The State Department of Environmental Conservation arrested two men in Water Mill in early October as part of what it said is a major initiative to crack down on deer poaching, one that also resulted in the arrests of more than 100 others across the state over a seven-week period, state officials revealed this week.
The two men, Jeffrey Klein, 35, of Copiague and Ivan Ramirez, 38, of Lindenhurst, were arrested after being caught “deer jacking” a decoy deer set up by DEC officers. Deer jacking is the process of shining a spotlight on a deer to stop it in its tracks long enough to kill it. The deer jacking occurred on October 2 at about 6 p.m. on Schwenks Road, a residential area off Edge of Woods Road, during the... more
The two men, Jeffrey Klein, 35, of Copiague and Ivan Ramirez, 38, of Lindenhurst, were arrested after being caught “deer jacking” a decoy deer set up by DEC officers. Deer jacking is the process of shining a spotlight on a deer to stop it in its tracks long enough to kill it. The deer jacking occurred on October 2 at about 6 p.m. on Schwenks Road, a residential area off Edge of Woods Road, during the... more
~Forrest Gump
We could organize something similar to the Polar Bear Swim for fund raising purposes. Call it the Bamby Massacre or Venison Kill each year. Hunters and residents would pay to participate. That money would be contributed to a fund supporting ...more a worthy cause like dear castration, leaf pick up, or shots of booze to warm up the Polar Bear swimmers—bet you the cops ain’t gonna stalk those revelers when they come out of Cooper’s. Seriously any good cause would do.
Likewise the “Venison” would be surrendered to the fund as well. Or the “hunter” could keep their Deer for an extra fee so they can hang a trophy on their walls. The remaining venison could be used to supply soup kitchens in the region. Otherwise, they could be canned as organic meat products: “Hampton’s Deerest” “Fed on the finest flowers and shrubs from some of the most expensive real estate in the world.”...(Of course, we don’t mention all the chemicals we use to try to grow them before the deer have at them).
The less desirable meat could be used for pet food purposes with catchy local names like Sag Bits, Bridge Hoppers, South Kibbles...I have a target market in mind. Wink Wink. Of course the hides would be sold of ass well. Quite a local industry and jobs could develop to support a worthy cause. The biggest risk would be the same idea catching on throughout the land.
I like deer. I even don’t mind them in the yard anymore. I’m scared about the ticks and would rather they feed on my lawn rather than my shrubs and flowers. But the deer problem as far as I’m concerned is a traffic problem. I’m as concerned about a deer jumping out at my car as I am about a drunk driver,( even though the latter might be more destructive and dangerous. We are all pretty used to the deer jumping across the road. On a good day that’s when they are only a few hundred feet ahead of you. On a bad day its when they jump out right at you. Couple that with the ass-wholes that tailgate you all the time out here you can have areal tragedy too. ( Where are the cops when these tailgaters are at you.)
I’m silly maybe but well meaning animal rights advocates have to be reasonable about the problem. Its not just about saving deer, its also about saving people too
A: Your yard, before it was developed.
Q: Where did they used to stomp out trails with their hooves?
A: Your property, before it was developed.
It's not a deer problem of overpopulation on this island, it's a people problem.
My question is if I can get close enough to chop it's head off with a sword, CAN I, CAN I, PLEASE!!!!
How dare the DEC regulate something like hunting, which could never result in injury or death of innocent people
These idiots were firing their weapons FROM a vehicle on a road. You really don't have a problem with that? If your kids were walking home from a friends house on a dark road at night, it wouldn't bother you that someone was shooting a bow + arrow from their ...more car right next to them?
These people were discharging weapons within 500' of homes. Again, you don't see an issue with that?
DEC allows, and encourages hunting. But it's really not that hard to stay within the law...
I forget...
They used to wear red kerchiefs in the mines, as a sign of solidarity while fighting to form a union.
According to Wikipedia, the term was adopted by union miners in the early twentieth century but it predates that as a term describing a poor white farmer whose neck is burnt red by spending all day under the sun in the fields.
" [coal miners] appropriated both the term redneck and its literal manifestation"
Instead of encouraging the meanest among us to kill these innocent creatures, we should use only humane and compassionate methods of control, like sterilization.
I know that this flies in the face of our primal instinct to kill but, since our brains have developed into organs that can conceive of ...more ethics rather than simply make our hand-and-eye coordination better, we could choose to oppose that primal instinct for the betterment of ourselves.
Rather than to continue to crush mindlessly everything that our base natures see as prey, we should turn our efforts to changing our cognition to appreciate the unique value of all sentient creatures. We might even wind up being nicer to each other.
And how does hunter = meanest among us? If you hunt (or fish, which is the exact same thing from an ethical standpoint) you're "mean"?
