craigdailypress.com

Taylor (Anonymous) says…

Just a reminder - tonight is the CC meeting - 7:30

slashdot (Anonymous) says…

i guess i need to uproot the aspen trees i have in my yard. so far this winter the deer have managed to take the bark off of 5 of them.

not too long ago, a 4 point buck had challenged one of my neighbors as they tried to go from the street to their house.

a neighborhood dog got gored by a buck a few years ago.

someone shot a buck in the park behind our house. who knows if it was same one who gored the dog.

just a few days ago one of the crazy suckers tried to play suicide run with my blazer. i turned the corner and it jumped in front of me. thankfully i have good brakes and the deer was quick.

i'd let my dogs loose in my yard to chase away the deer, but i'd probably get a ticket for harassing wildlife.

Taylor (Anonymous) says…

I have a bigger problem with late night people than late night wildlife. Should we have a controlled elimination of vandals? I might vote for that one.

Plant things that do not attract the deer. It works and there are some beautiful plants that will make your yard look nice and deer will not bother. We live in the Rockies - plant accordingly. Personally, I would like to have some palm trees and gardenias growing in my yard, but that would not be appropriate landscaping for this area. The solution? Use common sense.

bridy (Anonymous) says…

Hmmm… apparently other towns in Colorado love their wildlife and are working to protect them, not kill them. Novel concept. Check out this article in the Vail Daily
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17007744/

Taylor (Anonymous) says…

Pure lunacy. I hope to see a turnout at the CC meeting on Tuesday, the 13th, at 7:30.

Kamie (Anonymous) says…

If hunting ever happens in town let me know when and I will go on vacation. I don't want any of the lunitics we see running around during hunting season shooting in town. I have been close to being shot in the city limits enough during that time already. I know the deer are a nuisance, but please no shooting my kids live here.

nativegirl (Anonymous) says…

Harkner, I'm sympathetic with your point of view, but I reserve the right to agree to disagree.

I have dogs also and, frankly, I'm much more concerned about my dogs harassing the deer than the reverse….. so I keep my dogs under my control, 24-7, on a leash, in my yard or in my house.

Having said that, I have to say that I find your argument that the deer should be killed before they kill one of us an invalid argument. That's the old “slippery slope” argument I was taught in Logic 101.

If you want facts, do some research. I did. The US doesn't break down deaths caused by large mammals but the belief is that the majority of animal related deaths in that classification are agriculture related and that most are caused by horses and cows.

By the BC Center for Disease Control study that goes back around 20 years, there have been 5 deaths attributed to deer, and all of those deaths were caused by motor vehicle crashes with deer involved. (which tells me humans had something to do with it)

Here's the BC link if you want to educate yourself….

http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/stats/quarter…

Now take a look at dog related deaths. Here's a link for those statistics….

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/stati…

In an excerpt from that posting, it states that “In the US from 1979 to 1996, 304 people in the US died from dog attacks, including 30 in California. The average number of deaths per year was 17.”

People complain that deer cause damage to their cars, to their landscape, and are aggressive toward other species. True in some cases, but who is really to blame? In my mind, definitely not the deer.

The fact is that people drive too blasted fast, don't watch what is going on around them and don't give themselves time to stop when the wildlife strolls out onto the highway.

So the deer eat our plants. Big deal. We plant the stuff in our yards that attracts the deer in the first place. If people think about what they're planting, there are multiple plant choices out there that are not attractive to deer, and most of those varieties of plants are very compatible with out climate.

Now let's talk about animals going after other animals. Let's see, how many reports have we had of deer attacking other animals…. one.

How many other animal complaints to we get about aggressive animals? Let's say, conservatively, around 50-100 a year. So what animals get the most complaints? You guessed it, dogs.

In my mind this whole concept of going around killing deer is nuts. And simply because other places are doing it does not change my personal opinion that the whole idea is just wrong.

GreyStone (Anonymous) says…

Slashdot,

Accept my apology for insinuating this woman is a NUT, my intention was to bring up a more serious consequence of city dwelling deer: the mountain lion.

