I don't know which organisation pisses me off the most, the BBC or the Deer Initiative.

The BBC devotes 3 paragraphs plus to the Deer Starvation Charity and 1 sentence to the Deer 'Jobs for the boys' Initiative.

Given the quality of the sentence from Hoon (if accurately reported) I'm hardly surprised. Where's the data on the millions of � of crop/timber damage, where's the plug for a renewable natural and healthy food (venison) where's the explanation that the reason our deer population is exploding is lack of population control in traditional areas is forcing migration to previously unpopulated areas which the deer are succeeding in.

This is the BBC reporting on the consultation in:-

http://www.accuratereloading.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=550866&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=31&fpart=1

Note the balanced reporting - one sentence for the Deer Initiative and a number of paragraphs for the deer sanctuary whacko's.

And the method by which deer regulate their numbers themselves - starvation and migration.

The whole direction of reporting completely misses the point - it's not about population it's about damage to crops and forestry.

If what they want is natural controls, we in California have large number of mountain lion we might be willing to share. They help control human numbers, too

Unfortunately this is an issue over run with emotional connotations. Every publication reporting on this subject shows a photo of a great big buck/stag, representing the "millions???" of deer to be shot. No one sees the old barren doe, with no teeth that will starve to death, or the car hit beast with a manky leg. These aren't all we shoot obviously, but probably make up more of the bag than trophy beasts I would say.

I have a friend in charge of venison sales for a big Supermarket chain. They farm everything because they can't deal with the complaints they recieve from uninformed customers about wild deer welfare. They would rather the deer were herded with quads into a processing plant, queuing up to recieve a static bolt, (2 hrs is the estimate for the process start to finish), rather than be shot and die almost stress free. I'm trying to convince him of the merits of wild deer but the lobbyists have too much clout that the retailers just submit. Unless we create a real market for wild venison, at a decent price, not influenced by cheap kiwi imports, shooting wild deer will not be acceptable practice in the publics eyes.

Just myt tuppen'th worth!!

FB