Bobcat, I understand your point of view & the majority of our members on this topic, but I respectfully disagree on the mater.
The premise that there will be a strong public shift of opinion against hunting if this is allowed, I just don't buy that.
The strongest opinion against this will be from the hunting purest as reflected in the above posts. Where as in reality the animals cannot continue to flourish on the island indefinitely with out being put into check at some point, especially now that we have added sheep to the mix, eventually it will be over-grazed & the herds will need to be culled, We put them on the island now we must manage them, like we manage animals everywhere else, I think a worse attitude for anti's is the idea that nature just always takes care of itself, thus hunters are not needed in order to keep populations into check.
Fact is we are the stewards of the islands, same as the rest of the state. Similarly every time the Buffalo's are culled there is no public outcry. It's doing our part to keep the balance, AKA game management.
I think the stronger sentiment that most have here is that it is not very sporting, which is a correct, can't argue that one. Archery would add a degree of difficulty but only after the deer have been hunted for a while, I think a spear-chucking hunt would be successfully, until the petting zoo critters have been culled.
The other argument is that people won't stand for canned hunts, Well Texas has more hunts that would fit this bill than than anywhere else in the nation, & as mentioned in the gen. forum, there is a very Strong pro-hunting sentiment down there.
And for those who say this hunt is all about the money.......
Duh.....
Of course it is, its a valuable renewable resource that can returns millions of dollars to benefit wildlife & when those first permits fetch over 100 grand, many non hunters will take note as to what a valuable asset mule deer really are, & not just a nuisance animal that likes to dodge cars on the highway at night.
Lastly it does not make sense that because we don't think it's fair chase we allow these same animals be chased down when they succumb to old age and become coyote snacks.
Just my view.
