Time to cull Okanaganites that complain about wildlife

[tsayta]

Deer should be banned. Especially since there is evidence they smoke, cause fires, don't open dams early enough, and erect illegal fences on waterfront

[Fancy]

..except during hunting season...

[Rwede]

Yeup.... BAD Kitty .....

Sadly , the predators are a "nuisance" and not worthy of animal status because they're not cute enough ...

Predators have full protection under the Wildlife Act, same as any other wildlife.

Harvest is controlled via restrictive hunting season and populations are closely monitored, more so than ungulates, with all cats on compulsory inspection and some regions have wolf compulsory inspection.

However, at this point, hunter harvest is too low to have an impact on cougar populations, as many of the "old timer" cat hunters just don't get out there anymore, and not many newbies are taking it up.

There's a huge investment required in dogs and sleds and tracking collars to be an effective cat hunter. BC resident hunters only take 15 - 20 cats per year in region 8, and with 65 - 75% of those being toms, the population continues to grow.

Wolf populations are unaffected by hunter harvest. Wolf populations are so resilient that a harvest of >75% for at least 5 straight years is required to reduce populations. Hunters are lucky to see a wolf, let alone get a shot at one. Grand total of 16 wolves shot in 2015 in all of region 8, from a population that's likely nearing 500 animals now.

[westbankkid]

I have black bears that keep coming up the ravine and into my back yard. Should I be asking the city to cull them?

NAHHHHH> Just get out the old rifle and have some bear steaks....

[MAPearce]

Deer should be banned. Especially since there is evidence they smoke, cause fires, don't open dams early enough, and erect illegal fences on waterfront

Yeah.... and they don`t pick up after their dog.....

[tsayta]

Damn deermans.

[Queen K]

..except during hunting season...

We were talking to a hunter one day, he was saying that there more deer than ever because the deer hunter demographics are aging out and it seems the up coming generations have no taste for venison.

Makes sense. My dearly departed dad had a deer every year, for years. All his friends too. All gone now. I wonder how the new er generations are picking up the Fall hunting licenses, slowly? Or are they all sold out?

[lightspeed]

..except during hunting season...

We were talking to a hunter one day, he was saying that there more deer than ever because the deer hunter demographics are aging out and it seems the up coming generations have no taste for venison.

Makes sense. My dearly departed dad had a deer every year, for years. All his friends too. All gone now. I wonder how the new er generations are picking up the Fall hunting licenses, slowly? Or are they all sold out?

Dining on falafels and tofu steaks.

[tylerdaniels]

This is an interesting opinion, Having lived in Kelowna and saw plenty of deer on the street, I see far more in Victoria year round. The deer in Kelowna are bigger than Victoria, but I feel this is more of an issue with irresponsible drivers. Deer only seem to be a nuisance if they are in your gardens or eating your plants. Beware of your surroundings and drive safe, we should respect all wildlife especially when we make it more difficult for them to migrate.

That being said I love my deer jerky, way better than beef jerky. But there is no reason to change the system that is already in place.

[jimmy4321]

Deer are a nuisance to the roads.
You can "lower" the risk of hitting one so long as your the only one on the road but if not you risk getting rear ended by something bigger than you or you encourage people passing you dangerously. They can be predictable but not so much when you are doing the speed limit and contending with the human element.
However moose scare the crap outta me, if they're hustling in less than a couple strides they go from outta sight to in your windshield on a Hwy, I've dodged one (wasn't that dramatic)in thankfully a nimble vehicle. No worries for that here.

[Graphite]

Really? The forum title? Kill the people who complain about wildlife? Lets think about this for a minute...

[jimmy4321]

Really? The forum title? Kill the people who complain about wildlife? Lets think about this for a minute...

There's a few threads and posts where a few people said stuff like this.
You got to hope that these are people are just oblivious to the fact that when you put words down, that's ALL strangers have to go by. They don't know this is how you mouth off, your personality etc.

