Market hunting deer

I read with great interest the article in the November ON by Dr. Lee Foote on motorcycle-deer collisions. While I question some of his statistics (over a million deer hit in the US in 2010 but only 200 human deaths means there was only one human death per 5000 collisions.) Hard to believe, but maybe true. Dr. Foote also notes that 70% of the deaths were motorcyclists, which I well believe, as we are much more vulnerable than in our cars, though we represent a small percentage of people on the road and our average distance driven per year is lower than car or truck drivers.

BTW, 2010 may be the latest year available for statistics on deer crashes, but my best guess is that they have at least doubled at this point in time, late 2014, and maybe have quadrupled.

Another statistic worth noting: deer collisions increased TEN TIMES between 2008 and 2010 though miles driven increased only 2% in the US. Why? "Thank protection, agricultural foods and predator removal." He is right, I believe, though he forgot to mention that every year there are fewer deer hunters.

As motorcyclists, we would like to have the deer population reduced to maybe 25% of what it is now. While riders are small percentage of the US or Canada drivers, there are a lot of people who no longer think of deer as the loveable Bambi. Not just the people who have hit deer with their cars and paid the deductible then seen their insurance rate go up. Tons of people have seen their gardens decimated, not only in rural areas but even in towns, by deer.

The solution? Well, we are not going to decrease agricultural foods and we are not going to re-introduce deer predators in meaningful numbers. Nor are we likely to increase the number of amateur hunters. I think the solution is market hunting by people who are capable of passing tests in firearms safety with clear instructions of which deer to shoot (which I think should be does and fawns.) They also must know how to field-dress and skin a deer. Then we need butcher shops that will hang them and butcher them. Done properly, venison is gourmet food!

Too many deer are clearly a problem, and not just for riders. Love to hear your responses.

A million strikes a year sounds way too high. At least that is what I thought until I did a search. Some insurance institute says 1.23 million during the period July 2011 - June 2012. Montana is third among the states in the number of collisions. Citters scare the hell out of me and make riding at night a nerve racking event. We had a couple hit four buffalo on the road to our place. They were unhurt, but on a bike it would likely been a different tale.

From time to time here in the Northeast you hear of towns hiring professional hunters to thin the herds. I dont mind seeing it either, dam long legged rodent are everywhere around my place, carry ticks and lyme disease. I dont shoot'em mostly cause I wont eat them. Comercial harvesting is an interesting idea, do you think there is sufficient demand for venison to make it a profitable enterprise?

I am not a hunter. I don't care to traipse around the woods. (I spent 31 years in the Army and I stay out of woods whenever possible.) But I am 100% in favor of deer hunting. I am scared to death that one day a deer will take me out. A well traveled highway runs behind my house. I often see dead deer on the side of the road. A friend of ours hit a deer and it smashed up her car. It is time to thin down the herd. More hunting would be great as far as I am concerned.

I agree with you a 100% Doug. And the deer often bolt out of the woods so fast that the driver/rider doesn't even know what hit them. It's just a big "pop" sound, and then it's up to God whether you live or die. I've seen this happen in the middle of the day. The deer population is exploding. It's time to do something about it.

BCKRider said:

.. The solution? ... Love to hear your responses.

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I believe the most likely solution in our country is sterilization of the deer population. It can be done selectively (reduce in one area but not others), safely (pets aren't effected, and your neighbor's kid isn't likely to get a stray bullet) and most folks don't seem to mind thinning a herd in this manner ... although the most rabid animal lovers will object some. In the KC area, several parks have been rid of deer overcrowding in this manner.

I live in a small town in western New York. A local was killed on his motorcycle a few weeks ago when he hit a deer. It was in the wee hours of the morning. FWIW, I will not ride after dark in this area: just too many deer. We have so many deer that people come to this area to hunt them (I wish more could come).

Deer move around more during hunting/mating season, another reason to avoid riding after dark. Deer are an excellent reason for ATGATT. You also have to scan aggressively for deer while riding, something that is particularly hard to do in the dark.

Harry

There is a vast enterprise of wildlife management, wonder if human deaths are on their radar. Or is it numbers of the herd, bikers?, too bad. I bicycle in a 5000 acre preserve and have seen herds exceeding thirty at a time crossing. Every few years there is a shotgun hunt.

The costs of hunting have skyrocketed. May be why hunting is on the wane. Also, shoot the wrong specimen and you got problems. Why bother.

It's not just the deer that generally keeps me off the highways at night, it's the statistic that at night, 1 out of every 43 drivers are DUI. Think about how short of time it takes you to see 43 cars. I'm more afraid of some speeding drunk running me over without seeing me.

