Gulf Islands deer population hits ‘crisis’ level

[Ohwildwon]

Too many deer threaten native plants such as Arbutus trees
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Gulf+Islands+deer+population+hits+crisis+level/11113121/story.html



Spend a lot of time on Gali, plan on trying a hunt this fall....

Shot Gun only, still have to find out if I can use a Slug ,or Buck Shot only...

A Bow would be ideal over there...

[hare_assassin]

If you have high blood pressure and a low tolerance for ignorance, avoid the comments section.

[FourOhs]

I have a friend with a cabin on Mayne Island. I've been over there many times. The deer are a big problem over there, and only getting worse. They have no predators, period. The local hardware store stays in business selling deer fencing and plants that are deer-averse. I've often joked with him about just wrestling one to the ground in his back yard and putting it in his freezer. They're smaller than mainland deer, and very tame.

Why wrestle it (of course not, I was being facetious) instead of hunting it legally? Because I was under the impression (from my friend) that the Island Trust (http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/) has bylaws in place that forbid hunting deer on the Gulf Islands within their jurisdiction. Or perhaps the prohibition is on shooting of firearms. I'm going to ask him about this again, but had anyone asked me about this I would have said that it was simply a no-go-proposition. Of course, the last time he and I talked about this was before I found an interest in becoming a hunter, myself.

I'd love to hear that there is no such prohibition, so that I can tell him to buy himself a bow. Actually, he has rifles but only for target shooting. If it's legal, then he just needs his CORE and a hunting license and tag.

Someone contradict me? Please? I'd love to tell him to start harvesting.

[Ohwildwon]

You can still hunt, (with a Shot Gun) on Galiano Island...

[BRvalley]

damn, I read the comments...

deer contraceptives lol

[sawmill]

Yeah, granola heads. That`s what they want to do here too. Or trap and relocate.All the 300+ does in town are having twins as we speak.

[FourOhs]

Relocate to my freezer. I'll even volunteer to help.

[Good2bCanadian]

Have shotgun.....Will travel

[riflebuilder]

I need to help out my civic duty...lol ya right there needs to be a cull and continued harvest. I would be willing to post insurance and show proficiency with a bow if allowed to hunt there. Need to just recruit 30-40 bow hunters and have weekend hunts when those who do not want to see animals harvested can leave the island.

[hare_assassin]

It really is such a beautifully simple, entirely natural solution. Eat them!

[wideopenthrottle]

It really is such a beautifully simple, entirely natural solution. Eat them!

I love the beauty and simplicity of your suggestion to eat them...heheheh

[Steeleco]

I love the beauty and simplicity of your suggestion to eat them...heheheh

I too would offer to help, hell they are gluten free and organic fed. Can't get any better than that!

[russm86]

Really contraceptives for deer? Who the hell comes up with this ****? I'm sure there are much better things to spend the money and time they wasted on those drugs and research, like cancer or ALS....

[russm86]

If they start giving deer free contraceptives then they better offer it to the entire human population of Canada first. lol. Who's brain child is this anyways, you can make money off of allowing them to be hunted but giving them drugs is gonna cost a crap load... I can't believe anyone even thinks the contraceptive option holds any logic what so ever.

[Doug Palmer]

Really contraceptives for deer? Who the hell comes up with this ****? I'm sure there are much better things to spend the money and time they wasted on those drugs and research, like cancer or ALS....

The humane society has been working on this madness for years. Their darts didn't work well enough so recently they've been tranquillizing does and spaying them :O The book "A politically incorrect guide to hunting" has a section on this.

Doug

[FourOhs]

Really contraceptives for deer? Who the hell comes up with this ****?A person whose parents should have chosen to use a contraceptive.

[hare_assassin]

So ironic. I'd be willing to bet that a significant percentage of these animal lovers are meat-eaters. They'd rather eat anonymous, industrially raised meat, transported from the mainland and packaged in Styrofoam than to eat locally-raised, wild, organic meat. I wonder if any of them understand how much this contradicts their (supposed) environmental sensibility and responsibility.

