Three years ago a lady made a plea in The Citizen for someone to do something about all the deer posing a hazard on Ebeneezer Church Road and eating all her flowers. She agreed to let me hunt in her yard with a crossbow. She was thrilled I harvested four deer and was especially happy to have the roasts, sausage, BBQ, and ground meat. It was a shock to open her refrigerator and find only bare necessities as she struggled to pay her utilities with very little income. I had gained a friend, her freezer was stocked, and four deer were not smashed on the road only to be hauled to the dump.
I met a young family two years ago that wanted someone to help control the deer as they were frustrated trying to grow an organic garden. They enjoyed the meat from three deer that were all natural, organic, non-GMO, and with no growth hormones or antibiotics. They also liked the idea of fewer deer hosting blacklegged ticks, among others, that transmit Lyme disease. Like most residents, they had never observed deer that succumbed to EHD (hemorrhagic disease) when herd density is too high. BTV (bluetongue) virus may be quicker and undetected when emaciated deer carcasses quickly decompose and are consumed by scavengers. Perhaps this death is easier than removing one from a wrought iron fence and burying it after it caught its leg and broke its neck.
The young couple knew coyotes existed in the woods and low-lying flood plains. They were unaware the predators follow does about to deliver their fawns so they can snatch the newborns from a helpless mother so they can feed their own young. Survival of the fittest? Or, should a bounty be placed on coyotes to protect deer?
A friend killed a coyote just outside the Fayetteville city limits Sunday, perhaps appropriate revenge after a coyote tried to carry his dog away and he incurred a substantial vet bill.
Deer have been part of our nation’s food, clothing, hunting tradition, and economic wealth. Taxes from hunting licenses along with hard work by DNR and wildlife personnel have prompted significant increases in the population. The auto body repair business gets important business as a result. Unfortunately, we pay higher insurance premiums as deer are allowed to proliferate in densely populated areas around Atlanta.
The odds are we or someone we know will be in an accident with a deer. Hopefully, he or she will not be severely injured, or worse, killed, like the high school student in Cumming last year. Shockingly, a deer jumped through a Peachtree City church window Oct. 20 and did over $10,000 damage. Fortunately, no pre-school children or adults were injured. Protecting our children, families, and friends must be a priority.
David Thomas
Fayetteville, Ga.
