Learned something about Forest Rats tonight

[ShinyPartsUp]

I'm taking a hunting education course each evening this week. Tonight one of Oregon State Police' game wardens was lecturing. OSP is in charge of wildlife management/enforcement; they are also honest-to-god Staties.

Interesting videos of people caught shooting from their trucks, cars and motor homes at "scruffy" the stuffed deer, but I digress. The thing that got my attention as a motorcyclist was the fact that as many deer die by automobile in Douglas County Oregon as by hunters each year: 1100!!!! :dribble:

That is in one county. I knew we had a lot of the flea ridden critters, but damn!

Stay safe out there.

 

[beemerdons]

I'm taking a hunting education course each evening this week. Tonight one of Oregon State Police' game wardens was lecturing. OSP is in charge of wildlife management/enforcement; they are also honest-to-god Staties.

Interesting videos of people caught shooting from their trucks, cars and motor homes at "scruffy" the stuffed deer, but I digress. The thing that got my attention as a motorcyclist was the fact that as many deer die by automobile in Douglas County Oregon as by hunters each year: 1100!!!! :dribble:

That is in one county. I knew we had a lot of the flea ridden critters, but damn!

Stay safe out there.

1100! That's the same amount of individuals dying from goat syphilis yearly!

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

1100! That's the same amount of individuals dying from goat syphilis yearly!

Smart hillbillies stock up on Penicillin. Hint: You can buy antibiotics cheap at the Farmers Coop.

EDIT: Post #2 and the thread goes weird. Most excellent!

 

[beemerdons]

1100! That's the same amount of individuals dying from goat syphilis yearly!

Smart hillbillies stock up on Penicillin. Hint: You can buy antibiotics cheap at the Farmers Coop.

EDIT: Post #2 and the thread goes weird. Most excellent!

My Fenian Friend, it's what we do best; we invented weird!

 

[madmike2]

1100! That's the same amount of individuals dying from goat syphilis yearly!

Smart hillbillies stock up on Penicillin. Hint: You can buy antibiotics cheap at the Farmers Coop.

EDIT: Post #2 and the thread goes weird. Most excellent!

My Fenian Friend, it's what we do best; we invented weird!

Look it up in the dictionary....There's a picture of Don! Honest...

 

[LDRydr]

The thing that got my attention as a motorcyclist was the fact that as many deer die by automobile in Douglas County Oregon as by hunters each year: 1100!!!! :dribble:
That is in one county. I knew we had a lot of the flea ridden critters, but damn.

I wish some of these NW states would double the length of the hunting season to get these numbers down. But instead they outlaw cougar hunting and tracking with dogs and let the forest rat population explode. Idiots.

 

[Auburn]

The thing that got my attention as a motorcyclist was the fact that as many deer die by automobile in Douglas County Oregon as by hunters each year: 1100!!!! :dribble:
That is in one county. I knew we had a lot of the flea ridden critters, but damn.

I wish some of these NW states would double the length of the hunting season to get these numbers down. But instead they outlaw cougar hunting and tracking with dogs and let the forest rat population explode. Idiots.

They should increase the tag to 3 does and a buck a year per hunter. With the population comes starving deer in the winter which does no good either.

 

[airboss]

How about a little commercal harvesting?

They're big juicy and corn fed around here.

Came face to face with one about 2AM this morning, I swear he was as big as the Caravan I was driving.

BTW Dodge's ABS works great. :dribble:

 

[Neil San Diego]

...I swear he was as big as the Caravan I was driving...

On the plus side, that Caravan has much more muzzle energy that a feejer. Good for a quick, humane kill.

 

[Checkswrecks]

The thing that got my attention as a motorcyclist was the fact that as many deer die by automobile in Douglas County Oregon as by hunters each year: 1100!!!! :dribble:
That is in one county. I knew we had a lot of the flea ridden critters, but damn.

I wish some of these NW states would double the length of the hunting season to get these numbers down. But instead they outlaw cougar hunting and tracking with dogs and let the forest rat population explode. Idiots.

They should increase the tag to 3 does and a buck a year per hunter. With the population comes starving deer in the winter which does no good either.

The things are so thick on the east coast that you can legally take a lot more than that if you do blackpowder, rifle and bow. Seems to me that somebody figured that a die-hard in our State could take home a couple of dozen in total.

Unfortunately, most hunters just get a few and let the rest go.

 

[HotRodZilla]

The thing that got my attention as a motorcyclist was the fact that as many deer die by automobile in Douglas County Oregon as by hunters each year: 1100!!!! :dribble:
That is in one county. I knew we had a lot of the flea ridden critters, but damn.

I wish some of these NW states would double the length of the hunting season to get these numbers down. But instead they outlaw cougar hunting and tracking with dogs and let the forest rat population explode. Idiots.

Increasing the Cougar population will actually help quell some of those numbers, but you are right: Hunters rights in most states are in jeopardy one way or another.

 

[exskibum]

Damn it Shiny, I opened this thread expecting to find a discussion of deer sex. Glad to know you're sticking with goats, though.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Another interesting tidbit: An unfortunate byproduct of MUCH lower harvesting of timber the past 20 years is the major companies are spraying the (relatively) few clear cuts from timber. This to get replanted trees growing faster in easier areas to harvest, so costs can be kept down; they spray the underbrush to kill it. As a result, all the forage the deer eat is killed off so they come down to lower elevations where more people and food sources are: to farmers fields, backyards, etc. They then are either driven off, killed by cars and trucks (or shudder, motorcycles), or starve due to fewer food sources.

Environmentalists haven't caught on to the big harvesters like Weyerhauser, RFP and others poisoning the environment and in the long run killing more deer and elk, while putting more people in danger. More and more large tract owners like paper and lumber companies are also gating their roads making hunting more difficult and less productive. Of course hunters on ATV's and in trucks, and other off road vehicle users (read dirt bikers) tearing up their logging roads, leaving gaits open, etc. hasn't helped either. One result is a requirement being rolled in for off road ATV/motorcyclists being required to obtain and carry another license to ride off-road.

It gets complicated.

 

[lonerider]

Know what you're saying; they've about overrun the western part of the People's Republic of Maryland. I've hit three of the pests on three different bikes, killed two of them. The restrictive hunting policies of the '60s and '70s have allowed the population to rebound to the point that the MD DNR can't control it by hunting anymore. Heard on the radio that they're such a problem in the battlefield parks that Antietam, Monocacy, and Gettysburg are considering controlled hunting. I got so fed up with the kamikaze attacks they were staging on me that, in desperation, I tried a Hornet deer whistle (supposedly amplified) on my GSX1100G on my spring ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway (MCN gave it good reviews). Passed by a big doe grazing by the side of Skyline Drive; she looked up, gave my bike an amused look, and went right back to eating. Don't think I'll bother with putting them on my other bikes...