Do you FEEL safer?

Originally Posted by tw

Most preditors are environmentally responsible. They kill only for food. Deer (much like rats) kill just for the dumb of it. They even leave their kill to rot.

This is very true. I truely love animals and I cried when Bambi's mother got shot just like everyone else. Unfortunately, we have an ecosystem that's so out of whack in Western Colorado that the deer population has soared out of control without natural predators to keep it in check. What happens to many of these animals is that they starve during the winter. A death by starvation is far more cruel and drawn out than death by a hunter's gun or a predator's claw. The deer are attracted to the roadsides as a last resort because everything else has been grazed down to nothing. My encounter with a deer on the road last year was not my first. 15 years ago I was driving down the highway one evening outside of Durango, Colorado when a deer suddenly jumped in front of my car. I swerved to avoid it, hit a ditch running alongside the road and was in intensive care for 4 weeks afterwards. Many peope have had similar experiences and some have died as a result of them.

[elSicomoro]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Unfortunately, we have an ecosystem that's so out of whack in Western Colorado that the deer population has soared out of control without natural predators to keep it in check.

Plus, venison is so damned tasty...how could you not eat it?

[xoxoxoBruce]

a deer suddenly jumped in front of my car. I swerved to avoid it, hit a ditch running alongside the road and was in intensive care for 4 weeks afterwards.

That is why people buy Expeditions and Hummers. You also have to learn not to swerve.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That is why people buy Expeditions and Hummers. You also have to learn not to swerve.

Yeah, someone mentioned the not swerving thing to me when I was laying there in the hospital on a ventilator. It's hard to overcome the automatic response to steer out of the way of a sudden impediment in the road. I know of someone who DIDN'T swerve and the deer came right through her windshield - kicking hooves, antlers and all. Needless to say, she, too, was seriously injured. If anyone would like to make a donation to my "Buy Marichiko a Hummer" fund, please PM me and I'll let you know where to send the cash.