DEER: IDFG letdowns

My heart aches for poor Baby and those who loved her, the deer shot and eventually killed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in St. Maries. In Idaho, we live among the deer and though we don’t welcome them eating our flowers and getting into our gardens it is a small price to pay for our rural lifestyle. We chose to live in their territory and need to respect that.

We, too, have had two occasions to call the IDFG about deer and were disappointed both times. The first, a deer hung up on our fence with a severed leg in obvious pain. The gal came out pretty quickly and was eight months pregnant. OK, that’s weird I thought, but then it took her FIVE shots to shoot a deer that couldn’t even move. I was stunned. We buried the deer ourselves and wondered why we called at all.

The second, a deer was hit by a car and broke its leg. We found it lying in our field. Again a call was placed to the IDFG and I was told they had no one available to come out. I promptly told them we would take care of it ourselves and was informed that if we did, we would be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Seriously?

I’m wondering where common sense and public relations come into play with the Fish and Game Department. Perhaps they should focus some of their training time on these subjects.

MICKI HANNON

Hauser