The predators will be licking their lips

[cuervosail]

It will be interesting to see how many of these deer survive for very long .

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/deer-relocation-kootenays-cull-elkford-cranbrook-kimberley-1.3379671

[Husky7mm]

I think its great, its never been done before. Sometimes you have to through some shit and hope it sticks. The mule deer population in the wilderness of EK are way down but in town they are a plague. I wish them luck. All the more reason to get out there and hunt some predators this winter.

[Stormy]

This sounds like a great Idea - I hope that they relocate the deer far enough away so that they don't just walk back home (town) in a couple of weeks...

[Rob Chipman]

I saw the news story too - the results need to be monitored by us (the news won't do it).

Why do urban deer do so well? It's gotta be the roses, right?

So, if they have lost effective predator evasion skills or if they confuse a wolf with a domestic dog the program won't work (unless the goal is to quietly kill urban deer and avoid a public outcry, in which case this is an awesome feel good execution plan). That means there needs to be a different solution for urban deer (I vote for birth control pills mixed with the water!)

But, if they get eaten enough in the wild to, well, disappear, then it speaks a bit to how predator control might just be a real thing, not just something in the imagination of hunters. No predators in urban areas - lots of deer. When there are predators = not as many.

Don't get me wrong - predators have a role and I don't want all of them gone. I want a wider understanding among the public of what saving the charismatic mega-fauna means.

It'll also be interesting to see if deer are like bears - that is, they return.

[Mulehahn]

The simple facts of the matter are there are to many deer in town and something has to be done. Then it comes down to a question of cost to the cities. If it is going to cost double to relocate than kill them, then kill them and donate the meat. If the cost is comparable, than I say relocate them. Yes, the predators will get 90% of them but that is still leaves 8 deer more in the hills than before.

[Salty]

The project's only a hundred grand split between a few communities. Sure that's a chunk of coin for you and me but in the big picture and if you compare the costs of a cull, which would be complicated to the nth degree its pretty cheap and probably worth a shot. Be interesting to see how much if any success there is for the town deer making it in the wilds I'm not holding my breath. But I'd be pleased to be wrong on that especially with MD pops in the wild not doing so well there.

[dracb]

Why not just import a pack of wolves. Share it between the communities and then rent it out to other deer plagued communities in a couple of months when the deer are gone from the pack owne'rs towns. It would be educational for the wolf loving urbanites watching all their "SICK" and "OLD" deer being eaten alive. The deer would very quickly develop predator evasion skills and move out of town back into the bush and probably result in more deer surviving than in the catching, transporting and releasing deer back into the wild scenario. :<)

[walks with deer]

I am all for it hope non of the deer transplanted are heavily diseased.

I have found imbred deer to be smaller and have warts and even spare legs growing from the dew claw.
hope they don't mess with the genes negatively or create extra pred survival.

[Seeker]

Why not just import a pack of wolves. Share it between the communities and then rent it out to other deer plagued communities in a couple of months when the deer are gone from the pack owne'rs towns. It would be educational for the wolf loving urbanites watching all their "SICK" and "OLD" deer being eaten alive. The deer would very quickly develop predator evasion skills and move out of town back into the bush and probably result in more deer surviving than in the catching, transporting and releasing deer back into the wild scenario. :<)


That there is funny Shite! Rent them to Miley!

[Xenomorph]

That there is funny Shite! Rent them to Miley!

HA... good one

[Rob Chipman]

That was pretty good!

[curt]

relocating animals is always a better option to at least try, rather than just killing them especially with the poor populations right now even if only 5-10% survive that 5-10% more than we had.

[j270wsm]

I wasnt happy with the way the town of elkford did the cull. Instead of targeting does as a way to reduce the population, we killed any and every deer that walked into the traps. Some of the bucks hang around all year but most show up in october so I figured conservation would have laid out a better plan than to simply kill every deer that was trapped. We have almost as many deer now as we did before the cull.

I have mixed feelings about transplanting the local deer. Chances are that some of them will find their way back or into new communities. Also heard that mule deer aren't very good at handling being tranquilized( not sure if that's true ).
Hopefully transplanting will work and help our population start to come back.

[Everett]

Once a buck is in a trap there is no way to get him out alive without endangering the person doing the cull. The reason you have as many deer now is because 1. they didn't kill enough the first time. 2. They didn't follow up with successive culls.


I wasnt happy with the way the town of elkford did the cull. Instead of targeting does as a way to reduce the population, we killed any and every deer that walked into the traps. Some of the bucks hang around all year but most show up in october so I figured conservation would have laid out a better plan than to simply kill every deer that was trapped. We have almost as many deer now as we did before the cull.

I have mixed feelings about transplanting the local deer. Chances are that some of them will find their way back or into new communities. Also heard that mule deer aren't very good at handling being tranquilized( not sure if that's true ).
Hopefully transplanting will work and help our population start to come back.

[j270wsm]

The town of elkford developed what they called " the urban deer management committee ". The committee held a few deer counts and originally came up with between 120-180 deer living in town. These counts were done ~ 2yrs before the cull but couldn't get town council and the residents to agree on an acceptable method of reducing the population. In the end it was decided that 38 deer would be culled, Unfortunately close to half of those were bucks.

I agree that we should have targeted more than half the estimated deer population. I did not agree with the " trapping method " for deciding which animals were killed. It would have been better to hire some one to shoot them when found in safe locations.

[killman]

Bring them here...

[Everett]

I agree shooting is the way to go but the public will not go for it. It sucks but once a buck is in the trap he has to die.


The town of elkford developed what they called " the urban deer management committee ". The committee held a few deer counts and originally came up with between 120-180 deer living in town. These counts were done ~ 2yrs before the cull but couldn't get town council and the residents to agree on an acceptable method of reducing the population. In the end it was decided that 38 deer would be culled, Unfortunately close to half of those were bucks.

I agree that we should have targeted more than half the estimated deer population. I did not agree with the " trapping method " for deciding which animals were killed. It would have been better to hire some one to shoot them when found in safe locations.

[sawmill]

80 deer moved by a team of "experts" for only $100,000? And GPS`d as well. I call bullshit.And that`s for 4 towns.Christ sake I have 9 in my yard right now. Talk about pissin` money....tax payer money...... up against the wall.