The Future Of Hunting, by Dr. Dave Samuel. Sponsored
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Urban Bow Hunts By Dr. Dave Samuel
Feb 2, 2010 - 7:01:45 AM
Last week I was asked to chair the Deer Committee for the city of Morgantown, West Virginia. Morgantown has the same problem that many towns and cities do . . . too many deer. They've had too many deer for years, but finally a lot of citizens complained long and loud, and the City Council is paying attention. People are sick of having their gardens and shrubs consumed by deer.
It is rather amazing, as deer are now found throughout the city. They bed in back yards, and one person told me a deer bedded on her porch. Dogs don't seem to dissuade them, hollering at the deer has no effect. Repellents work a bit but must be replenished all the time. The deer are there and the options are few. After so many complaints, City Council formed this committee and asked me to chair it. It will be a thankless job, but it must be done.
I believe I was selected because I've been writing about what other towns have been doing in my weekly Sunday outdoor newspaper column. Maybe they believe I know what to do here. We'll find out. Meanwhile I've been in touch with lots of friends who have been involved with urban bowhunts in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Greenwich (CT), Wheeling (WV) and many other towns. All have strict rules to prevent accidents, keep things in obscurity, and get deer killed. Our goals will be the same.
Bowhunters who do the grunt work in all urban deer hunts, are doing a public service. Yet, they are going to be asked to jump through several hoops to provide this service. My Deer Committee has yet to meet, so we've got a long way to go. If they decide to have a bowhunt, then the bowhunters will have lots of rules to obey in order to kill deer in the city limits. Such bowhunts must be safe. That is a number one priority. Such bowhunts need to be as obscure as possible. No need to upset folks. Just get the job done. And such bowhunts must be effective, with no wounding and as many dead deer as possible.
So, the hunters will fill out applications and be screened. They'll probably shoot a proficiency test, and they will take a bowhunter education course. They'll be limited to tree stands, with no stalking at all. They may have restricted hunting hours, they may have to mark their arrows and stands so we know who is out there. There?s meat to take care of, there's paper work, there's lots of responsibility.
The bowhunters who hunt in the hundred of urban bowhunts around the country, all have a responsibility to the future of hunting. One slip-up, one accident involving a non-hunter (and there never has been one), and bowhunting will take a major hit. Non hunters will be watching. Antihunters will be hoping. So, the bowhunters who participate in these urban bowhunts, must be the best of the best. If you aren't morally, ethically, physically, mentally, the best, then you must become the best. Because one mistake can be a major blow to all bowhunting, to all bowhunters.
So, if we adopt strict rules for the bowhunters who want to be involved in this Morgantown bowhunt, and some do not want to follow those rules, then out they go. In talking to my bowhunting friends who run and are involved in such hunts, there was one common thread. The bowhunters who participated were outstanding men and women, who understood their responsibilities as hunters. They understood their responsibility to other hunters, and to other non-hunting citizens of their community.
That's what it takes to have such hunts everywhere, and if Morgantown decides to do this, that is what it will take here. I figure our bowhunters are up to the challenge. We'll git 'er done.
