craigdailypress.com

I know many people don't care to hear about how things used to be, but I can tell you that it has only been in fairly recent years that deer have moved into town and each year there seem to be more and more of them. I have lived in Craig, or on the outskirts of town, for 70 years. It used to be an event to see a deer, or a group of them, and you for sure weren't going to see them in town, but instead out in the country, if you were lucky.

Now, in our country, we are so overrun with deer that hunters have only to drive down a country road in their pickups and do their hunting from their pickups. It used to be that you drove to an area where you thought there might be deer. You got out and walked because the sound or sight of your vehicle would scare them, as they weren't tame. You did a lot of walking, looking and actually hunting for game. You could do this for days, possibly seeing some and very possibly not. Sometimes you could get in a shot before they disappeared over a hill or down a ravine.

The wildlife stayed out in the country and attempted to stay out of sight. There are still many thousands of acres in Moffat County not occupied by humans, but living easy here in town.

I'm not in favor of shooting deer in town. Perhaps if we wanted to discourage deer from damaging and destroying our efforts to beautify our properties -- and there are so many perfectly beautiful yards and areas in Craig representing hours, days and weeks of work -- perhaps we could allow dog owners to let their dogs out for a few nights. However, the deer are so bold they might send the dogs to the country. Don't depend on a deer not charging a child.

I think the bottom line is that we just have too many deer in the country. The Department of Wildlife is proud to advertise its wildlife population to bring in hunters and dollars. But, I seem to have noticed that its wildlife are grazing on our fields, pastures and gardens.

Lois Norman