I am not a hunter and I don't ever want to be one. I can't squash a spider that has found its way into my house, let alone shoot a living thing and watch it die. The most horrifying and traumatic images I've ever seen - the ones that stick in my head and haunts my more cynical thoughts regarding the state of our society - were footage of aerial wolf hunting, in which humans use helicopters and planes to stalk defenseless creatures until they bleed to death and/or die from exhaustion. The whole idea of hunting and the fact that it is considered "sport" sicken me, and I've always thought that anyone with a similarly professed love for the natural world would feel the same.
So I was shocked to read in Newsday that a so-called organic farm in East Hampton is asking permission to invite hunters onto their 42-acre property and "control" the deer population there. Never mind the gun safety issue that this particular farm happens to be across the street from East Hampton High School; the real problem here is that there are other methods to deter deer from eating crops that are far more effective and humane. Yet, once again, we choose the quick and dirty answer to our problems.
Deer are not predatory animals. Anyone who has come face-to-face with them - as I often have just driving the roads of New Hampshire, Vermont, as Pennsylvania - knows that they're skittish creatures who mean absolutely no harm. As Patty Gentry, whom Newsday reporter J. Marcus interviewed for his article, "Deer not so dear here" in the August 19, 2018 issue, proves, all you really need to keep deer away from your vegetables is a high fence, and some blood meal.
"There's just no reason to kill the deer," Ms. Gentry told Newsday.
Others have success with deer-repellent plants like birch, dogwood, Japanese maple, magnolia, oak, bayberry, beach plum, hydrangea, boxwood, daffodils, lilac, mint, geraniums, ferns, lavender....the list goes on.
There's also the probability that this is a problem of our making. Ecosystems are delicately balanced; add one element to interrupt that balance, and all other parts suffer. Have we eliminated the deer's natural predators? Disrupted their habitat in some way? Chances are we have, since humans are the most intrusive of all species (talk about pests!). Wouldn't it be better to address this underlying issue that to simply run around waving guns at any creature that gets in the way of our making a buck?
Of course, I do sympathize with the farmers and amateur growers whose hard work has come to naught because deer keep making raids on their gardens. I really do. But I also feel very strongly that sustaining life on our planet requires maintaining a very careful balance between our needs and the creatures who share this world with us. I mean, you wouldn't go around shooting your roommate if he ate your last package of Ramen noodles, would you?
Hmmmm...maybe you shouldn't answer that. Some people really like their Ramen, and college students get very hungry.
Well, you wouldn't really, and the relationship to deer is the same. They're our roommates on this planet, and they deserve to have their living space respected as much as we do.
How do you feel about hunting? Do you feel the farmers of the farm are justified in wanting to "control" deer the way they would any other pest?