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Cuyahoga Valley National Park to cull herd

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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135
BRECKSVILLE, Ohio -- The Cuyahoga Valley National Park has developed a draft plan to manage the white-tailed deer population, a plan that for the first time would allow sharpshooters to cull deer.
The public can weigh in on the plan during a comment period that runs through Sept. 24.

Lisa Petit, chief of resource management at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP), said Tuesday that the park’s preferred method for controlling the deer includes culling by sharpshooting, fencing off large areas to promote forest regeneration, and using some form of contraception when the technology is perfected.

CVNP has been weighing different options since 2006.

Petit said that in 1999, the park had a deer population of 87 deer per square mile. The current population is believed to be 41 deer per square mile, or a rough total of nearly 1,700 throughout the park.

The optimum number of deer is about 20 per square mile, she said.

The number of deer in CVNP has fallen by more than a half, she said because the Cleveland Metroparks and Metro Parks Serving Summit County both employ their own rangers and other park personnel to shoot hundreds of deer each year.

The national park describes itself as encompassing 33,000 acres, but only 19,000 of those are federal land. Most of the rest belongs to the Cleveland and Summit County park systems and some private owners.

Petit said the Summit County system allows limited hunting to help curb the deer population.

The Cleveland Metroparks, which has been shooting deer since 1998, does not allow hunting. Last year sharpshooters claimed 319 deer in the Cleveland Metroparks with 15,952 pounds of venison going to the Cleveland Foodbank.

Petit said federal law forbids hunting in any national park, but sharpshooting for the purpose of reducing the deer population is not considered hunting.

Deer are becoming the dominant force in the park’s ecosystem, she said. One of the most evident effects of the deer browsing for food has been hampered forest regeneration.

Other than humans, the only other predators in Northeast Ohio that take deer are the growing coyote population.

However, Petit said coyotes only kill a limited number of fawns.

Coyotes are about a third the size of wolves, according to Stan Gehrt, a nationally recognized expert at Ohio State University. He said that unlike wolves which hunt in packs, coyotes are solitary hunters and favor rodents as a food source.

Petit said the National Park System will not import wolves and bears – the most successful natural predators of deer.

The public can offer opinions at open-house meetings Aug. 14, from 1 to 3 p.m. or from 6 to 8 p.m., at Happy Days Lodge, 500 W. Streetsboro Road (Ohio Route 303), a mile west of Ohio Route 8, in Peninsula.

The draft White-tailed Deer Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement is available at the National Park Service Planning, Environment, and Public Comment website.

Comments can be left at the website or mailed to the CVNP superintendent at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 15610 Vaughn Road, Brecksville, OH 44141.

Petit said that once the plan is approved, the goal is to implement it by late next year or early 2015.

Can someone explain to me how we can't get a 17 year old girl to take her birth control properly and consistently, how a friggin deer is going to do this? Whitetail contraception is a better business than selling property on the moon. It's also good to know that a couple of 'ole ropes will keep the deer away...

Why they don't allow bow hunting on 14,000 non federal acres and actually solve the problem is beyond me...
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Plus you or I don't get the valueable sharpshooter contract. I've seen something like almost 400.00 per deer.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
That makes no sense, instead of letting hunters in there to cull the herd they bring in sharpshooters paid for by tax payers?

It does look like they have internal sharpshooters, which is probably less costly than hiring it out. Still a waste...

The article didn't mention what they do with the venison, sure hope they donate to some local food pantries.
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
If its truly about money (which it is!) they could simply have a pay drawing to allow bowhunters to come in and get a week pass to reduce herd while promoting good management to residents. They did this crap out by me in 04'-05' and the herd isn't worth a shit now.... 10 years later and it still sucks! Used to see 30 deer a night in areas and now your lucky to see 3-4!
 

rooster85

Junior Member
1,409
78
Lake County
If its truly about money (which it is!) they could simply have a pay drawing to allow bowhunters to come in and get a week pass to reduce herd while promoting good management to residents. They did this crap out by me in 04'-05' and the herd isn't worth a shit now.... 10 years later and it still sucks! Used to see 30 deer a night in areas and now your lucky to see 3-4!

Exactly. Do a controlled hunt. A youth controlled hunt would be awesome too. Im sure they will donate the meat but allowing hunters in there just seems "better" to me.
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
Petit said the National Park System will not import wolves and bears – the most successful natural predators of deer. Well why not? That would be cheaper than paying sharp shooters. Along that thought process, I'd love to see the tax payer dollars that will go towards a project like that. I bet it's ridiculous. Instead of wasting tax payer dollars, they should have a controlled hunt in the areas of the park. If humans are a natural predator, then they should be permitted to hunt. Have a lottery, hunters must pass a proficiency test prior to entry, charge $X.XX per entry, one entry per person, pick as many applicants as appropriate for the areas to be hunted. Now instead of spending money to fight a problem, they're making money to fight a problem and giving the tax payers the benefits of hunting opportunities close to home.
 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
Don't hog 'em all! Send a few on south down 77 to me TOO!!!

Sounds like there's plenty to go around! I'm sure there is some dandy bucks roaming that park! Whoever has land that butts up against that is in whitetail heaven, but I'd rather not live in Cuyahoga county.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Petit said the National Park System will not import wolves and bears – the most successful natural predators of deer. Well why not? That would be cheaper than paying sharp shooters. Along that thought process, I'd love to see the tax payer dollars that will go towards a project like that. I bet it's ridiculous. Instead of wasting tax payer dollars, they should have a controlled hunt in the areas of the park. If humans are a natural predator, then they should be permitted to hunt. Have a lottery, hunters must pass a proficiency test prior to entry, charge $X.XX per entry, one entry per person, pick as many applicants as appropriate for the areas to be hunted. Now instead of spending money to fight a problem, they're making money to fight a problem and giving the tax payers the benefits of hunting opportunities close to home.

Government, any government, large or small, loves to waste taxpayers dollars. It's what they do. If you had 2 checkbooks, one was you're money, the other was someone elses, which one are you gonna reach for to pay the bills?

The idea of allowing hunters in to the park sounds good...


...to a hunter..

But I'm sure the guys with the checkbook want to make this easy. Setting up a controled hunt would mean devoting time to writing up a policy, conducting the application process, going through the screening process of the hunters. assigning designated areas , dates and times the hunters can have access... the list goes on. Not to mention the liability involved and the extra manpower the dnr would need to devote to police the whole thing.

It's just easier to pull out that other guys checkbook, and pay some one else to take care of it.