REMEMBER TO FORWARD THIS PETITION TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!! By Jared Meisinger New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung | Posted: Saturday, September 6, 2014 11:14 pm It’s no secret the deer are plentiful in Comal County, and while these cute critters may make for great scenery, they often cost citizens and taxpayers money, time and — sometimes — their lives. “The deer population in Comal County is pretty high, particularly in subdivisions,” said Liz Bates, wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “It’s definitely higher than what would be expected.” Bates said an overabundance of deer causes damage to landscapes and a higher number of animal-vehicle collisions. She said the large deer population also causes more competition for food and resources, and a higher possibility of the spread of disease. “We’re not seeing regeneration of some species like Cedar Elm and Spanish Oak that deer really like,” Bates said. “We have been contacted by some homeowners associations to see what can be done,” she said. Two of the subdivisions that TPWD conducted studies for in 2013 are Mystic Shores in Spring Branch, and Comal Trace in Bulverde. In both instances, the TPWD found the deer populations in the subdivisions exceeded carrying capacity. They recommended the removal of 72 does, or 40 percent of the population, in Comal Trace alone. Comal County engineer Thomas Hornseth, whose department handles dead animal pickup, said as of July the department had carried out more than 200 separate animal work orders since Jan. 1, though they do not keep track of species of animal. He said the county had received so many dead animal removal requests that they had to hire a full-time employee for the job, and expand their service to include private property. “A deer would be hit, crawl into somebody’s pasture and die, and they would have no way of getting it out of there,” Hornseth said. A possible solution So what can be done about this problem? Some Comal County citizens think an easy step forward would be the repeal of county order 422825, Deer A herd of deer eat on James Seabolt's property near Bulverde on Aug. 28. Bow hunter proposes possible solution to population concerns - Herald-Z... http://herald-zeitung.com/news/article_8f1ce26a-3645-11e4-9cec-0019b... 1 of 3 9/9/2014 9:15 PM which bans bow hunting on unincorporated subdivision lots of 10 acres or less. Passed by the Comal County Commissioners Court in 1993, the order does not prohibit discharging a bow at a target, for instance, but only for the use of hunting. “This (order) permits us from being good stewards to the God-given resource that is white-tailed deer,” said James Seabolt, a resident of Comal Trace. “I’m not an anti-deer guy. I’m a true conservationist, and a true conservationist does not let a population get to the point that they starve and die, and that is what is happening.” Comal County Fire Marshal Wayne Ellington said he remembers being at the commissioners court the day the order was passed, and recalls a citizen coming to the court after seeing a deer walking through a subdivision with an arrow in its side. The order was passed without much discussion. “I can see 10 acres making sense for a gun, but a bow? It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Ellington said. “That’s just my opinion, not as fire marshal, but as Wayne Ellington. I leave my neighborhood sometimes and count 20 or 25 deer on one road.” County Judge Sherman Krause, whose primary function is the presiding officer of the commissioners court, said a repeal of the order is not pending. “I, personally, don’t have any inclination to put that on the agenda,” he said, adding that none of the commissioners have come forward to do so either. Paul Graf, chairman of River Crossing Wildlife Committee, said the problem with the new housing developments in the Hill Country is the deer were already there. “The deer don’t move out because we move in,” he said. Expensive problem Graf said River Crossing, a subdivision in Spring Branch, has removed more than 500 deer since 2007 at a cost of more than $100,000. “We do a trap-and-remove program with a state-sanctioned trapper,” he said. “We have to do an official game count each year, get a license from the state to trap, then get a state-licensed trapper and processor,” he said. This costs about $200 per deer for the licensing, trapping and processing fees, he said. Krause said he and the commissioners recently met with TPWD to discuss the deer issue. He said he and the court believe a “trap and remove” program like River Crossing’s is effective. “That’s the direction we would prefer to go,” he said. Seabolt and others feel the cost of trapping and removing deer is the problem. “We as communities cannot afford to trap and process these deer while many in these communities like to bow hunt,” he said. Bow hunter proposes possible solution to population concerns - Herald-Z... http://herald-zeitung.com/news/article_8f1ce26a-3645-11e4-9cec-0019b... 2 of 3 9/9/2014 9:15 PM Requests to repeal Dena Kana, president of The Lone Star Bowhunters Association, wrote to the county commissioners urging them to repeal the order, as did Casey Morris, Comal Trace resident and co-owner of texasbowhunter.com. Marty Rolleg, president of Mystic Shores property owners’ association, wrote to the commissioners in favor of repealing the order as well. Graf, who also wrote the commissioners in support of repealing the order, said he can see where bow hunting could help with the deer population issue, but is wary of it. “The problem you have with deer is they rarely die right where you shoot them. They travel onto other people’s private property and die there, then you have other problems,” he said. “So there are advantages with bow hunting, but there’s some risk involved.” Although Krause said the court is not planning on repealing the order, a newcomer may feel differently. Jen Crownover, who won a May primary runoff to represent Precinct 4 on the court, said of repealing the order: “It is certainly something to consider and evaluate.” “If we’re the only county that has this ordinance, then we need to ask ourselves, ‘why?” she said. Crownover added that if the court reviews all of the data and finds repealing the bow hunting order would effectively curb the deer population, she would support it. Deadly instances The losses incurred by deer may be costly in monetary terms, but none are as costly as the loss of life. In 2011, the Herald-Zeitung reported that a Canyon Lake woman died after striking a deer and veering into oncoming traffic. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were 11 animalvehicle collisions that caused at least one fatality in 2013 in Texas. There also were more than 1,000 animal-vehicle collisions that caused injury, and more than 4,400 that were deemed “non-injury crashes.” “The (order) is discriminatory towards a small group, but it affects a large amount of people,” Seabolt said. “We don’t have the resources to deal with this when bow hunting is free.”