of culling 40% of the deer.
But I encourage supporters to be clear just what means are planned. Just sharpshooter and head shots? Or....????

Not in my yard.

You don't headshot a deer. The skull is quite thick and a small target

Actually you do. I’ve done it. It’s essentially close-range shooting, at night.

The way these deer removal programs work is you bait an area where it’s safe to shoot with corn and apples every night for several weeks, and condition the deer to show up there. After a few weeks of steady feeding, the cullers set up and wait for the deer to come in as usual. They’re using highly accurate rifles with thermal scopes which see clearly in the dark. They are typically.308 caliber (about 4x more powerful than an AR15 by comparison) and are at ranges of about 30 yds. The rifles are equipped with suppressors that reduce the sound of the gunshot to a level where it sounds more like fireworks, and they shoot the deer in the head (so they don’t run) and drag them away as soon as they drop. Then they go back to their shooting location and wait for more deer to come to the bait. A good baited spot can yield 20 or more deer in a single night. But there’s a lot of work that has to go in beforehand.

This isn’t “hunting”. This is pest control. If actual hunters shot deer like this, they’d be arrested for poaching. But this isn’t hunting, so poaching techniques are the accepted standard.

Arlington is a little too populated for hunting with night vision. If you miss with 0.308, it's traveling 1000 yards.