The Blue Elites Hampshire H.S.

                                                                                                                           10/29/2008

                                                                                                                           12:45:00 PM

As a hunter, I believe as my point of view that hunting is more of a way to feed your family

 than a sport and should be treated as such. I have neighbors that shoot deer year round

just for the thrill and not for the food and it affects the enviroment all around. As a

fellow hunter, I'm out every chance during deer season and I only shoot what I eat. I was

out one day when I saw someone in orange walk out of the woods. I spotted three does

about 100 yards away and so did he. Unfortunately, he took the first shot and hit the

nearest one and just left it there. It's not in my blood to take anothers catch but after I

saw that, I told my my good friend who is a very honorific hunter and he was outraged. I

disrespect any and all hunters who kill for their own pleasure and not have a good reason

to do so. Although the regulations are well set, in West Virginia, I have not seen any rules

about killing mindlessly for no reason. I think that new rules should be set that you keep

what you catch and must have a good excuse why you caught it.

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Hunters of Hampshire Hampshire H.S.

                                                                                                                           10/29/2008

                                                                                                                           12:48:00 PM

Hunters are improtant to control the population of the deer.Without hunters the deer

population would be out of control.If there is an overpopulation of deer a possible solution

would be to lengthen the season to hunt them which would make all the hunters happy and

get rid of alot of the deer.Also if u lengthened the season to get rid of some deer the

farmers would be happy too because it would get rid of alot of the deer that eat their

crops.But if u kill too many of them the predators of the deer would be without their main

foodsource and could make them die too.Deer are also very beautiful to watch.Another

idea to help with the overpopulation would be to lower the license cost for in-state hunters

or let ppl hunt without a license for a few days of the season.We would prefer to have the

season lengthened to hunt them more because we really like to hunt deer and would hate if

there weren't enough to hunt.

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  From:   Foresters of Mt. Vista - forester - MVGS                                  Statement

                                                                                          11/13/2008            7:04:00 AM

     I do not think that a loss of predators would be a concern. We have already

     suffered a loss of natural predators when we first colonized the Americas. A longer

     deer season is an effective point.

  From:   Deer Assassins - hunter - BGHS                                                   Statement

                                                                                          11/17/2008            8:34:00 AM

     i think that if you lowered the cost for huntin licenses, then there would be a lot

     more hunters.

  From:   Buck Masters - hunter - BGHS                                                     Ask

                                                                                          11/17/2008            8:45:00 AM

     what about higher the bag limit instead of extending the season?

 

  From:   Girl With Big Guns - hunter – BGHS                                                 Statement

                                                                                          11/21/2008             7:51:00 AM

     Lowering the costs of hunting licenses would be positive to the hunters’ wallet, but

     that also means less money will be flowing into our economy.

 

 

Sniper of the Deer Hampshire H.S.

                                                                                                                            10/31/2008

                                                                                                                             9:17:00 AM

Hunting is a good idea because deer are so heavily populated they have created hazzards

on the roads and of the roads. hundreds are getting killed on the roads every year in animal

 vs. car accidents. I've observed the increased number of out of state vehicle tags around

area hunting hotspots. We have great hunting in west virginia so we need to take advantage

of the out-of-state hunters and allow them to hunt cheaper along with the instate hunters

as well. with the way the economy is today many people cannot afford the tags to hunt.

Also increase the number of deer a hunter can bag with a single tag to will also make it

worth the money paid to hunt.

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  From:   Geico - Insurance Company - NHHS                                             Statement

                                                                                            11/5/2008           12:33:00 PM

     The reason for tags is to make sure you know what you are doing when you are

     hunting deer. You just can't skip this phase it's for your safety and other hunters.

  From:   Deer Assassins - hunter - BGHS                                                   Ask

                                                                                            11/6/2008            7:48:00 AM

     How often are there vehicle vs. deer accidents?  How much money will you get off

     of selling deer meat and the other parts that you will sell?

  From:   The Elmer Fudd's - hunter - NHHS                                            Ask

                                                                                            11/7/2008           11:30:00 AM

     To continue the question above, we also ask, how many deer vs. vehicle accidents

     happen annually?

  From:   Buck Masters - hunter - BGHS                                                     Ask

                                                                                          11/17/2008            8:50:00 AM

     i agree but do you think your state would ever consider lowering prices? because the

     state is making money off of charging out-of-towners more money to hunt.

  From:   Girl With Big Guns - hunter – BGHS                                                 Ask

                                                                                          11/21/2008            7:55:00 AM

     you said with the way the economy is people can’t afford license to hunt, but don’t

     you think that by reducing license costs hunters will only be taking away from the

     economy?

  From:   Deer Assassins - hunter - BGHS                                                        Statement

                                                                                          11/25/2008            7:55:00 AM

     It would be a good idea to let the out of state hunters hunt cheaper.