“When we really understand the lion population and the prey base , it's a statistical slam dunk that something bad is about to happen,” Wildlife Commissioner Rick Enstrom said.

By allowing the deer into town in a regular bases, we are also inviting the lion into town.

Colorado wildlife commissioners are seeking ways to proactively manage wildlife and one of the methods considered is the use of dogs to drive the wildlife away from towns.

xrsareus (Anonymous) says…

Craig's deer and elk lovers unite !!!!! Ok here is the plan, we can make deer and elk in the City of Craig a crime, Trespassing, Vandalism, Loitering. Then they can go before Bonnie Roesink and be set free. Or we could get them hooked on meth. They would go free for sure then !!!! Well maybe the last idea is not so smart. The animals then would do anything then to get a fix or a meal, like hi-jack a hay truck, trample our kids in the parks for their lunch money, steal salt shaker from the restaurants for the nutrients. They would be in the streets running into cars.

nativegirl (Anonymous) says…

I think this nocturnal deer killing is a dandy idea!

If a critter does something you don't happen to like, just KILL it. Or more accurately, just hire a Hitman to KILL it for you.

And that's a great justification for killing the deer in town by the way, labeling flowers, trees, shrubs and crab apples “junk food.” I really like that concept.

Now instead of killing the deer for just eating our all important landscapes and leaping out in front of our all important cars, we can justify it as putting them out of their misery because their diet stinks! Just think of the suffering we'll prevent.

As a matter of fact, why don't we just flat out outlaw deer and make being a deer and offense punishable by death. It would save a lot of trees once the lawmakers get around to writing it down. (Since saving trees is the point, is it not?)

I can see it now, a bunch of camo/ninja gear outfitted professional killers stalking deer in the deepest shadows of our back alleys, be it with rifles, compound bows or ninja throwing stars, making life in Craig a little safer for my landscaping and my car while I slumber.

Ok, you're right, you caught me, I'm being a smart-alec. I have nothing against hunting deer for food. I have nothing against people wanting a pretty yard. Face it though folks, we're in Deer habitat here. They have been here forever and unless we manage to wipe them out, they'll probably be here long after we're gone.

If you want a nice yard, plant things they don't eat. If you want to keep them out of your yard, put up a fence they can't jump over. If you want to live where there are no deer, find such a place and relocate.

Nobody seems to mind the $$$$ that the deer and elk bring into town during hunting season. I think it's a little hypocritical to make bucks of bucks but want bucks to die for making a little snack off our yards or flinging themselves under our cars. Come on!

I'll tell you, if I was a deer, I'd be taking out a restraining order, hiring myself a good cadre of bodyguards and filing a class action lawsuit for discrimination. And when I won the lawsuit I'd use the proceeds to have humans booted out of my front yard.

slashdot (Anonymous) says…

actually she's not a nut and is a well respected individual here in craig.

if you have read some of the nra magazines, a limited deer hunt inside town is very popular in various cities through out america where the deer population has gotten out of hand. they usually don't do these hunts with guns, but with bows. i'm not too keen on the hunters using rifles, but a limited bow hunt might work.

talking to one dow officer, the stuff the deer are eating isn't too healthy for them. it's like eating junk food all of the time. yes it fills your belly, but is it really good for you?

GreyStone (Anonymous) says…

The woman complaining about the deer eating her trees and suggesting that the city have someone run around the city shooting the trespassing deer sounds like a NUT.
This is a prime example of someone with nothing better to do with their time.
Next thing you know she will be complaining about the mountain lion coming into the city killing the deer.

vic (Anonymous) says…

yep - CC meeting will be the 13th - I hope the deer lovers will show up in force.

If you don't care for wildlife, the Rockies is definitely not the place to live. And I agree with bridy that you are just as likely (or even more likely) to hit a child. No one should be driving that fast downtown.

