National Deer Cull

[Pict]

Here in Pennsylvania we are plagued with deer road kills. We have created the perfect habitat, farm fields of wheat and corn punctuated with woodlots and forested hills. The deer even eat decorative shrubs in suburbia. All of this amid a network of roads and highways. Even with a very liberal deer hunting season the population is still out of control.

We now have the "red Tag" hunt to control the population. A farmer who has extensive crop damage can apply for red tags. His farm is then put on the list for the red tag hunts. As long as he has red tags he can't refuse them to hunters who ask for them. That hunt starts in August, well before the regular deer season.

Here the game commission allows you to take road kill deer as long as you call them in and get a permit they send by mail. They just want to know who is picking up the deer.

They did pass a law that says we can't put down deer that have been hit but lots of guys still do it. The problem is that if you put it down then you have a hard time calling it in.

I had to brake hard last year to avoid hitting one just coming out from under the SUV I was following. I had a snub .38 along so I put her down, checked on the other driver and left. I had just arrived back in the country after a five year absence and didn't know we couldn't do that anymore. Oh well... It was a good thing my trunk (boot?) was full or I would have called it in and gotten into hot water over it. (The gun was legal BTW I have a carry permit for PA). That deer was gone the next morning. It's meatloaf by now. Mac

 

[Burnt Ash]

They did pass a law that says we can't put down deer that have been hit but lots of guys still do it. The problem is that if you put it down then you have a hard time calling it in.

What's the reasoning behind that, Mac? Surely, the only humane thing to do is to put down a badly wounded animal?

Burnt As

 

[C_Claycomb]

I would expect that it is prevent people saying they hit a deer when they have just shot/poached it on the verge.

(edited to remove possible erronious info)

 

[Pict]

My guess is they don't want drive-by shootings on deer that haven't been hit. Thyere was a time when there were very few laws about such things and guys used to weld iron bars on the grills and drive like maniacs down fire-breaks.

It is very common in rural areas to keep a gun in the car. We see deer all the time, almost every night if you're looking. The law now says you can't spotlight deer if there is a gun in the car.

In the case of the deer I shot it had all four legs broken and was still in the road. The night was about 15 degrees F and I couldn't watch it any longer.
I'll tell you what, a 125 grain jacketed hollowpoint does a number on them.

My brother is a police officer here and he routinely has to put deer down, and then fill out paperwork. The police like it when the deer are taken care of by citizens and nobody has to hear about it. The game commisson are pretty anal retentive about the whole thing. Its best to avoid contact with them. Mac

 

[Burnt Ash]

I think it is illegal to collect a deer which you run over. The next person on the road can pick it up but not the person who kills it.

This is an oft-repeated myth. In England and Wales (not sure about Scotland), wild animals (ferae naturae) belong to no one when they are alive. When they are dead, they belong to the owner of the land on which they died. So, if you run over and kill a deer/hare, etc., on the road, the legal owner of the corpse is the owner of the road. This, in practice, is either the Highways Agency, or a local authority. Strictly speaking, the person who hits and kills a deer with his/her car has no right to the corpse ...but neither has Eddie Grundy, or Uncle Tom Cobley, or anyone else who happens along ten minutes after the event (unless they are the legal owner of the road).

Personally, I would have no hesitation in putting down a wounded animal that I or someone else had injured on the road, provided it was within my capability
to do so. I've collected and eaten plenty of road kill in the past.

Burnt Ash

 

[NickBristol]

Does anyone know how insurance companies would treat the claim for hitting a deer? It'd be a bit rough on either the driver being left with a big bill for a damaged car, or the local authority being sued for compensation after an accident. Guess the only people who win are the insurance companies like usual...

 

[Burnt Ash]

Does anyone know how insurance companies would treat the claim for hitting a deer? It'd be a bit rough on either the driver being left with a big bill for a damaged car, or the local authority being sued for compensation after an accident. Guess the only people who win are the insurance companies like usual...

Unless specifically excluded in the policy, the car insurer should stump up if you hit a wild animal (though this would probably affect your no-claims bonus). Remember, ferae naturae don't belong to anyone. It might be arguable, if accidents were occurring so regularly and people were losing their lives left, right and centre that the owner of adjacent land was failing in a duty of care to control numbers of wild animals proliferating on his/her land to the extent that they had become a demonstrable nuisance and hazard.

If you hit an unattended domestic animal on the road, the owner of the animal is liable for failing in his/her duty to keep the animal off the public highway.

