I know there must be plenty of responsible deer hunters around here. They must identify their target before they shoot and have the skill to kill it quickly. They must take the dead deer out of the woods and either butcher it or have it done by someone else. They must eat the meat or donate it to someone who needs or wants it. They may keep the head or pelt as a trophy, or they may not.
I know there must be plenty of them around here, but all I see is evidence of the other kind. Last year I saw five or six deer carcasses that had been thrown off the road over the mountain. So far this year I have seen two. The first was a small deer that was lying behind a large tree just off the side of the road. Its head had been removed, but nothing else. I saw that one about two weeks ago. The second was a larger deer that had been left at the side of the road near the intersection of Fouche Gap Road and Lavender Trail. It has been skinned, but nothing else had been taken. The meat the head were still on the carcass.
Of course the responsible hunters don’t do things like that, so all I see is evidence that deer hunters are irresponsible, wasteful and inconsiderate. And I think that’s a generous characterization.
I share your feelings. The trouble is, the slob hunters don’t.
Slob hunters is a good term.
I would also point out that county road cleanup also dumps roadkill deer in the most convenient place. I’ve documented a deer dump on our property – that part of it is just accessible to an unimproved road. By the time the county cleanup crew finds them they can very much resemble the remains left behind by slob hunters.
(I realize that that may not be the case in a more formal neighborhood.)
Pablo — Yes, I’m afraid slob hunters think what they do is just fine.
Wayne — We certainly have plenty of roadkill deer, mostly further in towards town on the four-lane called Technology Parkway, which cuts through part of the Berry College campus. I don’t know what road crews do with those carcasses, but the two deer I saw on Fouche Gap were pretty clearly killed by hunters; at least someone had taken trophies from them.
We allow hunters to harvest deer on our preserve, but they must be members of a club. The hunters are tested annually for hunting proficiency, and the club members patrol the grounds for poachers. So, we don’t generally have any “slob hunters” around us. However, occasionally, some yahoo will shoot a deer from his vehicle and just let it die in the woods.
Our organization collects road-killed deer from the highways surrounding my preserve. We record biological data from the deer, and we perform a public service for our municipalities (since the job is technically the responsibility of the state’s game commission, whose closest office is located 60 miles away; imagine the state of the carcasses if the municipalities relied on the game commission). We place the dead deer in a field at the top of a hill, and foxes, coyotes, vultures and the occasional bald eagle enjoy the bounty.
Scott — That’s interesting. It turns out that the deer carcass dumped near the top of the mountain has been serving that same purpose. It is in the process of being eaten. I saw a bald eagle feeding on it Saturday, a very rare sight around here.