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| Deer in Car - http://wordpictures.wordpress.com/ |
| PG 304-12 | Prince George's County - Deer Hunting on Private Property - Sundays |
Delegate Kriselda Valderrama
(D-26) has sponsored a bill for the 2012 General Assembly 'authorizing a person
in Prince George's County to hunt deer on certain Sundays on private property
during certain deer hunting seasons".[1]
This is not a new idea in Maryland as some form of Sunday hunting has been
before the General Assembly in the last few sessions. One can anticipate that
the same tropes will be wheeled out both pro and con. Supporters of the bill will
point out that this bill only applies to private land. The opponents will retort
that that the inevitable incremental expansion of Sunday hunting onto public
lands will be next. The proponents will reply that hunting is a tool of deer
management on private property in response to the increasing costs of
mitigation. These costs include the costs of 6 foot plus high fencing and continuous fence maintenance
costs; permanent destruction of ornamental and native species plantings and
landscapes including flowers, trees, and shrubs. The cons will note that much
private land abuts public land, so that Sunday hunting would restrict the use
of some public lands as it is highly unlikely that hikers, bikers, bird
watchers and trail riders would want to utilize public lands adjacent to private
hunting.
Prince George's County's
established communities will wonder what the fuss is about while those in the
rural tier will know firsthand what damage deer can do to fields of soya bean
and corn. All of Prince George's will understand the impact of an automobile
with a deer. As we carve up the woodlands and pave them over we create more
open space perfect for increasing deer numbers. When the populations of deer
and humans go up so do the chances of bad encounters including Lyme disease
also go up. On top of everything there is a new contagious neurological disease
affecting deer herds called Chronic
Wasting Disease (CWD).[2]
The
diversity of Prince George's County is both a blessing and a curse for some
when it comes to trying to deal with the environment and the ecosystem
resources and services they provide.
[1] Maryland
Hunting Seasons Calendar for 2011-2012 http://dnr.maryland.gov/huntersguide/pdfs/hunting_seasons_calendar.pdf
"2 Deer Management Region B- Anne Arundel,
Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick,
Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s,
Somerset, Talbot, Washington (Zone 1- the eastern portion of Washington County
that lies east of a line beginning at the intersection of Rt. 494 and the PA
line, south on Rt. 494 to Rt. 57, south on Rt. 57 to Rt. 40 at St. Paul’s Church,
west on Rt. 40 to the junction of Big Spring Rd. and Rt. 40 in Clear Spring, south
on Big Spring Rd. to the junction of Rt. 56 at Big Spring, following Rt. 56
west to the junction of Charles Mill Rd., then south on Charles Mill Rd. to the
Potomac River), Wicomico, and Worcester Counties. Sunday hunting- In Calvert,
Carroll, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot,
Washington (Zone 1), Wicomico & Worcester counties on private lands
only—Deer Bow Season is open on Sundays October 16, October 23, October 30,
November 6 and November 13, 2011. Deer Bow Season is open on Sunday November 6,
2011 in Anne Arundel, Caroline, Cecil, Harford, Kent, Montgomery & Queen
Anne’s counties on private lands only. In Anne Arundel, Caroline, Carroll,
Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Harford, Kent, Montgomery, Queen Anne’s,
Somerset, Talbot, Washington (Zone 1), Wicomico & Worcester counties on private
lands only—Deer Firearms Season is open on Sunday November 27. Deer Firearms
Season is open on Sundays November 27 and December 4, 2011 in Calvert, Charles
& St. Mary’s counties on private land only."
[2]
Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance.
"Chronic Wasting Disease
(CWD) is a contagious neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose. It
causes a characteristic spongy degeneration of the brains of infected animals
resulting in emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and death.
CWD belongs to a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies (TSEs). Within this family of diseases, there are several
other variants that affect domestic animals: scrapie, which has been identified
in domestic sheep and goats for more than 200 years, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle (also known as "mad cow disease"), and
transmissible mink encephalopathy in farmed mink. Several rare human diseases are also TSEs.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) occurs naturally in about one out of every one
million people worldwide. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (v-CJD) has been
associated with the large-scale outbreak of BSE in cattle herds in Great
Britain."
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