40 years ago, there were half as many people...

Yes, the deer are everywhere in the Midwest, and yes, they are big! Not the schnauzer sized deer we have here in FL. Of course there are no predators to control the population, (besides man) so they go on their merry way. It's a serious road hazard in rural areas.

Big predators are getting pushed out of their habitats and showing up more and more in populated areas. We had a black bear sighting less than a mile from the GRM offices a few months ago. (and we're in a suburb-type area) There was also a full-grown Cougar that was killed within the City of Chicago a couple of years ago. It seems Chicago cops don't have a lot of training when it comes to subduing Mountain Lions! ......It was later found that this guy came all the way from North Dakota.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuB0Koi0OvU

bravenrace wrote:

Bobzilla wrote:

oldopelguy wrote: city folks vs country folks war

Bring it.

You're on! Wait, which sides are we on????

All us country folks have to do is cut off ya'll city folks food supply. You will kill each other for that last can of beans. Then those that remain will try and raid the country folks for food forgetting that the higher percentage of gun owners, hunters and all around marksmen are country folk. Most city folk I know only have a gun as protection in the city and most don't practice enough with it to be effective. Us country folk also have better practice at living off the land, finding clean water, hunting, fishing and general survival than most city folk. We do that stuff for fun in places some of ya'll would never set foot cause there ain't no room service, internet connect or even cell service. You may have some that have the skills and abilities but heck we just have more. My son is 4 days old and I am already planning our first camping, fishing and hunting outings. I have games planned for teaching him survival skills in fun ways that will make it easy for him to learn stuff. I already have his first rifle (it was my first rifle I got when I was six). Heck I even have a back pack for him that will clip to my pack.

Not that I have thought of such scenarios.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Nick_Comstock wrote: Ebola is here. CDC confirmed first victim in Dallas.

Well... that right there is an ASSLOAD of bad news.

Yes, it is. No telling who he may have infected before he showed up at the hospital. The CDC and WHO keep insisting that it isn't transmitted by airborne methods (in honesty that's not real likely) or aerosol (sneezes etc) but there have been a couple of incidents that were inexplicable, one of which happened right here in the good ol' US of A with monkeys and indicates aerosol transmission. Thankfully, that involved the one strain of Ebola that is not fatal to humans, although it really rips through the monkey population. The book 'The Hot Zone' was written about this incident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston_virus

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/08/25-years-ago-a-different-ebola-outbreak-in-reston-va--105940.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7547435

Joe Gearin wrote: Yes, the deer are everywhere in the Midwest, and yes, they are big! Not the schnauzer sized deer we have here in FL. Of course there are no predators to control the population, (besides man) so they go on their merry way. It's a serious road hazard in rural areas. Big predators are getting pushed out of their habitats and showing up more and more in populated areas. We had a black bear sighting less than a mile from the GRM offices a few months ago. (and we're in a suburb-type area) There was also a full-grown Cougar that was killed within the City of Chicago a couple of years ago. It seems Chicago cops don't have a lot of training when it comes to subduing Mountain Lions! ......It was later found that this guy came all the way from North Dakota. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuB0Koi0OvU

I wouldn't say no predators. Coyotes are making a huge comeback here. In fact, I had one (again) in my yard on Sunday early morning.

In reply to Bobzilla:

I thin their populations every opportunity.

The deer, meh. I get DNR depredation permits in the summer when i'm bored

LainfordExpress wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: And in 1920, The state of CT was basically deforested with 0 deer or moose present.

My grandfather lived his whole life in rural Ohio and didn't see a live deer until he was 26 years old. FACT. Anybody that lives in Ohio knows we've turned that around. Deer are a borderline nuisance animal know. That change was 100% manmade, and motivated by the desire to hunt them, as many forget.

again I can't verify this … but I had always heard that the growth in the deer population was actually due to man … as in the cutting of the virgin forests (for all the usual reasons)

deer eat the new growth …low hanging green of the young trees

old growth virgin forests didn't have all that much underbrush, therefore not all that much food for the deer, which led to natural selection and herd culling

with forest cutting, there was then more and more new growth/brush for them and the herds started growing

may or may not be the reason

Joe Gearin wrote: Yes, the deer are everywhere in the Midwest, and yes, they are big! Not the schnauzer sized deer we have here in FL. Of course there are no predators to control the population, (besides man) so they go on their merry way. It's a serious road hazard in rural areas. Big predators are getting pushed out of their habitats and showing up more and more in populated areas. We had a black bear sighting less than a mile from the GRM offices a few months ago. (and we're in a suburb-type area) There was also a full-grown Cougar that was killed within the City of Chicago a couple of years ago. It seems Chicago cops don't have a lot of training when it comes to subduing Mountain Lions! ......It was later found that this guy came all the way from North Dakota. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuB0Koi0OvU

multiple sightings of black bears in downtown Asheville for many yrs now

Duke wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

KyAllroad wrote: Still rooting for Ebola. Thin the herd!!

That sounds like a really bad way to go. If I'm having to be culled I think I'd prefer to be nuked.

And if we're thinning the herd, I'd rather an Ebola version that targets stupid brains.

Predators are nature's proven way of culling the dim-witted.

I'd prefer zombies, but since those and velociraptors probably aren't available, I guess we'll have to reintroduce grizzly bears across the continental US.

I'll let the the other continents choose the form of their destructors.

Joe Gearin wrote: We had a black bear sighting less than a mile from the GRM offices a few months ago. (and we're in a suburb-type area) There was also a full-grown Cougar that was killed within the City of Chicago a couple of years ago. It seems Chicago cops don't have a lot of training when it comes to subduing Mountain Lions! ......It was later found that this guy came all the way from North Dakota. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuB0Koi0OvU

Our next-door neighbors had a black bear sighting in their driveway! There was one in the neighborhood for a little while. Our neighborhood borders water, so the thought is that he or she came down the river.