 

 

Girl With Big Guns  Buffalo Gap HS

                                                                                                                              11/5/2008

                                                                                                                            7:54:00 AM

Deer over-population is a controversial subject no matter what point of view you may stand on. The fact is, deer have both very positive and negative effects on the environment as well as the economy. Growing up in a rural as well as agricultural community I regularly see the negative effects of over population in deer herds. Crops and forested areas are being dramatically effected by over grazing.
However, deer hunters play a vital role in helping to regulate the deer population. Hunting can be a very humane and effective way to balance deer populations when done ethically. As an avid hunter I participate in the sport as much as I can but, I do so under a code of ethics I feel ALL hunters should obey.  I believe in hunting responsibly by taking good shots, hunting in season, and not killing more than what can be eaten or put to good use. Hunters can be very influential by working with wildlife management agencies by developing reasonable rules and bag limits. Depending on the deer population in a particular area, bag limits for deer should be raised as needed in order for hunters to benefit the deer population in their area. Even longer hunting periods would be beneficial. Low predator rates are on the rise in many cases. If this is the case in a particular area then the bag limit on such species should be decreased.
 Avid hunters can have a very positive effect on the economy and the environment as well. Hunters spend millions of dollars each year on traveling, equipment, and lodging in turn supporting approximately 4,000 part-time and full time jobs in one state alone. Maryland’s economy, for example, was impacted by more than $209 million by hunters within one hunting season. The sale of hunting licenses and stamps contribute to major funding for wildlife management programs. Wild life education programs, land management, wildlife research, and even law enforcement are all beneficiaries of purchased license revenues. Hunters are benefiting the community in a number of ways besides financially. Many hunters provide biologist with different parts of a deer carcass in which can be used to research spreading diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease and Bovine Tuberculosis. These diseases as well as others, such as lime disease, are causing a lot of sickness and death among humans and animals. Hunters also provide food for starving people all over the country in support of the national campaign Hunters for The Hungry. Hunters aren’t the “bad guys”. Hunters are simply trying to keep an age old tradition alive while having a positive effect on their community.
Without hunters the deer population and the economy would be much worse than what it already is. With hunters having such a positive influence on the deer population as well as the economy, hunting should only be encouraged. Society should be more influenced to hunt rather than persuaded by animal rights advocates that hunting is cruel. 
 

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Moderator Comments: On the main forum page I noted that one of the challenges for developing management programs that reduce the deer herd to levels that are good for the forest ecosystem and agriculture is that hunters get upset when it starts to work and they see fewer deer and have the chance to shoot fewer deer - and begin to complain loudly to the agencies to change their policies.  You can see that exact response in some of the eForum  POVs.   One link on the main eForum page was to an Audubon article that described these challenges.  I note that the link is now broken because Audubon changed their url (drat), here is the correct one.   In order for your suggestions to work, you will have to build a consensus in the real world where people jealously guard their turf.   How do you suggest we do that?   At the moment, most decisions made about deer management are made by wildlife agencies.  Who else should have a seat at the table?  Should insurance companies?  Foresters?  Ecologists? Environmentalists? Farmers?

 

 

 

Buck Masters Buffalo Gap HS

                                                                                                                              11/5/2008

                                                                                                                            7:55:00 AM

The National Gamekeepers' Organization (NGO) was pleased to be consulted by Defra officials working on the current review of sustainable deer management in Va. Deer populations continue to rise and it is encouraging that the Government recognizes that a rethink on deer management is now necessary.
The way that the (NGO) has planed to fix the deer over population is to make hunting season longer. Or they have come up with other ideas to maintain a good deer management program. Over the years the average hunter has bin able to kill six deer a year. Maybe if the bag limit was higher than it could balance the deer population. Hunters sometimes do not even kill six deer per season, but maybe they should. If hunters do not kill them then deer will just become over populated and begin getting hit be more cars. This would mean more wrecks and more people getting killed and injured. So in that case it is up to hunters to kill more of the deer to lower the population.
Also, God planned for animals to get killed and if he did not then there would not be hunting at all.  It is part of life to die everyone will experience dying sometime. But, some families rely on hunting so that they can put food on the table for there family. On the other hand hunting is a must for some people and it is how they survive. Besides, hunters enjoy being out in the woods relaxing. Also, a lot of money goes into hunting. Buying camouflage, guns, and bullets can become expensive. Believe it or not it cost people to have deer, when it comes down to it people 1.1 billion a year.
However, when becoming over populated diseases will start to occur.  When this happens it will kill off many of the deer. If the bag limit is not brought up, at least maybe by two, then deer will die off. When deer get diseases they will die but live a long time of suffering, so why not kill the deer?   
 

