Deer Shoot Out at Point Reyes

Dave, I completely agree that species eradication is ugly and no job for sportsmen, but if that were the case here, why would the park service say 1,200 animals?  wouldn't the stated goal be "all axis deer will be removed"?  If they thought the population was 1,200, they would have a close enough handle on the situation to spend less than $700,000 (I would think).

It seems that the more fiscally and realistically responsible way to manage the lands would be to issue lots of tags for axis deer at $100 a person with unlimited take and let the hunters chase them down with bows in populated regions and guns/dogs in the remote regions...look at the rest of the country in the 1930's, NO DEER from unlimited hunting....
5 years tops and the axis deer would be no more in Point Reyes
2c

Good points-all of them.  And it does seem odd when they're talking about reducing the herd, not total eradication, which I was uneducated about.

In normal hunting areas, like BLM or Forest Service lands, I would completely agree.  But if I put myself in the position of being a land manager in Point Reyes, a protected National Seashore, one where hunting has never been allowed, and one next to West Marine, populated by "dirty nekid hippies" (who've all got a lot more money than me), I would still go for the professional exterminator option.  The political ramifications of an ongoing controversial management strategy that could go on for years may cost more than $700,000 to manage.  If I were that manager, and culling the herd was the decision, I'd want to get it over with fast - and quietly.   There's a lot of rich deer huggers around there.  Paddle out from the Bluewater kayak shop in Marshall some sunny weekend afternoon and check out he scene to see what I mean.

Dave

you're right, sometimes the problem goes deeper than simple land and resource management.  I forgot about all the $$ up there for a moment and how the rich folks living there want to protect every living think and park a 15mpg daily driver in the garage for commuting 80 miles a day by themselves...

I dream of a day when management decisions can be made without the overwhelming influence of hypocrites with money...until then, maybe this was the best PR decision, but I would still love to show the locals the wounded and rotting (sometimes while alive) animals that their *save the animals any harm and evil from evil hunters* has caused and contrast that with pictures from my deer camp, showing dead animals, not suffering, being used to the fullest. (I have 150# of venison in the freezer baby!!)



END RANT
Jim

I wouldn't want to be within a hundred miles of there while it was going on...

But I'd pay good money for a few lbs of venison.

In normal hunting areas, like BLM or Forest Service lands, I would completely agree.  But if I put myself in the position of being a land manager in Point Reyes, a protected National Seashore, one where hunting has never been allowed, and one next to West Marine, populated by "dirty nekid hippies" (who've all got a lot more money than me), I would still go for the professional exterminator option.  The political ramifications of an ongoing controversial management strategy that could go on for years may cost more than $700,000 to manage.  If I were that manager, and culling the herd was the decision, I'd want to get it over with fast - and quietly.   There's a lot of rich deer huggers around there.  Paddle out from the Bluewater kayak shop in Marshall some sunny weekend afternoon and check out he scene to see what I mean.

Makes a lotta sense Dave and I could agree with it if it was for the purpose of eradication, but won't they have to do it again in a few years? I don't have to worry about the flak so its easy for me to say it sucks. It may be just me but I think on Public Lands the Public should have a say or at the very least educated/Informed, I guess if I really cared I would know much more about it and might not have been blind sided by it. I no longer hunt but have enjoyed watching these Majestic Deer in a rural setting and not have to go to the zoo.
I can See it being a good business decision, but my emotional side still thinks it sucks.

In normal hunting areas, like BLM or Forest Service lands, I would completely agree.  But if I put myself in the position of being a land manager in Point Reyes, a protected National Seashore, one where hunting has never been allowed...

Not true... Point Reyes hasn't been a park forever... before it was a park a good portion of the Point Reyes Penninsula was a hunting reserve... that's how the feral axis deer got there in the first place.

Not true... Point Reyes hasn't been a park forever... before it was a park a good portion of the Point Reyes Penninsula was a hunting reserve... that's how the feral axis deer got there in the first place.

I didn't know that.  But I think its been a National Seashore since the 1960s.  I'm not real knowledgeable about it, but if it's been a National Seashore for 30 or 40 years and its part of of the GGNRA (Golden Gate National Recreation Area), which I think it is, land managers would have a hard time selling hunting there...IMO.  30 or 40 years is kind of a lot of inertia.