Thursday, June 01, 2006

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Urban deer management plan unveiled

from PR Newswire: In achieving another objective in its deer management plan, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has finalized its urban/suburban deer management plan to more effectively manage deer in developed areas of the state. This new plan has been posted on the agency's website (http://www.pgc.state.pa.us), and can be viewed by clicking on "Deer Program" in the "Quick Clicks" box in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage and then selecting "Urban/Suburban Deer Management Plan."

"Human-deer conflicts are a real, not just a perceived, problem," said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. "Pennsylvania primarily manages deer through hunting, but hunter success, especially in developed areas, is influenced by hunter access to land open to hunting and safety zone issues.

"The use of traditional hunting methods are always the most economical way to manage deer, and this plan employs traditional deer management techniques. However, it also offers non-traditional deer management approaches, as well as an educational program that incorporates current practices and possible solutions into an integrated, comprehensive approach to resolve urban/suburban deer problems."

Roe noted that, due to the agency's limited financial resources, it would take time to implement all the strategies in the plan.

Although white-tailed deer provide many Pennsylvanians countless hours of recreational opportunities and enjoyment, are important to the state's economy, and are officially recognized as the Commonwealth's "state animal," Roe noted that they can wear out their welcome quickly when they begin stripping vegetation in yards and become obstacles on city and suburban streets.

The plan outlines four main goals: reduce deer impacts in developed areas using hunting options; reduce deer-human conflicts using non-hunting options where hunting options are shown to not be feasible or sufficient; inform urban leadership, residents, and hunters about deer management options and opportunities in developed areas; and encourage positive relationships between hunters and communities in developed areas.

IOWA NEWS: Confirmed cougar kill of deer

DES MOINES, Iowa A mountain lion is back in Iowa.

State biologists have confirmed a mountain lion killed a deer in Marshall County. It's the first sign of a big cat in Iowa since October 2004.
The deer was found on Tuesday near Bangor. Rick Trine of the Iowa Department of Natural Resource says the deer had claw marks on its hind quarters and neck, and puncture wounds to the neck and head.
Trine says the deer only had three legs -- from an old injury -- and it was probably easy prey.
According to the DNR, there have been two mountain lions shot, one killed on the road, one photographed in the same general area as the Marshall County cat, and six confirmed tracks.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

IOWA NEWS: 2005 Season A Record Harvest

State wildlife officials said Tuesday that hunters have made a record dent in Iowa's deer population.

A recently compiled deer hunting survey estimates 17,000 more whitetail deer — 210,000 — were killed during the fall and winter deer hunting seasons of 2005-2006 than in the previous season.

"This is one of those times that what we planned to accomplish and what happened were the same thing," said deer biologist Willie Suchy with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

In the last few years, pressure from Iowa legislators prompted natural resources officials to increase the number of antlerless-only deer hunting licenses, targeted mostly at female deer, available. Legislators were responding to complaints from the state's insurance industry and the public because of increased vehicle-deer accidents, and from farmers who said deer were destroying their crops.

State biologists have estimated Iowa's deer kill is up from approximately 193,000 the previous hunting season. As a result, there will be fewer antlerless deer licenses offered for the 2006-2007 seasons.

"The proposal that goes to the Natural Resources Commission next week will reduce antlerless deer quotas in north-central and northwest Iowa," Suchy said. "In southern Iowa, it looks like the harvest started to bring deer numbers down and began to level them off. If we can do that for a couple of years, we will see deer numbers reduced enough in southern Iowa."

Northeast Iowa still has a higher-than-wanted population in some areas, officials said.

Uninvited Guests

Tis the season...

CHARLEVOIX, MI - A wayward deer caused damage to a Charlevoix business Friday. Charlevoix deputy police chief Scott Hankins said he was called to the Auto Value store, located at 108 West Carpenter St., at about 5:29 p.m. to a report that a deer had just crashed through a front window at the business and was still running around inside the building. Hankins said the business was open and about four employees were inside at the time of the incident.

GRANITE CITY, MO - Imagine waking up to a 150 pound deer, crashing through your living room window. A Granite City husband and wife wish that would have been a bad dream. Instead, it was part of a frightening reality. The Pulliam family still can't believe what woke them up Saturday morning. It was the sound of glass shattering, and a deer jumping through the front window. The unexpected breakfast guest showed up almost 7:30 in the morning. All 150 pounds of the deer came crashing through the living room.

NORMAL, IL - As officials at Southern Illinois University deal with an angry doe who's been attacking students and staff, authorities in central Illinois are having problems of their own. At a retirement residence in Normal, a woman in her 80s found an uninvited -- and bleeding -- guest in her apartment. A doe had crashed through her bedroom window and bumbled around her apartment, breaking a lamp and an air-conditioning unit. It ended up in her bathtub. Though officials tried to save the deer, it was eventually euthanized. The woman was not injured.