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This is in response to William Hardman's letter in Friday's paper disagreeing with the possibility of the city of Gainesville taking action to keep the deer population in check by allowing a select number of qualified bow hunters to harvest deer in certain areas of the city.
Mr. Hardman also speaks of the city deer "tempting illegal hunters." It is not illegal to hunt in the city limits of Gainesville; it is illegal to discharge a firearm. This leaves bow hunters within rights to harvest deer in the city as long as they have permission from the landowner.
The city government's motives are not to kill all the deer, only to manage the herd and keep them at healthy numbers to minimize accidents, save gardens and shrubs and minimize outbreaks of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, Lyme disease and possibly cronic wasting disease.
I have seen herds of deer die from disease and that is no way for them to go out. EHD is a virus caused by infected midges or biting flies in warm drought stricken areas and is more prevalent in highly populated areas. Humans cannot contract EHD or CWD from consuming infected deer, but the deer die a long and painful death. Lyme disease can be contracted by humans and can be hard to diagnose, leading to devastating results.
I have seen deer with EHD in the "big woods," and it would be more prevalent in these small pockets of woods with too many deer for the land to support. If we do not manage our herds to the best of our ability, Mother Nature will deal with it and she can be very cruel.
Keeping deer numbers in check is a win-win situation for everyone, including the deer.
Jim Collins
Gainesville