JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
From the Daily Iowan, the University newspaper:
Deer panel votes for sharpshooters
By Drew Kerr - The Daily Iowan
Published: Thursday, November 18, 2004
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1
The Iowa City Deer Task Force reluctantly approved a plan Wednesday to bring sharpshooters to the city in February to whittle the growing deer population to 30 per square mile, the city's target level.
The task force - charged with updating the city's Deer Management Plan annually - scheduled a second meeting for Nov. 29 to explore alternative herd-control methods, namely bow hunting, before presenting its final recommendation to the City Council, which has final approval.
The proposal will be on the council's Dec. 7 agenda.
Bow hunting would be more cost-effective, proponents on the task force said, because they could open limited areas to skilled archers who would kill the deer free of charge.
In the past, the city has paid upwards of $80,000 for the sharpshooter service.
Iowa locales similar to Iowa City have followed the bow-hunting plan and have had success, said Greg Harris of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Iowa City, he said, is using a "broken" system that has garnered the most complaints of any city he works with in Eastern Iowa.
"You had better start looking at other things," he said during the meeting.
The transition to bow hunting would require a change in city code and would likely not be done in time to make the move this year.
Instead, members proposed the idea of running a pilot program to gauge its effectiveness.
If the task force were to recommend sharpshooters without further amendments, White Buffalo Inc., a nonprofit wildlife-management firm, would begin killing in February.
The Hamden, Conn. firm has been assigned to the task since 1999, with the only cease-fire coming in 2002. Since 1999, White Buffalo sharpshooters have picked off nearly 1,200 deer.
Despite that action, the deer population this year is comparable with that of 1999.
This winter, sharpshooters will need to kill nearly 300 deer to stabilize the growing population.
The firm has reported problems in the past because of limited access to UI property. But earlier this month, the Campus Planning Committee voted to allow the sharp-shooters on university land.
The final decision, though, is up to UI President David Skorton.
Shooting would only occur in the outlying, wooded areas under the UI's auspices, including area west of Mormon Trek Boulevard.
The decision comes on the same day the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a report in which it placed car and motorcycle deaths caused by animal collisions at an all-time high. The institute's figures show a 27 percent jump over last year; deer accounted for 77 percent of those deaths.
The institute reported 11 deaths from animal collisions in Iowa and 210 deaths nationwide in 2003, a number more than double the 1993 figure.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office said its records don't provide enough information to tell whether accidents have been on the rise.
People aren't required to report accidents unless damage is more than $1,000 or have suffered a personal injury.
E-mail DI reporter Drew Kerr at:
drew-kerr@uiowa.edu
I think this is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. They aren't going to shoot until Jan/Feb and only want to harvest antlerless deer. Won't some of the stressed bucks be losing their antlers about then?
Deer move to escape pressure. Wouldn't it be better to have the Iowa City sharpshoot concurrent with other gun seasons? That way the deer couldn't find "a place to hide"? Isn't bow hunting the best overall solution? This takes the burden off of the Iowa City taxpayers because they don't have to hire White Buffalo at about $100K/yr. It doesn't seem like sharpshooting has worked (obviously?). Coralville, Iowa City's "twin city" allows bow hunting within city limits and seems to be having success with their program. The Iowa City liberals appear to be blocking bow hunting, hoping for a contraceptive approach. Some opposed to bow hunting think that sharp shooting is less cruel, which I really can't understand nor agree with.
I need to find an address for the "deer counsel" so that we can start a letter writing campaign to lobby for a bow season. We also need to find out where the Nov. 29 meeting is to be held and show up in force.
Deer panel votes for sharpshooters
By Drew Kerr - The Daily Iowan
Published: Thursday, November 18, 2004
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1
The Iowa City Deer Task Force reluctantly approved a plan Wednesday to bring sharpshooters to the city in February to whittle the growing deer population to 30 per square mile, the city's target level.
The task force - charged with updating the city's Deer Management Plan annually - scheduled a second meeting for Nov. 29 to explore alternative herd-control methods, namely bow hunting, before presenting its final recommendation to the City Council, which has final approval.
The proposal will be on the council's Dec. 7 agenda.
Bow hunting would be more cost-effective, proponents on the task force said, because they could open limited areas to skilled archers who would kill the deer free of charge.
In the past, the city has paid upwards of $80,000 for the sharpshooter service.
Iowa locales similar to Iowa City have followed the bow-hunting plan and have had success, said Greg Harris of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Iowa City, he said, is using a "broken" system that has garnered the most complaints of any city he works with in Eastern Iowa.
"You had better start looking at other things," he said during the meeting.
The transition to bow hunting would require a change in city code and would likely not be done in time to make the move this year.
Instead, members proposed the idea of running a pilot program to gauge its effectiveness.
If the task force were to recommend sharpshooters without further amendments, White Buffalo Inc., a nonprofit wildlife-management firm, would begin killing in February.
The Hamden, Conn. firm has been assigned to the task since 1999, with the only cease-fire coming in 2002. Since 1999, White Buffalo sharpshooters have picked off nearly 1,200 deer.
Despite that action, the deer population this year is comparable with that of 1999.
This winter, sharpshooters will need to kill nearly 300 deer to stabilize the growing population.
The firm has reported problems in the past because of limited access to UI property. But earlier this month, the Campus Planning Committee voted to allow the sharp-shooters on university land.
The final decision, though, is up to UI President David Skorton.
Shooting would only occur in the outlying, wooded areas under the UI's auspices, including area west of Mormon Trek Boulevard.
The decision comes on the same day the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a report in which it placed car and motorcycle deaths caused by animal collisions at an all-time high. The institute's figures show a 27 percent jump over last year; deer accounted for 77 percent of those deaths.
The institute reported 11 deaths from animal collisions in Iowa and 210 deaths nationwide in 2003, a number more than double the 1993 figure.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office said its records don't provide enough information to tell whether accidents have been on the rise.
People aren't required to report accidents unless damage is more than $1,000 or have suffered a personal injury.
E-mail DI reporter Drew Kerr at:
drew-kerr@uiowa.edu
I think this is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. They aren't going to shoot until Jan/Feb and only want to harvest antlerless deer. Won't some of the stressed bucks be losing their antlers about then?
Deer move to escape pressure. Wouldn't it be better to have the Iowa City sharpshoot concurrent with other gun seasons? That way the deer couldn't find "a place to hide"? Isn't bow hunting the best overall solution? This takes the burden off of the Iowa City taxpayers because they don't have to hire White Buffalo at about $100K/yr. It doesn't seem like sharpshooting has worked (obviously?). Coralville, Iowa City's "twin city" allows bow hunting within city limits and seems to be having success with their program. The Iowa City liberals appear to be blocking bow hunting, hoping for a contraceptive approach. Some opposed to bow hunting think that sharp shooting is less cruel, which I really can't understand nor agree with.
I need to find an address for the "deer counsel" so that we can start a letter writing campaign to lobby for a bow season. We also need to find out where the Nov. 29 meeting is to be held and show up in force.