Burnt Ash

 

[tenbears10]

Unless specifically excluded in the policy, the car insurer should stump up if you hit a wild animal (though this would probably affect your no-claims bonus). Remember, ferae naturae don't belong to anyone. It might be arguable, if accidents were occurring so regularly and people were losing their lives left, right and centre that the owner of adjacent land was failing in a duty of care to control numbers of wild animals proliferating on his/her land to the extent that they had become a demonstrable nuisance and hazard.

If you hit an unattended domestic animal on the road, the owner of the animal is liable for failing in his/her duty to keep the animal off the public highway.

Burnt Ash

However interestingly enough I have been told that if you hit a pony in the New Forest it is always the drivers fault, they have special status. I also think the pony's know this which explains why they stand in the middle of the road round a blind bend.

Bill

 

[Lithril]

Ok SWMBO topped a fox a few years back and my Grandad topped 2 foxes within a 3 week span, each time the insurance companies paid up.

 

[bambodoggy]

It might be arguable, if accidents were occurring so regularly and people were losing their lives left, right and centre that the owner of adjacent land was failing in a duty of care to control numbers of wild animals proliferating on his/her land to the extent that they had become a demonstrable nuisance and hazard.

Why do you think thee highways agency bother to put up those useless signs that warn of dear crossing..... Ah, Cynical Phil, come on in!

If you are fully Comp then I guess they'd pay up but I'm not convinced they would if you only had thirdparty cover.

My own hound is covered with Direct Line at £11 per month for all his vet bills and being lost/stray etc and also up to £1million third part liability....hope I never have to call on it but it's nice to know I have the cover.

 

[shinobi]

If you are fully Comp then I guess they'd pay up but I'm not convinced they would if you only had thirdparty cover.

Only if you stop and exchange insurance details. ):

Martin

 

[Burnt Ash]

If you hit an unattended domestic animal on the road, the owner of the animal is liable for failing in his/her duty to keep the animal off the public highway.

This, actually, needs further qualification. Owners of domesticated/tame animals (mansuetae naturae) have a duty to keep these animals under control. However, if you hit a cow in the road, you would still have to prove that the cow's owner had been negligent in this duty. If, for example, a farmer had taken reasonable measures to enclose and secure his livestock and then, in the middle of the night, and without his knowledge, an out-of-control vehicle had breached his fencing and allowed livestock to escape, the farmer wouldn't be held liable.

If, however, the farmer could reasonably be expected to be aware of a hole in his fence and didn't fix it in a reasonable time, the picture changes. He is then liable for damages if his cow strays onto the highway and causes an accident.

A special case applies in places like open moorland with, for example, free-ranging, unenclosed sheep, or the New Forest with its semi-wild, but owned ponies. In such places, motorists are deemed to have entered at their own risk. They are warned of the likelihood of animals on the road and unusual speed restrictions are often imposed. Even here, the case is not cut and dried: a driver might be able to demonstrate that he/she had been driving with all reasonable care, and well within speed limits, but that the sheep, pony, llama, child, etc. had run out right under the wheels of the car such that the driver could not reasonably have avoided collision.

Burnt Ash

 

[tomtom]

 

[Skippy]

Although i understand the reasons behind deer culls, why are they still such protected species, if there are that many that they need culling. surely the odd deer in the larder would be welcome by a lot of Bushmen.

 

[tomtom]

if the deer population is such that they are becoming a pest then a humane cull is a good idea.. does anyone have number/area covered by this cull?

its just a shame the eco system isnt ballanced in such a way that human intervention isnt needed.

 

[bambodoggy]

its just a shame the eco system isnt ballanced in such a way that human intervention isnt needed.

Lol....it is!!!!! It's just that we tampered with it a while ago and got rid of all the nasty hurty things....like wolves and bear!!!!! :?:

 

[tomtom]

reckon we're still tampering..

 

[george]

I know it's a bit different up here, but taking a straw poll in the pub the other day, at least 50% of locals had hit a deer in the last 5 years or so. It seems to have got a lot worse in the last few years - to the point where there are some stretches of road where driving at over 40mph is taking your life in your hands at certain times of the year.

I was in a car a few years ago when we hit a stag, we were only doing about 45 (in a 60 zone) but it was enough to write off the car. I tell you, watching the antlers take out the windscreen about 2 feet from my face was pretty scarey!

A cull up here of at least 30% might help sort things out. Then keep them that way by bringing back wolves.

george

 

[RovingArcher]

When they cull a herd, do they allow hunters to come in? Or do they dispatch them in another way? If the latter, is the meat utilized?

 

[tenbears10]

Unfortunately there have been some deer culls in the UK which have appalled local stalkers and game keepers by the way they were carried out. Meat is not utilised as it should be and little respect is paid to the animals.

I will try and find the article which backs up what I just said but I think it was in shooting times magazine rather than online.

Bill