Ian F wrote: Nuisance indeed. I saw a deer kill on I-95 the other day... in Philadelphia... South Philadelphia (near the stadium complex)... Warehouses on one side... overseas docks on the other... and the roadway is elevated 20' off the ground...

Does South Philadelphia have the same types of playgrounds where you can shoot B-Ball outside of the school that West Philadelphia has?

I live on top of a mountain in the Adirondack's of NY. Fortunately there is a large number of all kinds of wildlife going through my yard on almost a daily basis.

I think that it's interesting that 7 billion people standing shoulder to shoulder would take up less than half the land area of the State of Rhode Island.

jmc14 wrote: I think that it's interesting that 7 billion people standing shoulder to shoulder would take up less than half the land area of the State of Rhode Island.

Even less if you grind them to paste.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

You are a terrible person. However, I am also terrible because I frequently laugh at your posts so carry on.

Deer populations exploded because their natural predators (panthers, wolves, cougars, bears etc) were killed off, leaving pretty much only man. Combine that with the aggressive forest fire control of the last 40 or so years making for a lot of tender seedlings and saplings and their numbers REALLY took off, causing them to forage afar for food, putting them in our lawns and gardens. Yeah, it's a man made problem.

The city of Hilton Head had a huge problem with deer in the city limits, eating those nice tender flowers the 1% spent so much money and time on, the 1% demanded something be done. So the city issued some 1500 permits for suppressed rifle, bow and crossbow hunting in the city limits starting back in the early 1990's, the 1% and the animal rights activists saw THAT and really freaked the berkeley out. The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of deer population control.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Nick_Comstock wrote: Ebola is here. CDC confirmed first victim in Dallas.

Well... that right there is an ASSLOAD of bad news.

Speak for yourself. Now it it happened in a civilized part of our country(i.e. not texas)...

wbjones wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: Yes, the deer are everywhere in the Midwest, and yes, they are big! Not the schnauzer sized deer we have here in FL. Of course there are no predators to control the population, (besides man) so they go on their merry way. It's a serious road hazard in rural areas. Big predators are getting pushed out of their habitats and showing up more and more in populated areas. We had a black bear sighting less than a mile from the GRM offices a few months ago. (and we're in a suburb-type area) There was also a full-grown Cougar that was killed within the City of Chicago a couple of years ago. It seems Chicago cops don't have a lot of training when it comes to subduing Mountain Lions! ......It was later found that this guy came all the way from North Dakota. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuB0Koi0OvU

multiple sightings of black bears in downtown Asheville for many yrs now

There was a Bear sighting around the Greensboro PTI airport a couple years ago and the Police had to kill it.

My dad grew up in south Georgia roaming the fields and woodlands hunting and working. Deer were do rare that it made the paper when someone killed a buck while he was in highschool (late 50s.) It was the first deer anyone could remember in the county. Now? The county weight record on whitetails goes up every year, it's approaching small cow territory now. And don't even get me started on the pigs. If you've ever seen the documentary "Pig Bomb" it was filmed not far from here.

Whoever mentioned water shortages may be right.

wbjones wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: Yes, the deer are everywhere in the Midwest, and yes, they are big! Not the schnauzer sized deer we have here in FL. Of course there are no predators to control the population, (besides man) so they go on their merry way. It's a serious road hazard in rural areas. Big predators are getting pushed out of their habitats and showing up more and more in populated areas. We had a black bear sighting less than a mile from the GRM offices a few months ago. (and we're in a suburb-type area) There was also a full-grown Cougar that was killed within the City of Chicago a couple of years ago. It seems Chicago cops don't have a lot of training when it comes to subduing Mountain Lions! ......It was later found that this guy came all the way from North Dakota. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuB0Koi0OvU

multiple sightings of black bears in downtown Asheville for many yrs now

We had a black bear in downtown Spartanburg last week.

BTW has anybody here eaten a wild (feral)pig?

yamaha wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: I thin their populations every opportunity. The deer, meh. I get DNR depredation permits in the summer when i'm bored

Yeah.... still got to get me a Coyote thinner tool.

The last city folk vs country folk thing didn't end so well for the country folk.

wbjones wrote: again I can't verify this … but I had always heard that the growth in the deer population was actually due to man … as in the cutting of the virgin forests (for all the usual reasons) deer eat the new growth …low hanging green of the young trees old growth virgin forests didn't have all that much underbrush, therefore not all that much food for the deer, which led to natural selection and herd culling with forest cutting, there was then more and more new growth/brush for them and the herds started growing may or may not be the reason

At least in MI, this isn't the case, there was a time in the 50s, after the logging days, when we had actually almost wiped the whitetail deer entirely out of the lower peninsula. Its often stated, only semi jokingly that the Mackinac bridge was actually built because the hunter traffic in the fall was overwhelming the ferry services to the UP. Conservation efforts went too far and now they're everywhere and huge from eating all the corn being grown. Its bad enough that most years the doe bag limit is one, per day.

The black bear population in NYS has grown. One even killed a hiker recently. Unheard of.

Will wrote: I'd prefer zombies, but since those and velociraptors probably aren't available, I guess we'll have to reintroduce grizzly bears across the continental US.

How do you think the grizzly bears vanished? Us tool users shot them all. I don't fear really big animals because I know how to kill them. I'm terrified of the really small ones (viruses).

IIn reply to logdog:

It did. Until a couple of guys who were up to no good started making trouble in that neighborhood.

rotard wrote: The last city folk vs country folk thing didn't end so well for the country folk.

We're getting better in our ways and methods....