News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Deerpocalypse Now: Hunters Woods to Live Up to Its Name This Fall

Call it truth in advertising: Last week, the Reston Association gave homeowners on Sourwood Lane in Hunters Woods permission to hold a controlled deer hunt. It's the fourth time in recent years that such a hunt has been approved by the RA, and a motion to defer the decision until September did not pass.

Now the Washington Post news-paper has written about it in the context of broader deer-management strategies across the county:

RA President Ken Knueven said Reston would be taking a wider look at the issue this fall, and “I think we need to address this by tying it to the bigger efforts being made by the county and state,” such as the hunts run by Fairfax County. “If we’re all doing it together maybe we can have a greater impact.” David Burns, a Reston resident who spoke against the hunt, said he urged the Reston board to “defer this until you can put this into the broader perspective of overall deer management.” He also felt that a wider discussion about deer had yet to occur in Reston, originally designed as an ecologically friendly community.
The decision has been more fraught with emotion than past requests, though both the majority of nearby residents and those who spoke at the public hearing were in favor of the hunt.

Let's not forget, though, that way back in ought-seven, the RA lost a lawsuit after it had previously denied permission to two Buckthorn Lane residents who wanted to allow bow hunts on their property. The powerful Archery Trade Association takes no prisoners! That decision allowed the RA to make its own rules about whether to allow such hunts, but because of all the lawyering, they need a paper trail to be really, really thorough.

Hence the 42-page document on the hunting request. And it has it all!

Photos of deer:

Deer

Photos of eated dead vegetation:

Vegetation

The map that uncannily resembles a presidential election map:

Map

And our favorite: A photo showing exactly what tree the bow hunter will climb to take potshots at the unsuspecting fauna:

Stand
We'll look forward to a more comprehensive approach to managing deer than the periodic requests to be rid of them in various leafy neighborhoods. In the meantime, we'll be sure to steer far clear of that tree on our daily constitutionals, the end.

8 comments:

  1. Maybe if the deer become one of Reston's famous "Weed Warriors" no one will complain? They'll become heroes instead.

    Rock Creek culls their deer population with a birth control vaccine. Seems a lot safer than someone walking around with a bow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wrong and wrong again in the second paragraph. U.S. Park Police conducted a hunt in Rock Creek Park, Fairfax City did the sterilization at a cost of $1,000 per deer. The upcoming hunt off of Glade involves bowhunters shooting downward from elevated stands. Nobody's walking around the woods like a yahoo from Deliverance.

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    2. If it'd keep those Rats with Hooves outa' my Hosta, they could use grenade lanuchers.

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    3. Yes! Each one is a $1,000+ auto repair bill (or dead driver) on the hoof.

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  2. Bowling 4 BollardsJuly 3, 2014 at 4:56 PM

    Kill! Kill! Kill!
    Kill them all!
    Where is Ted Nugent when we need him?
    The annual debate about Bambi hunting is one of the joys (not) of living in Reston. But I have no issue with periodic hunts to thin the herd, it is good ecological practice to keep flora and fauna in equipoise. Right now we are overrun with deer and they must be controlled as effectively as possible.
    Deer hunts are part of that ecological balancing act.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can we hunt the property owners who FEED them too?

      Delete
  3. Peasant From Less Sought After South RestonJuly 5, 2014 at 10:12 PM

    Maybe PETA has plans to take an axe to that tree from which Suburban Whitetail Management will be raining down a holy hell of arrows on Bambi & Co.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That image of DeNiro precisely captures the feeling every gardener in Reston has when they step out of their house in the morning and see what's left of their landscaping after another night raid by the deer.

    Bambi must be terminated with extreme prejudice.

    ReplyDelete

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