Thanks for the elk sighting info xrs - I will have to take my camera for a ride.

xrsareus (Anonymous) says…

I agree with bridy, have lived here 50 years and in that time Craig has spread into “their” ground. I have about 10 deer that like clock work come down the street and into my yard to feed off of the apples that the squirels have dropped while having their lunch. You can tell they are getting hungery, yesterday a doe would not let a younger deer eat, kept pushing it away everytime it would start to eat. Just part of nature. We should support the wildlife and not distroy them. By the way there are about 40 elk in the lot were the new Wal-Mart is to be built. Saw them about 10:00 this morning. Maybe this subject should be a question of the week????

bridy (Anonymous) says…

I think that a Deer Hunt in the city limits is an AWFUL idea. One of the reasons I love living here is that there is an abundance of wildlife. I have had around 5 trees killed by the deer. It took some time to figure out how to protect my plants and trees from them, but you can.
There is a family of deer that bed down in my yard at night and my children love watching them and have even gone so far as to look out the windows for them so that they can say goodnight.
The risk to drivers is very minimal if you are driving a safe speed. A driver that would hit a deer in town would be just as likely to hit a child with their car. We need to remember that we are living in an area that was populated by deer long before we came along. We took their land from them. They are adjusting to us taking their habitat. We need to adjust to them being a part of our lives.
The last thing I want is someone driving around town firing guns in the middle of the night. Even worse would be waking up in the morning with blood in my yard where a beautiful deer once lived. I can't imagine my children's heartbreak to see that grisly mess.
I suggest that all of us who are against wiping out the town deer population go to the City Council meeting and express our concern and distaste at the proposed action.

vic (Anonymous) says…

I live downtown and don't see the deer as that much of a nuisance. Sometimes I encounter them walking down the middle of the street, but when I honk, they get out of the way. I am never driving so fast that I can't stop. I also plant deer resistant plants and have never had a problem with my landscaping being destroyed. I do see them munching their way up the alley, so I know that is a problem for some people. I think midnight massacres might be a bit extreme. I always hate seeing the wildlife being pushed out for the wilder life (people).

Taylor (Anonymous) says…

I'm not so sure that is a good idea. I kind of like the deer milling about town. No one should be driving fast enough on the downtown streets to be involved in a deer collision…and as for landscaping, I plant “deer resistant” plants and have never had a problem with them devouring my landscape. I understand it is not a great idea for them to be breeding and becoming overly docile and comfortable around humans, but going on a killing spree in the middle of the night is a bit unsettling.

gem (Anonymous) says…

lmao…
and i thought i wasn't going to like living here.
thank God everyone here isn't into hunting like i thought they were

taxslave (Anonymous) says…

please go to the grainery or mjk and pick up some grain and feed these poor animals. it was/is the dow's job to take care of these animals. if we treated our dogs or cats like this we'd be in trouble.

it is shameful that anyone of you can stand by and watch these magnificant animals starve to death right in front of your eyes….shame shame shame.

you can pick up 100 pounds of cracked corn for 13 bucks. pitch in, the government isn't doing anything about anything anywhere.

the elk are miscarrying their babies. we benefit from hunting and if there isn't anything to hunt?

can you tell i'm mad as hell? Hey mathers, remember when you hosted an event to feed the wildlife years ago when we had a freeze like this? remember when people magazine came and covered the story because we helped save the wildlife?

what has happened to everyone?

Tiger (Anonymous) says…

The woman who suggested this isn't a nut - she is a total maroon.

I can't believe anyone would suggest actual hunting within the city limits, unless it is with a camera.

This is a populated area, dingbat. Wake up and smell yesterday's coffee, this kind of proposal is an insult to the integrity of anyone who has a lick of sense.

I'm just stunned that anything like this could ever be proposed.

Stunned.

momof4 (Anonymous) says…

I can not believe that there are people out there that would really think that hunting in the city limits would be ok! I love living in NW Colorado and seeing nature and that includes the deer in the city limits, and in my backyard. If you don't like them eating your shrubs and flowers buy deer repellent it is at Murdochs or MJK. Or I got a better idea if you don't have any respect for nature and dealing with living with wildlife in your backyard. Move to a city, there you will have to deal with drive by shootings they will not be shooting at wildlife, it might be at you! Or your 4 year old that you took away from a rural area because you were afraid that a mountain lion was going to get them. If not a drive by you might enjoy all the drugs that they have to offer in a biy city, but you won't have to deal with the wildlife at least.
Just my opinion.

