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West Virginia, of course. Where the deer population is over half the human population. Post-Gazette.
According to Curtis Taylor, chief of wildlife resources for the state DNR,
"The state is pretty much 100 percent deer habitat," he said. "We don't really have any big urban areas where you can't find deer."
Yep!!! and it's a lot worse when you look at it from the deer's point of view. According to the 2003 census there were 760,000 automobiles registered in the state so, at the time, there were 1.3 deer per auto!!! That doesn't include the motorcycles and unregistered ATV's. If my recent observations on I-77 are any indication, the squirrels don't have it any better!!
On Route 9, there were 3 in the road and I slowed down and they scattered.....I had gotten down to about 5 miles an hour when a little one turned around and ran back in front of me. It was around Christmas time and was listening to Grandma got run over by a reindeer. The bad part is later on in the night my son said I killed Rudolph and I busted out in tears. Actually the deer didn't die but someone that stopped knew someone who was going to go back and shot it after we left.
Last night as we were taking our regular golf cart ride around the property, we spooked a few does; the first ones made it over the fence without a problem, the last ran head first and got her head through the mesh (american wire). She struggled for a while until I moved along and she relaxed enough to back out and hop over the fence. This morning I passed three groups within the first mile. Their movement times are changing now as the daylight shortens.
I've just gone over 140k miles in a VW on WV roads in the past 9 years and thankfully only hit one deer; I was going slow after having just pulled onto rt. 480 headed into Shepherdstown off of Ridge Rd. Similar to the time I had a collision with a guy on a bike. Well, really he hit me. So I guess the probability for hitting a deer is the same as hitting a bicyclist in WV; 1 in 140,000 miles.
[The biker incident was kind of funny. I was on Golf Course Rd. headed from Charles Town to Martinsburg. There was a charity bicycle ride headed to DC, with the route passing eastward through Martinsburg. I had known about the ride, but didn't know the route or I would have avoided it. I started seeing the cyclists as I came into Berkeley county and there was a sheriff slowing traffic along golf course rd. I was idling along just about to start up the hill into town when another group of bikers crested and one guy kind of led out of the pack. I saw his front tire hit a wet spot on the pavement and start shaking and wobbling as he headed toward me picking up speed. I pulled as far as I could to the right side of the road and stopped before he completely lost it and skidded wheels first under and into my car. No damage though, to my car at least!]
I've hit 4 in my time of driving. The first one was just a skiff, 2nd and 3rd hits were both $3,000 each and the 4th was just a scratch.
Speaking of mast being low, I drove from Huntington up to Elkins because one of my friends from high school was getting married and there were so many squashed little squirrels. It was sad really how many there were. All you could see is a ball of fluff and some redness on the road.
Mast is down (thanks, 3 Run)and thousands of young small deer will starve this year. Acorns (no pun on this one) is a marginal staple that gets them though the winter.
A friend in Wetzel county has 4 feeders and helps them winter on corn...said Sunday afternoon that a bear had destroyed one metal feeder getting at the corn...ripped it to peices.
If the bear are that hungry they will be coming closer to homes and wanting to say hello to your pets and farm animals...
I know for certain that they really like 'coondog...a neighbor can tell about that one.
Leaving the bagged garbage overnight for pickup and chaining 'Rover to keep out the 'possums and coons...
In the morning, 'Rover had bought the one-way ticket to dog heaven...neighbor executed the bear out of season, but the bear was guilty of murder...
When we drove thru Elizabeth, WV earlier this year we must have seen 15 or more deer just on about a 5 mile section of rt. 47. The deer are bad here in Missouri too but not as bad as there. This is what I can not understand about WV's hunting seasons. Missouri's squirrel season starts March ends Feb. West Virginia's starts Oct. ends Feb. If it was a longer season it might thin out the numbers some.
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