Ontario's Provincial Police report that during the first two weeks of November, our very large province averages about 65 deers collisions daily. Hence, even when there isn't snow, I don't ride at night during those times. While riding in Ontario and throughout the US, I have seen deer at various hours during daylight. I am always vigilant during my rides near tall corn and wooded areas.

About five Christmases ago, one of my cousins swerved her car to miss a deer. Instead she hit a tree and she and her unborn child died.

In Canada, even if you have a witness to a deer collision, if there is no deer body hanging around, our insurance companies reject claims saying the the driver fell asleep, was distracted or had some other reason for crashing their vehicle.

In our city, occasionally a deer population emerges and the locals often fight over having the herd culled.

Disney's Bambi has made it difficult for people to have rational discussions about what the implications are for having too large of a deer population. I wish we had more hunters!

I do like the idea of culling the herds, many places provide for meat to be donated to those less fortunate. In many areas of Texas the deer are too dense for the forage and become comfortable around humans and vehicles. There are many articles about these events but I don't hear much about thinning out herds unless the chronic wasting or other illnesses get out of hand. I wonder how many of the riders killed or injured are not culturally habituated to the ATGATT paradigm that is pervasive with BMW riders. The links below are recent illustrations.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1644974/watch-horrifying-collision-between-motorcycle-and-deer-caught-on-tape/

http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/peak-season-for-deer-crashes/nh85G/

Thanks for keeping this on the front burner this time of year.

Safe & Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris

Don't lull yourselves into a Disneyland mentality with Bambi and the rest of the herd in are only hanging out in some idyllic woods. If the Twin Cities metro area was listed as a hunting zone, depending on year, it would have the second or third highest deer population in the state. My daily commute for years had me getting off 35E just after crossing the Mississippi. Dawn and dusk required me to pay close attention for individual deer and deer herds of up to 20 moving across the exit ramps. All of this within the city limits of St. Paul five minutes from MSP international airport. My son-in-law just totaled their family car striking a deer a mile from his office in a first tier suburb. The DNR holds periodic professional hunts along with special bow seasons. On a trip around Lake Superior you are wise to keep an eye out for deer, especially in the city of Duluth. There is a large deer population in that metro area and special bow seasons to try and control populations.

I'm 47. So far I've had 4 deer collisions. All were the deers fault.

sedanman said:

I'm 47. So far I've had 4 deer collisions. All were the deers fault.

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I don't suppose that any of the deer are available to offer their side of the story.

"I was just nibbling by the side of the hard black path when these two humungous UFOs suddenly bear down on me, they came out of nowhere... damm near froze me in the brightest lights I've ever seen... I tried to jump out of the way but it was just so sudden... Now I need to see if Disney can recommend a good shyster lawyer [is that redundant?]..."

I feel very comfortable about my skills on a motorcycle. But having a deer run out in front of me or t-bone me is the one thing that scares the sh*t out of me. To help battle the issue I have definitely decided to get a set of the ADV Denali D4 driving lights to throw as much light as possible up ahead and off to the sides as possible.
Annoying critter really! Keeping deer rifle season open all year might help.

AirBender said:

I feel very comfortable about my skills on a motorcycle. But having a deer run out in front of me or t-bone me is the one thing that scares the sh*t out of me. To help battle the issue I have definitely decided to get a set of the ADV Denali D4 driving lights to throw as much light as possible up ahead and off to the sides as possible.
Annoying critter really! Keeping deer rifle season open all year might help.

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There is nothing more comical than offering suggestions to thin the rodent herd when Mr. Hunter Lifestyle is in the room. To him, there will never be enough deer and they're never where he wants them to be.

In PA, we basically operate a whole state gov't based on keeping Mr. Hunter Lifestyle happy...........and we have far too many deer in the populated areas.

Do not kid yourself that you will only encounter deer near or after dark. My collision happened at 2 PM on a sunny July Sunday.
I saw the deer at the first possible moment - I saw it's nose sticking out of the weeds of the ditch to the right side of the road.

It may have not been walking or running, I never saw it's full body, maybe it just got up from the ground, I do not know, but in the next second it was in the road in front of me and I had no time to swerve or brake sufficiently.

Through out most of this country, we have made it increasingly more difficult for hunters to hunt. Urban development has spread into our wildlife areas so that hunting with a rifle is no longer an option. Private property is next to impossible to get permission to hunt because of liability issues. Fewer people take their kids out into the woods to teach them how to hunt. In a lot of areas hunting is just socially unacceptable. Deer are a food source for predatory species like cougar and wolves. Most of us live in areas that do not have those natural predators or darn few of them. No hunters+no predators=more deer. I read a report recently that stated we currently have more deer in the USA then we did in the 1950's when one of the first real deer surveys was conducted. Deer populations are out of balance. Make sense that we see more deer collisions......

John