DEER: Do as Texas does
Down in Texas they don’t call us winter visitors Snow Birds; they welcome us and christen us Winter Texans. When you hit El Paso there is a big visitors center where you can load your RV with literature about Texas until the axles drag. Maps to the many state parks that offer camping throughout the state are included.
When the bride and I visited there in 2010, we pulled into one such park located northwest of San Antonio in the Hill Country. The sign said open, but announced that they would be closed on the following day. When we checked in, the “little gal” who registered us announced that: “Y’all are welcome to stay the night, but you’d be well advised to be out of here by nine o’clock in the morning. They’re having a hunt tomorrow and it won’t be safe for visitors to be about.”
I thought that was a little strange, but “Hey, we’re in Texas and they have their own way of doing things. Who am I to question my hosts?”
After we parked and set up our rig, the park ranger stopped by and welcomed us. He reiterated that we would have to be out of the park before the hunt in the morning. Curiosity got the best of me, so I asked: “What kind of hunt is it?”
His answer was matter of fact. “It’s a deer hunt.”
“But why?” I asked.
“It’s a population control thing. When we get too many deer in the park, we stage a hunt for the locals and let them do the thinning.”
“Man if you did that in most places we visit you’d have bus loads of placard waving activists out there blocking your gate,” I said jokingly.
The ranger just shrugged and gave me one of those “and your point is?” looks. It was a look that said, “If you’re too dumb to understand, I’m not going to try to explain.”
Recent Press articles and letters to the editor seem to emphasize the unsolvable nature of the deer population problems locally. Perhaps what local agencies need to do is what every government agency does when a problem seems insurmountable. Hire a consultant, or to quote Robert Ringer, “an expert from afar.” The Texas State Parks Department might be a good place to start looking.
BOB LaRUE
Hauser