This really confuses me; the whole idea that being an animal lover is inherently incompatible with killing them and eating them, but paying an industry to raise them and mass slaughter them is no problem.

I blame it all on Mr. Disney. Evil prick.

[Chango]

Mr. Disney. Evil prick.

You have no idea.... Pink slips at Disney for 250 workers. But first, they must train their replacements from India (http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/pink-slips-at-disney-for-250-workers-but-first-they-must-train-their-replacements-from-india)

[FourOhs]

So ironic. I'd be willing to bet that a significant percentage of these animal lovers are meat-eaters. They'd rather eat anonymous, industrially raised meat, transported from the mainland and packaged in Styrofoam than to eat locally-raised, wild, organic meat. I wonder if any of them understand how much this contradicts their (supposed) environmental sensibility and responsibility.
Too right. Everything on Mayne Island carries a heavy premium due to the extreme cost of shipping it there (*cough*BC Ferries*cough*) Doesn't it make more sense to harvest the meat that's wandering through every yard terrorizing their vegetable gardens? They love to spout about 'carbon footprint'. What's the carbon footprint of a T-bone steak shipped from a slaughterhouse in Alberta to Mayne Island?

[Chango]

So ironic. I'd be willing to bet that a significant percentage of these animal lovers are meat-eaters. They'd rather eat anonymous, industrially raised meat, transported from the mainland and packaged in Styrofoam than to eat locally-raised, wild, organic meat. I wonder if any of them understand how much this contradicts their (supposed) environmental sensibility and responsibility.

This really confuses me; the whole idea that being an animal lover is inherently incompatible with killing them and eating them, but paying an industry to raise them and mass slaughter them is no problem.


Yup, probably the same folks sitting down a few nights a week for a plate of sushi, with tuna on its way to extinction from over harvest.

[sawmill]

They get their meat from a store where it was made and no animals were hurt.

[SPEYMAN]

You people should be familiar with the "Golden Rule" as it applies on the gulf islands.

"Those with the gold make, the rules."

[Tikka260]

Hunting would create off season jobs at hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, guides outfits, meat processing etc...

Oh wait, somebody would protest...

[OutdoorDave]

Hunting would create off season jobs at hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, guides outfits, meat processing etc...

Oh wait, somebody would protest...

Protesting is an industry on the gulf islands and Vancouver Island. You can't accomplish anything there. The tail wags the dog and the vocal minority, no matter how ill informed, controls the agenda. The whole rabbit situation at UVIC is a testament to how looney those places have become.

[wideopenthrottle]

Hunting would create off season jobs at hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, guides outfits, meat processing etc...

Oh wait, somebody would protest...

even that brings money into the local economy so why not have at er

[wideopenthrottle]

seems like the deer will have to go cuz they are lower on the pecking order....you know save the deer at the expense of people...save the arbutus at the expense of deer...save the Rhytisma arbuti fungus at the expense of the arbutus...perhaps there is a bacteria that lives on the fungus that should take top priority.

[FourOhs]

Protesting is an industry on the gulf islands and Vancouver Island. You can't accomplish anything there. The tail wags the dog and the vocal minority, no matter how ill informed, controls the agenda. The whole rabbit situation at UVIC is a testament to how looney those places have become.That sums it up. For the Gulf Islands, it's the Island Trust that runs the show.

They're, generally, a bunch of hermit exclusionists who want nothing to do with more jobs, campgrounds, or anything that smells like progress.

[tigrr]

Import a couple of 4 legged cougars. They eat a lot.

[scretch]

That sums it up. For the Gulf Islands, it's the Island Trust that runs the show.

They're, generally, a bunch of hermit exclusionists who want nothing to do with more jobs, campgrounds, or anything that smells like progress.
I live on Mayne-you are bang on with your comment!

[FourOhs]

I live on Mayne-you are bang on with your comment!I have a friend who owns a cabin on Mayne. They use it all the time, and have for long enough that they're accepted, but they'll never be "neighbours" or "locals".

