Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 07:25:20 -0400
From: Bill Prentice
Subject: Re: Deer and coyotes and people
I read KJ Lauro’s impassioned note about the killing of deer and coyotes. While I understand Lauro’s argument about all creatures having a right to be here on earth and that we have created an imbalance through development and the creation of ideal habitats for deer and coyotes, I found little meat in the posting on how to fix that imbalance.
I hunt deer, and would shoot a coyote on sight if I had the opportunity. I hunt deer for meat, on average taking two deer, usually young does, for the freezer every year. Fortunately, as a disabled hunter, this has not been a problem in Chatham county, as the deer are plentiful, and I have friends willing to help me drag them out of the woods when needed. Venison is the most efficient ‘farm to fork’ meal you can get, and I harvest 100-150 pounds of pure, natural, low fat protein every year for the cost of a hunting license and a few rounds of ammunition, or a couple of broadheads and arrow shafts.
I would also shoot coyotes on sight, as I mentioned, not only because they compete (with unfair advantage – coyotes prey on the newborn, totally defenseless fawns) for the deer in my hunting area, but have also taken several small domestic animals (barn cats, poultry, rabbits) from my and my neighbor’s property. Two of these animals were carried off within plain sight out of my backyard at dusk over the course of a couple of weeks last spring. I understand the ‘live and let live’ concept, but steal from me and it’s going to cost you.
In my opinion, I am helping to obtain the balance that Lauro suggests but doesn’t supply a means of doing so. Hunting, for me, is that means.