WileyWapiti (Anonymous) says…

Well, so far I have not seen anybody post a better idea. Obviously this citizen of Craig voiced her opinion that the deer are a problem in town, and rather than slam the city or the DOW, she actually proposed an idea or suggested a solution. It may not have been a popular solution or viable, but it was a person asking for help with a situation that is frustrating to her. I am not an animal activist, but I enjoy seeing the deer sometimes, on the other hand, I too have to change my plants annualy because they have been nubbed down by the deer, I have had to slam on my brakes, alter my course in the road to avoid the roadkill in the street, I have seen other yards become infested with these pesky browsers of the Urban Plateu. I also keep wondering when my dog is going to finally break through our paned window to chase the sly devils away. The street I live on has many children from about 12 yrs of age on down, I hope for their safety that a deer does not decide to take one of them on, I also hope that the mountain lions do not come in for the deer and see a 4 year old child as an easier target. Do I have a solution for this? No I don't, but the author of the article did, and at least it is a start towards a community looking at the problem and working together to fix it. Cudos to the author of the article for speaking up!

WileyWapiti (Anonymous) says…

Ok, not sure how drive-bys and the drug afflicted got onto this, but ok, freedom of speech is a beautiful thing. Did anybody here go to the CC meeting back in February? I did not, but I would like to know what ideas that they came up with.

WileyWapiti (Anonymous) says…

I meant to say, options that were discussed beyond what is printed in the article from Feb 13th.

oldsage (Anonymous) says…

In a world not so long ago and not so far away, the Dow officer would have not even questioned anyone for letting a dog run the deer out of their garden or away from the valuable orchards because it makes sense. Today however, you are a source of revue for the DOW and as such should be cited as often as possible! And I would believe that the DOW would now days distinguish the difference between your dog protecting your property from the deer by citing you for harassing wildlife while at the same time the DOW would be using dogs to “Manage” the deer by having the dogs politely encourage the deer to shall we say, not loiter in town.

I just have to laugh at the moronic comment about “allowing deer” into the City of Craig as if we had a choice in the matter. I am sure everyone would like to know exactly how Greystone would “disallow” the deer into the city. I suppose it will be something like big tall fences and big tall gates on every road in and out of the city manned by officers of the law or trustees from the jail stopping the deer from entering. Yea right!

Nothing better to do????? Really Nutty!!

Tiger (Anonymous) says…

What if…..?

What if a deer took on a kid?
What if a mountain lion tracked the deer?

What kind of argument is that?

What if monkeys flew out of my…… and started attacking the mayor?

Give me a break. The silly fear-mongers are in full swing.

Instead of open season on deer in the city limits - let's hunt down the folks who think it's a good idea and put them in straight jackets.

I mean….really.

grannyrett (Anonymous) says…

Tiger-Good idea! But first I think they need to find the guy who shot the deer in town. What a crazy nut! Could have really hurt or even killed someone. There is a good reason not to have hunting in town, and that guy just proved it.

WileyWapiti (Anonymous) says…

Tiger you are correct, thinning out deer by lethal means would be a full time job - and as I have said before - shooting them is not very viable, they are creatures of habit and will come back. I belong to a few outdoor forums and I have posted the subject to see what others had experienced. I was very surprised to see the number of people from around the country who have experienced similar problems in their communities and actual hunts have been formed - places like suburban Cincinnati - Gettysburg National Battlefield - Alamosa, CO - NY - Rhode Island - North Carolina - Connecticut - Delaware and the list continues. These folks still continue to have problems with deer. One gentleman had mentioned that sterilization in their community had helped a little. So, hunting them is proven not to be very effective. I am hopeful for the committee working on this to be successful in making a plan that includes severe penalties for feeding the deer. Oh, and Tiger, if monkey's become a problem in town, I am pretty sure we will know the source and it will be easy to erradicate with a $0.30 cork.