The goofiest thing he ever told me about Mayne was when the people wanted to put in the organic store beside the 'Fennel. The store wasn't goofy, the resistance to it was, and the excuses and the protests.

Ahh, the Fennel, great food, great people. Too bad they closed.

[OutdoorDave]

That sums it up. For the Gulf Islands, it's the Island Trust that runs the show.

They're, generally, a bunch of hermit exclusionists who want nothing to do with more jobs, campgrounds, or anything that smells like progress.

It's the main reason why the Island economy is struggling in my opinion.

It's ironic that Andrew Weaver is the MP for this area. The reality is he cares more about environmentalists than he does about the environment. It's OK to dump raw sewage from Oak Bay into the Ocean because why should we pay to treat it, and nobody wants something built in their backyard. Why would we cull an infestation of rodents at UVIC when they look so cuddly? Same for deer on the Nimby Islands.

I know Weaver got involved in presenting a petition on wildlife allocation to the Leg. Just a heads up... be careful who you make friends with. This guy isn't what he seems and he'll stab you in the back when it's convenient. Like many other politicians, science and reason come second to personal gain. He's no different.

[FourOhs]

It's ironic that Andrew Weaver is the MP for this area. The reality is he cares more about environmentalists than he does about the environment.Well, it figures. EnvironmentalISTS are his constituents.


Dr. Andrew J. Weaver (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_J._Weaver) is a Canadian climate scientist and politician representing the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. Weaver is the deputy leader of the Green Party of British Columbia.

[44inchStone]

Hope the local govt don't spend another 200 k to kill a handful of deer.
I really like the cougar idea however they couldn't kill and eat as fast as the deer are populating.
Get a few of us together. Deer problem solved

[Ohwildwon]

That sums it up. For the Gulf Islands, it's the Island Trust that runs the show.

They're, generally, a bunch of hermit exclusionists who want nothing to do with more jobs, campgrounds, or anything that smells like progress.

Saturna Island is really bad...

You cant even shave your Girlfriends bush, (or yours for that matter), without some council having to approve it....

[seizuresalad]

I went to Pender last October to hunt a guy's private orchard. He advertises every year to try to get people to come and eliminate some of the deer around his place. It was great. You're allowed to either use shotguns with buckshot, or bows. I brought both my 12 gauge and crossbow, and ended up using the crossbow only, because the dude's property is close to a primary road on the north island. The timing is all wacky compared to normal deer; the ones on Pender aren't out at sunrise; they wait until after noon, and then it's like a free-for-all. The buck-to-doe ratio is like nothing I had ever seen. I'm used to southern Vancouver Island deer hunting, where I see a dozen does for every buck. Over on Pender, it was basically one-for-one. The process was simple; the deer trails are rutted into the ground, so you can see exactly where they come from, and where their escape routes are. I had a friend with me, so we just waited for a deer to come onto the property, and one of us would cover the exit trail, while the other one pretended to stalk the deer through the orchard. The deer would notice the approaching hunter, and casually trot toward its escape route, where it would be arrowed by the ambushing hunter.
Weirdest hunt I ever had, arrowing these deer in basically a guy's yard; but it was definitely worth the ferry ride over. You can limit out in an afternoon pretty easily, and stuff the freezer right quick. You just need proof of insurance to get the gulf islands permit, a bow, and you're off to the races. The only hitch was figuring out that we didn't have to wake up at first light to see deer. We did that the first morning of the weekend, and didn't see anything. So around 10AM, we bailed out to go get something to eat at the local diner. After our brunch, we went for a driving tour of the island, and around noon, we started noticing that deer were popping out everywhere. We raced back to the property, and sure enough, they were coming out to the orchards, too. Once we got the hang of the local deer habits, it was all gravy.

[seizuresalad]

I forget to mention, almost all of Pender is private land, or Gulf Islands National Park. Which is why even though we saw deer everywhere, we had to be on the specific property we had permission on, in order to actually arrow any.