Dumb and dangerous

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

It is fall, and for us that means lots of deer everywhere, and lots of deer dating.

We live right up against the Los Angeles National Forest, but still in a neighborhood of lots of houses, people, dogs, children and activity.  It is posted everywhere no hunting, no discharge of weapons, no bow and arrow use.  It is not deer season and there is no hunting anyway for miles and miles around  And yet...

I am just plain angry.   We have been visited daily by a mature male mule deer, beautiful coat, with glorious antlers.  Friday he showed up with an arrow in his side, just in through the flesh enough to stay,  Almost certainly an arrow shot by a child or an incredibly inept adult.  Who does this?  And why?

Who would let their child use arrows unsupervised, or who would "practice" anywhere but an archery range ( their are several within a few miles).  Who is so thoughtless??

And it get worse.  We (ignorantly) called the humane society as directed by the police dispatcher.  After stumbling around for  awhile trying to find us ( no GPS, I guess) he arrived to "help".  by this time the deer was lying down, but awake, at the back of our property.  As it turns out this was fortunate as if the deer had been accessible he would have been tranquilized and then euthanized.  This is the required "procedure".  If he had been tranquilized, the arrow could have been removed and little copper sulfate applied and when he awoke he almost certainly would have healed and gone on to father more deer.  When we heard that would be the procedure we agreed that by the time the humane society employee ( who was by the way very thoughtful and helpful and kind) climbed the hill, that surely the deer would have fled.

The glorious deer is still around today with the arrow hanging from his side. I could just cry.  I want the deer mended and the arrow fingerprinted.  Maybe the idiot "archer" is already in the system, as you have to get fingerprinted for almost anything you do in California.  Now I see why.

Thanks for being a forum where I can rant, I might feel a teensy bit better, but the deer certainly does not.

  

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Aww. So very saddening :-(

[Stella]

Ugh, horrible. Now that poor deer is suffering and will likely get an infection. I liven a rural area where hunting season has just begun. There are local people who hunt for food and are generally respectful of the animal they hunt. And there are the city yahoos that come to try and shoot a moose for its rack, drink their faces off and are complete idiots. You are not allowed to hunt near residences, but we are actually advised not to let your children or dogs play outside the house during hunting season 'just in case'!!! I walk my dogs on leash and all three of us wear blaze orange vests, 'just in case' my 75lb LD is mistaken for a deer. It just infuriates me that people are allowed to be so stupid Every year we see in the local paper some poor creature found wondering around with an arrow in it because some inept hunter didn't make a good enough shot and wasn't man enough to then track the animal and finish the job.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

OH wow....this just makes me sick. My friend just had an 8 point Buck hit her car and cause $11,000 in damage. Turns out some stupid hunter (with bow and arrow) spooked the poor deer into traffic. We just moved from an area where they allowed hunting very near where we lived and it always made me mad. You could hear gunshots all around us. I hate hunting and bow hunting most of all.  I just do and I don't care who says it is a good thing to control the population. I always side with the deer and I feel terrible about this poor deer running around with an arrow in it. Hope someone can help him.

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Maryann, have you seen him today?

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I saw our male deer early this morning.  The arrow had fallen out.  He was not actively bleeding and walking well.  Hoping to continue to see him.

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

That is great news! Thank God he escaped being euthanized! Hoping he doesn't get an infection.