I used "mean" in the sense of "selfish" and "unfeeling", the most distinguishing characteristic of a predator.
As for, "[n]othing wrong with killing animals for food. . .", that's our species' predatory perspective. As long as it's not US, we can kill and eat it. Uber-predators replace the "US" with "ME".
Since we have been killing (and occasionally eating) each other throughout recorded history and the archeological record in repetitive, immutable violence, ...more perhaps it is time to consider there is something fundamental in human nature that we should try to change, or at least, avoid. We could start with the most proximate violent cohort, the hunters, and forbid them from hunting.
Are you ready to ban fishing as well? There is *no* difference in shooting an animal with a gun and hooking an animal with a lure. At least with hunting there is a chance the animal can try and attack you - not the case with fishing.
If you think humans are selfish for hunting, then what word do you use for those who run slaughterhouses? Humans eat meat and plants. It doesn't make us savages.
Naturally, I think we should neither hunt nor fish for the same reason, both deer and fish are sentient. I value the lives of deer higher than fish because deer and I are in the same taxonomic class and I can understand their cognition better.
What would lead you to conclude that we are NOT savages, given that we kill other animals for food and fun? In the former case, we "forget" the slaughterhouse horror ...more that produced those nice plastic- wrapped viands in the meat department but we are no less responsible for the slaughter. Our predatory nature makes us indifferent.
As for the word for those who run slaughterhouses, "normal", is the first word that comes to mind. It's the perception that makes war inevitable.
Not too long ago a neighbor found an arrow with a multiple razor tip stuck in the side of his home 6" next to a window. Nice had that come through the window and hit one of his kids.
Good job DEC.
They can travel much further than the intended target, on occasion, with dire consequences.
Is that a fact? Hunters are not permitted to use rifles (or shotguns?) on Long Island? Is that the law?
Shotguns are OK.
Now, there are none, because these "animals", and we call them that, as if we aren't, ate them all to the point they didn't sprout back. I just let them have the peaches in the front yard, and nibble at the low parts of my yews.
The blueberries disappearing should tell you something...
I personally do not condone jacking deer as we have too many children on our property and we hunt our own property legally. We have had poachers so brazen as to come up our drive and drive into our fields which are posted and shoot with both methods at deer. I have no problems with anyone wanting ...more to hunt so long as they do it where they are allowed to and safely.
Yes, we have too many deer but what folks don't realize is that deer are similar in reproduction as pigs "figuratively". If you want a sow to super ovulate and produce a large litter, you feed her high protein. This causes the sow to have lots and lots of babies. The same holds true for does. People who feed them, think they are doing a kind and humane deed especially thru the winter. Mother nature though will only provide so much and if not enough food is available then nature will take its course and the strong survive, weak die out. A doe will either reproduce none, a single and sometimes twins during food hardships. But if supplied with food from well meaning humans thru feeding or landscapes, they can produce twins, triplets and even quads.
Sadly, this can lead to abandoned fawns which starve to death or premies which also die. Should the doe be a stong doe and she has a steady supply of food, she will be able to tend to all her young and the population has now expanded greatly. With human encroachment there isn't enough environment to support the population.
Anyone who has enough property for someone to legally hunt and would welcome hunters may want to contact the DEC as there are always hunters looking for places out east here. Even posting on Craig's List there are many folks looking for places to hunt. NYS has a lottery for state lands but there are only so many spots available.
It's also not just upisland folks poaching, there are local folks that poach to.
There is nothing wrong with hunting so long as it is done safely, that's the point. If folks didn't poach and act irresponsibly thus giving hunting a bad name, then the DEC wouldn't have to be out wasting their time with stings. Hunt safely and legally and it's a non-issue.
Be well :-)
"Manner of Taking: Shotgun, using a single ball or slug, or a muzzleloading rifle, shooting a single projectile, having a minimum bore of 0.44 inches. Shotgun barrels may be rifled, and telescopic sights may be used."
- http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/40409.html
That's for the "Special Firearms Deer Season in parts of Suffolk County" which is open in January. Joggers be advised.
However, if you knew the facts all along, you could have posted them and saved yourself the angst of reading my ruminations.
I'm not condoning what these two Bozos were doing, but I don't condone the fear mongering, the kids are in danger baloney either. They were wrong, but let's not act like if they hadn't been stopped someone's child would be dead. It is possible ...more and it is also possible that that same child could be saved by these two fools killing the deer that would've later went through the windshield of their car and killed the kid. Yeah, that is a stretch, but this whole thing is.
We as humans do many more bloodlustual things than shooting some dumb deer for fun, food whatever. I would like to shoot one just for the flowers they eat and I have no desire to eat one. I'd love to shoot one though, the thought of it makes my tummy feel all warm and tingly.