NEWS
By Tyeesha Dixon | September 21, 2008
The county government has announced its schedule for this season's deer hunts, which are intended to achieve a balanced white-tailed deer population in parks. County officials say the hunts are needed to reduce a large population that they say has led indirectly to more incidents of Lyme disease transmission, damage to vegetation and ecosystems in parks, and added to the danger of collisions for motorists. The hunts, which are managed by the Department of Recreation and Parks, will include bow and shotgun hunting, with hours from dawn until noon.
NEWS
September 8, 2008
Killing is wrong way to deal with the deer "Thinning" the deer herd at Loch Raven Reservoir would be something more like a massacre ("Loch Raven in balance," editorial, Aug. 27). County officials have recently argued that their goal for the deer population is to reduce it to as few as 10 deer per square mile or about one deer for each 64 acres. That could mean killing up to 90 percent of the area's deer. The state's plans for this year's deer hunt call for unlimited killing of does from Sept.
NEWS
By Larry Carson | July 23, 2008
Despite strong objections from animal advocates, county officials are planning to continue managed deer hunts in a half-dozen undeveloped parks this fall, based on the results of a new public opinion survey. The 10-minute telephone survey of random respondents was conducted in April, and the results were released this week. "We wanted to find out in general what attitudes were," said Gary J. Arthur, director of the county Department of Recreation and Parks. If the survey had revealed a swing to overwhelming public opposition to hunting, the county would have revisited the plans, he said.
NEWS
July 18, 2008
New strategy is making headway on homicides Annie Linskey reports in The Sun that some city judges are concerned about requests to strictly enforce probation violations for violent repeat offenders ("Sweep aims at the most dangerous," July 13). Judges are reportedly concerned about the erosion of their discretion. Judicial autonomy cannot be undermined, and any efforts to co-opt this branch of government must be squashed immediately. However, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is not asking judges to indiscriminately detain probation and parole violators.
NEWS
By Laura Barnhardt | July 12, 2008
Baltimore city and county officials have talked for years about thinning the population of deer in Loch Raven Reservoir by allowing hunting. Now, they say, they only need to work out the details of a managed hunt this fall, such as whether to extend the invitation to bowhunters and sharpshooters. "As stewards of the reservoir, it's our job to make sure that the forest can regenerate," said Kurt Kocher, a city public works spokesman. "That's not going to happen with the current deer population.
NEWS
By Ben Block | December 23, 2007
Hunters allowed in undeveloped Howard County parks have killed 168 deer this season, compared with 120 animals killed in the 2006-2007 season, but the only store in the county that had butchered the animals is refusing the work. Phil Norman, the county's deer project manager, attributes this year's higher numbers largely to one day in October when 40 deer were killed in the 1,000-acre Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. He also said factors include good hunting weather, a large acorn crop and development along Route 108 that pushed more deer into parklands.
NEWS
By MICHAEL DRESSER | October 22, 2007
A few weeks ago, this column was an unrestrained tirade on the subject of deer - focusing on the animals' insidious quest to crash through the windshields of passing motorists. That same day, through no design I'm aware of, another section of The Sun ran a sensitive and sympathetic feature by Abigail Tucker about two Baltimore County women who have made it their mission to protect the adorable white-tailed creatures from the depredations of bloodthirsty hunters. Judging by the e-mail received by Tucker and myself, our readership is rich in Bambi-phobic misanthropes.
NEWS
By Candus Thomson | October 19, 2007
FINKSBURG -- The start of one of Maryland's most popular hunting seasons gave state wildlife managers their first look at the effects of a deadly virus on the white-tailed deer population. Biologists were at taxidermy and butcher shops yesterday for the first day of the two-day-early muzzleloader season to look at the health of deer and to ask hunters whether they have seen signs of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, a naturally occurring outbreak that happens every year on the East Coast.
NEWS
By CANDUS THOMSON | October 14, 2007
This deer season is a little different from the past dozen or so. Doug Hotton has left the building. Hotton, the affable, folksy leader of the Department of Natural Resources deer management team, has boxed up his belongings and gone home. "My wife retired two years ago and I want to have some of the fun she's having," said Hotton, 58. "I feel you need to walk away when you can still hit 'em in the gap and get on base." He leaves behind the legacy of having shepherded Maryland's first deer management plan into place 10 years ago and has helped his replacements, biologists Brian Eyler and George Timko, prepare the next edition, which will take effect for the 2008-09 season.
NEWS
June 14, 2007
Deer test negative for fatal affliction For the fifth consecutive year, Maryland's wild deer population has tested negative for a fatal affliction similar to mad cow disease, the Department of Natural Resources reported yesterday. Federal, state and local biologists, and veterinarians took brain stem and lymph gland samples from 969 deer during the 2006-2007 hunting season and found no trace of chronic wasting disease. Tests on 13 deer that appeared sick also turned up negative. "Most of the samples came from hunter-harvested deer, and we appreciate their cooperation and understanding as we try to keep Maryland CWD-free," said Bob Beyer, DNR associate director for game management.