They really are everywhere. For five years there have been sanctioned bow hunts at Oak Mountain State Park outside Birmingham to cull the growing population of deer. The first 2009 hunt is next week.
And it's not just here in The South...areas north of New York City are also fighting the foraging monster that herds of wild deer have become.
It's also the time of year here in Alabama when another kind of deer culling will be underway...the kind that happens when tons of automotive steel meets pounds of living venison on the highway. November is the peak month for deer/car accidents, according to an Insurance Industry study. The number of people killed in those accidents in Alabama is relatively small...two in 2007...43 between 1993 and 2007...but the collisions do cause injury and damage. I came across one driving to Tuscaloosa last Fall, but he stayed off the road. Good for us.
Although I'm not an "outdoor sportsman" (translation: hunter/fisherman), I do enjoy the great outdoors, and by no means begrudge those whom hunt or fish.
ReplyDeleteDoing some research, as I am wont to do, I was amazed to find out that because of Alabama's wise game management practices, our waters and woods have been flourishing with game!
Seriously!
Several years ago, Alabama had virtually no wild turkey population. Now, we have an abundance. Similarly for deer and other species.
And, of all states in our union, Alabama has the greatest biodiversity!
Alabama is making a name for itself among other states for hunting and fishing!
For example, while out in CA's Hoover Wilderness Area not too long ago, I met some hunters whom were hoping to bag a deer. In our conversation, they inquired about my home state, to which I replied "Alabama." They both remarked, "Y'all have some deer out that way, don't you?"
Deer, of course, are not stupid.
Those hunters remarked to me that at first snowfall, the deer migrate across the state line to Nevada. A colleague of mine whom also hunted remarked similarly, that at or around first snowfall in the mountains, the deer migrate down in toward the more populated areas.
Turns out, they don't wanna' be hunted! *LOL*
BUT! It IS OPEN SEASON for wild boar throughout CA! Reason why, is that they're causing significant damage to private property, farms, yards and the like.
Suuu-eee!