Fewer Deer; Safer Roads?

[Bill Hagan]

We have seen a marked decline in the number of deer that have for the past several years wandered through our property every day, almost like clockwork.  Usually in "herdettes" of three to seven individuals, they would find what pleased 'em -- often our budding apple trees, the #$%^&.  ::( -- and munch for awhile in the early morning and at dusk. 

This year, have only seen a few tracks, and no deer.

Did find this below the house the other day:




I named him "Bambo" and he now guards the Moto Grappa.   :D




But, I did start wondering if numbers were down overall.  Discovered that, in Virginia at least, and for various reasons, this past deer-hunting season was worst in years.  Bears, turkey, up; deer, not.

http://www.nvdaily.com/sports/2015/03/gerald-almy-va-deer-harvest-plummets/

I haven't seen any deer "road kill" for months nor have I had any near missed on two- or four wheels, either.

Too bad for hunters, but hoping this means less danger for motorcyclists ... for this season, anyway.

Not sure if this is nationwide or just here, so YMMV.

Bill

[Triple Jim]

Disease has claimed a lot of them around here too, Bill.  I don't like to hear about disease and suffering, but I'll welcome a reduction in the tick population, as well as safer roads.

[Guzzistajohn]

This is killing many of our deer in the Ozarks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetongue_disease

[Idontwantapickle]

Few deer might make it safer but I am positive fewer a$$hats with smartphones on the road would be move in the right direction.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I haven't seen any deer dead or alive for almost 5 years now.  Haven't heard of anyone hitting one on the road either.
 Coincidence?  I think not.  Now and then a goat or wild pig, and even some wild asses but all of those seem to be smarter than deer about avoiding vehicles.
  Some of the wild asses are pretty dumb but those are the ones driving vehicles themselves.
 Wild cattle are here but not on the roads.  They generally stay further up on the mountain slopes because they are hunted with guns and spears.

[pyoungbl]

190,745 deer killed in Virginia in '14-'15 per Va. Game and Inland Fisheries.  That does not count all the deer killed by cars or poachers.  That's one hell of a lot of deer!
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer/harvestsummary.asp
look at the chart for deer kills from 1948 to present, huge jump.

Peter Y.
I still think that deer strike is as great a threat as car strike for us on motorcycles

[Lannis]

Few deer might make it safer but I am positive fewer a$$hats with smartphones on the road would be move in the right direction.

Yep.   We need both.   I'm still dodging them down here regularly.   On the plus side, we have a freezer full of venison.   When I'm slicing up 4 hindquarters and 4 forequarters and two loins and two neck roasts, it's sort of hard for them to collide with the bike.

Lannis

[dilligaf]

This is my deer story.  I was on my way to the Swamp Scooters Rally about four years ago at 1030.
http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=41385.0
So yep, I agree. :BEER:
Matt

[Vasco DG]

If you're missing them perhaps I can offer to send you a few million of our giant, hopping, rats. They're even dumber than deer!

Pete

[Lannis]

If you're missing them perhaps I can offer to send you a few million of our giant, hopping, rats. They're even dumber than deer!

Pete

Are they good to eat?   And "Kangaroo Leather" boots are quite expensive here ....

Lannis

[Vasco DG]

As Jude says 'roo is best eaten in a dark room. It has to be served extremely rare or it gets leathery and tough. If you don't like the sight of blood? Stay away!

Pete

[Lannis]

As Jude says 'roo is best eaten in a dark room. It has to be served extremely rare or it gets leathery and tough. If you don't like the sight of blood? Stay away!

Pete

Very rare beef I enjoy.

Very rare, still-bloody kangaroo ... You go ahead and have my share, I've got a tofu salad here I'm eating ....

Lannis

[Triple Jim]

I'll try it, and probably like it.  I'd have to let my wife clean it if I had shot it though, she's good at that stuff, where I don't really have the stomach for it.

[Lannis]

I'll try it, and probably like it.  I'd have to let my wife clean it if I had shot it though, she's good at that stuff, where I don't really have the stomach for it.

Wouldn't work around my place.  My wife does a little of everything EXCEPT cleaning game.   "You shot it, you clean it" or "You caught it, you clean it" is the rule around here.

Basic criteria is that whatever she cooks has to be in the same condition as if it had a little absorbent pad under it in a styrofoam tray and cellophane on top with a nutritional information sticker on it .... !

lannis

[Triple Jim]

I realize I'm lucky in that respect.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I have eaten at a McDonalds in Australia.  Does that mean that I have eaten roo?  Rumors were rampant.
 BTW I did acquire a taste for Victoria Bitters When I was there.
  Maybe I was served roo at the Bourbon and Beafsteak in Kings' Cross.  I wasn't sober enough to tell.

[Penderic]

Doo Dingos eat Roo, why not Platypus too?

[rodekyll]

Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Platipus were designed by a committee.

[gsf12man]

We are still enjoying fewer deer up here in the recently Unfrozen North . . . couple of rough winters thinned the herd. But last winter was relatively mild, and they're making a comeback, damn 'em. My wife got to enjoy having one collide with her Mini Cooper S about two years ago. The car came through quite well, the deer didn't.

Tom

[pebra]

As Jude says 'roo is best eaten in a dark room. It has to be served extremely rare or it gets leathery and tough. If you don't like the sight of blood? Stay away!

Pete

So, would 'roo filets be good for curing?
That should drain the blood, make it darker and more tender!

[Rough Edge racing]

 NY hunters have taken an average of 243,000 deer in each of the last few years...But the deer still seem abundant.They are quite safe in suburban backyards..I also notice less coyotes...more rabbits...Deer and some other game were nearly gone from this area around 1930 when hunting was first restricted...Aerial photos from the same time show the area to be nearly clear cut... Now there's many more trees..

[lee swanger]

Putting the assholes in jail will be the only way they will stop.

[Lannis]

Putting the assholes in jail will be the only way they will stop.

That works for DWIs, because you don't have the option of shooting them and putting them in a freezer.   

Since you DO have that option for deer, besides which it's cheaper and provides lots of lean protein, that's the one we tend to use.   Deer jails are almost as hard to keep clean as human ones .....

Lannis

[trippah]

Please, non, no Bastille's Des Bambi.

[Penderic]

We have deer and tourists on bicycles! Yipee!  ::)

And some of them are very very strange!  ??? A few recliner bikes, a few tricycles, a few mopeds.

We get bus loads of bicycling tours in the summer and it is scary sometimes with our narrow roads and two way traffic. Lots steep hills and many of the out of shape riders get quite wobbly and unpredictable!

Heres a group of bike riders that dont need no silly intercom system!  ;)

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Now that qualifies as the strangest human powered vehicle I have ever seen.

[jas67]

Few deer might make it safer but I am positive fewer a$$hats with smartphones on the road would be move in the right direction.

 :+1

[jas67]

Platipus were designed by a committee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc2JBtrPpIk

[dilligaf]

 :+1  Good one.  :BEER:
Matt