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December 10, 2002

>Delaware County Daily and Sunday Times
>Attn: EDITOR
>Via facsimile:

>Dear Editor:

>As your paper prepares to do another story on the impending slaughter at
>Ridley Creek State Park, I ask once again that you try to present a
>scientific, balanced set of information. Please make the PA Game
>Commission and the park management accountable for their actions. Ask
>them these important questions, bullet points from my previous letter to
>you in response to John Roman's articles of December 5 & 6, 2001:
>
>Ø Mr. Roman states that the herd is 'burgeoning'. On what is this based?
> Are there comparative statistics from recent scientific counts? If such
>studies are available, why do park officials evade requests for such
>information from concerned citizens?

>Ø If the herd is 'burgeoning' (growing and expanding rapidly), how can
>ANYONE believe that 18 (now 19) YEARS OF KILLING has accomplished the
>alleged goal of balancing the herd (rather than the actual goal of
>providing hunting opportunities)? No effective method of doing anything
>should take 18 years to work.

>Ø If the goal is truly population reduction or stability, why does the park
>allow taking of male deer, contrary to the fundamental principle of herd
>reduction? As any wildlife biologist will admit, and as stated in our own
>PGC's (Pennsylvania Game Commission) Wildlife Note on White-tailed deer,
>'population control can be achieved ONLY by harvesting female deer'; yet
>42% of those killed last week were bucks.

>Ø The deer are eating everything in the park yet are thin? There is new
>plant growth yet a burgeoning herd? Again, where is the evidence of these
>ridiculous contradictions? Are these deer as poorly monitored and
>inefficiently recorded as the bow hunters themselves ('During this year's
>archery hunt, 38 kills were reported, but the number may be about 60.')?
>Ø Should we believe that a hunting neurologist is the expert on wildlife
>contraception? Might he have ulterior motives for demeaning a method
>which is certainly effective in far less than 18 years? (Please see
>attachment for factual information on contraception and where it is
>working)
>
>The hunts have become nothing more than an entertainment opportunity for
>hunters, as more land is disappearing and the places they can go have
>dwindled. No comprehensive study on the deer population or their impact
>on the park has ever been done, nor is there any validated, scientific
>proof that almost two decades of senseless killing has had the desired
>affect.
>
>In fact, according to most accounts, the herd in Pennsylvania has INCREASED
>through years of habitat manipulation, feeding, and killing of male deer,
>among other factors. Mr. Roman's article opened with 'A deer hunter
>places his buck in the back of his pickup truck in Ridley Creek State Park
>yesterday'. This is what it's all about!! Yet basic deer biology
>dictates that the females must be controlled to achieve a decrease in
>population. KILLING MALES IS FOR TROPHIES ONLY!
>· 'Population control can only be facilitated through a rationed harvest of
>female deer.' PA Game Commission website,
>http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PGC/w_notes/deer.htm
>
>· 'Deer do not have monogamous mating relationships, and bucks will often
>mate with more than one female. As a result, the ratio of does to bucks
>sets the stage for a population explosion.' In Defense of Animals online
>Deer Fact Sheet: http://www.idausa.org/facts/deercontrol.html
>
>· A buck may mate with several does - up to 20 has been noted under pen
>conditions. http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/wtdeer.html#reproduction
>
>The article also stated "Bagged were 45 does and 32 bucks." and " During
>this year's archery hunt between Sept. 29 and Nov. 10, 38 kills were
>reported, but the number may be about 60.". This denotes poor park
>management, poor record keeping, and a desire to keep numbers HIGH, not
>stabilized. I REPEAT, AS PER ABOVE, killing just ANY deer does not create
>a long-term stabilization of the population, it is in fact the OPPOSITE!!!
> Any hunters that allow the killing of male deer are for the hunters, not
>for the health of the deer population, and not for the public!!!!
>
>It is simple logic to recognize that if something works, it should have
>begun working after more than a century. Organized hunting has taken place
>in PA for over 100 years, and I defy anyone to prove scientifically that
>there has been a reduction, or even a stabilization of the herd. Where?
>When? Based on what evidence? If such stabilization occurred,
>hunting-license sales would decrease drastically (though thankfully the
>number of hunters IS declining). Excuses presented to the general public
>to lull them into acceptance of this morbid hobby, would not be so easily
>accepted.
>
>Thank you for taking the time to review this information. Please feel free
>to contact me with question, or for more scientific references to the
>above. I, and others, will be available for comments and questions,
>though we will not be physically present at the hunt. PLEASE do NOT
>mistake this for lack of protest. Unlike the hunters, we are not
>requesting time off from our paying jobs to stand in the cold. We believe
>we can better achieve our goals through comprehensive public education.
>This includes inviting you, and the general public, to a wildlife panel
>discussion, question and answer session, and displays on living in harmony
>with deer, at the Villanova Conference Center. This event will take place
>on Sunday, January 19, at 2:30 p.m. We respectfully request that you
>promote this as you do the bow hunts, in interest of putting forth accurate
>information on non-lethal options.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>
>Jenny Reimenschneider, President


November 30, 2002

Letters to the editor for November 30, 2002

Reader views on hunting

The column, "Dear memories of opening day," made bow-hunting sound good! How can anyone connect bow-hunting and feeling close to nature?
I've attended bow-hunting seminars, read the magazines, manuals and watched the videos. Continually bow-hunters are told to become experts at following blood trails. That is because almost always, the arrow-struck deer runs frantically away, sometimes for miles, lies down and bleeds to death.
Opening day of shotgun season holds no "dear memories" for me. It means weeks of patrolling a wildlife refuge where hunters constantly are trespassing. I have to watch as hunters line up for their "drives." One group stands by the refuge border, guns in hand. Another group walks screaming, shooting guns, chasing panicked deer into the line of awaiting assassins.
Instead of finding their normal sanctuary, the deer find pain and death. Two of my memories: photos of a doe, stomach shot wide open, found crawling to food and a buck so riddled with shot he starved to death.
Valerie Will
Orchard Park

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