[kel764]

In my experience, the deer are mostly inactive, hiding and resting during the daylight hours. Once it's dusk they come out and munch their way through mine and all my neighbours properties during the night until shortly after dawn when they go back into hiding. Someone posted that they sometimes work in the upper mission area and don't think the problem is so bad. Sorry, but unless your work is taking you into people's backyards in the middle of the night then you are not going to be seeing what the residents in the area are concerned about. With over 1000 people who live there 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week/ are reporting that the deer population that they formerly co-existed peacefully with (for decades) is now out-of-balance to a significant degree. For heaven sakes, what does it take to admit that these people know what they are talking about. The petition simply asked the city to investigate a population control program and gave various possible alternates to consider. Why are some people so outraged over this that they make comments like the one that started this thread. A simple request to the city to investigate management options "makes you sick" ?!

Cranbrook, Invermere, and Grand Forks are getting more than $56,000 from the province for urban deer management of various forms. Even if the decision is made for some deer to be hunted, it's properly managed by Conservation officers and the meat is donated to the needy and the Food Bank. The number of deer taken can be coordinated with the amount of deer allowed to be hunted legally every year, anyways. Deer meat makes for very good sausages and deer steaks are good too. Some of the comments posted on this topic seem to be from people who must have never heard of deer hunting before, for them to be so offended.

It seems that some people are very eager to find an excuse to post snide remarks about the mission part of the city, instead of taking time to read and find out what the petition was all about.

[Because_They_Lie]

In my experience, the deer are mostly inactive, hiding and resting during the daylight hours. Once it's dusk they come out and munch their way through mine and all my neighbours properties during the night until shortly after dawn when they go back into hiding. Someone posted that they sometimes work in the upper mission area and don't think the problem is so bad. Sorry, but unless your work is taking you into people's backyards in the middle of the night then you are not going to be seeing what the residents in the area are concerned about. With over 1000 people who live there 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week/ are reporting that the deer population that they formerly co-existed peacefully with (for decades) is now out-of-balance to a significant degree. For heaven sakes, what does it take to admit that these people know what they are talking about. The petition simply asked the city to investigate a population control program and gave various possible alternates to consider. Why are some people so outraged over this that they make comments like the one that started this thread. A simple request to the city to investigate management options "makes you sick" ?!

Cranbrook, Invermere, and Grand Forks are getting more than $56,000 from the province for urban deer management of various forms. Even if the decision is made for some deer to be hunted, it's properly managed by Conservation officers and the meat is donated to the needy and the Food Bank. The number of deer taken can be coordinated with the amount of deer allowed to be hunted legally every year, anyways. Deer meat makes for very good sausages and deer steaks are good too. Some of the comments posted on this topic seem to be from people who must have never heard of deer hunting before, for them to be so offended.

It seems that some people are very eager to find an excuse to post snide remarks about the mission part of the city, instead of taking time to read and find out what the petition was all about.

Please indicate your source of the information highlighted. Thank you.

[kel764]

Donating the meat to the needy or Food Bank is stated in the following articles

1. All you have to do is google the words: mission residents deer petition kelowna and you will find the subject of donating the deer meat in many of the articles that will pop up from many news sources. One example is the Kelowna Daily Courier article by Gary Nylander July 17th.

2. Another example: CBC news article July 31st. at cbc.ca/news titled 'They Just Skitter Everywhere'. At the bottom of the CBC article is: "If a cull is undertaken, the province requires communities to make full use of healthy deer carcasses, such as donating the meat to First Nations or local Food Banks." This article will also pop up when you google the above words.

3. I believe the articles in the printed newspapers also said that the petition itself specifically said the meat would be donated to the needy.

4. Since, according to the CBC reporter, the donation of the meat, and in fact the full use of the carcass is a requirement - I won't bother listing any more references saying the same thing. Just google as suggested above and you will find lots to read. (Further, there is an article on *bleep*.com posted July 20 by Liz Brown that didn't mention donating but gave a good overview of what the residents are experiencing.)