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Moderator Comments: On the main forum page I noted that one of the challenges for developing management programs that reduce the deer herd to levels that are good for the forest ecosystem and agriculture is that hunters get upset when it starts to work and they see fewer deer and have the chance to shoot fewer deer - and begin to complain loudly to the agencies to change their policies.  You can see that exact response in some of the eForum  POVs.   One link on the main eForum page was to an Audubon article that described these challenges.  I note that the link is now broken because Audubon changed their url (drat), here is the correct one.   In order for your suggestions to work, you will have to build a consensus in the real world where people jealously guard their turf.   How do you suggest we do that?   At the moment, most decisions made about deer management are made by wildlife agencies.  Who else should have a seat at the table?  Should insurance companies?  Foresters?  Ecologists? Environmentalists? Farmers?

 

Deer Assassins Buffalo Gap HS

                                                                                                                              11/5/2008

                                                                                                                            7:55:00 AM

Hunters can control the deer population by shooting them during hunting season but only shooting them for food not for fun.  Without hunters the deer population would go up.  In the eastern states, to many deer affects our forest and farmland.  This problem does not directly affect us we can try to correct instability.  A way to control this problem is to allow hunters to have a longer period of time to hunt and to allow more deer tags. If hunters are allowed to sell parts of the deer that they kill then they will benefit from more hunting.  Some parts of the deer that they could sell include the meat that come from the deer and the fur which could be used for many different things.  The taxidermist would highly benefit from more hunting because if people already like to mount their deer to show them off, then they will keep doing so.  Therefore they would be bringing in the money because they would have plenty more business.  Another positive thing is that the hunters would be able to learn more about the deer and how they work.  They can also teach others the knowledge they learn.  Also, with the deer population being lower, it would help with the big problem of car accidents.  There are many car accidents caused by deer being in the road.  Some people are very injured and they could even cause death.  The down side of more hunting would be the fact that the stores would not be able to keep all the clothes, guns, and other equipment that they would have to keep in stock.  Some of the smaller companies would not be able to keep up.  Another negative aspect to this is that the hunters would be taking more time off work to hunt, therefore they will not be making as much money as they are used to.
Clearly if hunters were aloud to hunt more then there would be many positive ways that it would help the community.  There are not as many negative aspects to more hunting, but hopefully people will focus more on the positive ones.
 

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  From:   A Farmer's Viewpoint! - farmer - PHS                                              Statement

                                                                                          11/19/2008            8:30:00 AM

     I agree that hunter should hunt all year round

 

Moderator Comments: On the main forum page I noted that one of the challenges for developing management programs that reduce the deer herd to levels that are good for the forest ecosystem and agriculture is that hunters get upset when it starts to work and they see fewer deer and have the chance to shoot fewer deer - and begin to complain loudly to the agencies to change their policies.  You can see that exact response in some of the eForum  POVs.   One link on the main eForum page was to an Audubon article that described these challenges.  I note that the link is now broken because Audubon changed their url (drat), here is the correct one.   In order for your suggestions to work, you will have to build a consensus in the real world where people jealously guard their turf.   How do you suggest we do that?   At the moment, most decisions made about deer management are made by wildlife agencies.  Who else should have a seat at the table?  Should insurance companies?  Foresters?  Ecologists? Environmentalists? Farmers?

 

DeerHunters R Us Petersburg H.S

                                                                                                                              11/5/2008

                                                                                                                            8:09:00 AM

From the hunter’s point of view, we believe the deer in our area are not over populated. As hunters, the more recent hunting seasons have been mediocre at best. However, it does seem that if we were allowed to hunt on the side of the road, the deer would be more plentiful and people would not hit as many deer, but then there would be more gunshot wounds, wrecks, and dead hunters from being hit by cars, that I’m afraid that is not the answer we are looking for. In 1995 there were over 50 deer per square mile in West Virginia. In 2007 the number of deer per square mile dropped to almost half of what it was in 1997. (1)

We believe that we need to make an effort to actually get more deer in an area. Hunters should be aloud to plant food plots to get deer to an area. This would increase the population and health of said deer and make the size of their antlers larger. We also think that out of state hunters should have a much harder time obtaining hunting license. Out of state hunters to tend to shoot the younger bucks and aren’t as safe about hunting. We have heard many accounts of people from other states shooting the wrong species of animal.

(1) http://www.cacaponinstitute.org/hs_chat.htm
 

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  From:   The Blue Elites - hunter - HHS                                             Statement

                                                                                            11/7/2008           11:26:00 AM

 

We totally agree with your views on out-of-state hunting. What examples can you give supporting the, out-of-state hunters "shooting the wrong species of aminal" statement? What animals resemble a deer enough to be confused?

 

    Response: DeerHunters R Us - hunter – PHS    11/12/08

We have actually had incidents of people shooting goats and cows in the area. Just last year a crew from Washington D.C. checked in a goat becuase they thought it was a deer. Every year their is at least a couple farmers that complain about out-of-state hunter takin one of their cattle

  From:   Girl With Big Guns - hunter – BGHS                                             Statement

                                                                                            11/21/2008          9:05:00 AM

 

you said with the way the economy is people can’t afford license to hunt, but don’t you think that by reducing license costs hunters will only be taking away from the economy?

 

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