The county of Fairfax in Virginia allows deer to be cruelly hunted and killed by bow and arrows in parks that are meant for dogs and children to play in. The people of Fairfax, and most outside of it, are against this cruel, unnecessary act for a plethora of reasons, which a few are listed below. We, the people of Fairfax, demand that no more deer hunting is to be allowed in the park of Fairfax, especially in the Rock Hill District Park.

Deer hunting has been proven to be an ineffective means of population control by scientists and conservatives. The primary reason being that humans hunters cheat using high tech guns, and heavily equipped bows. This allows them to kill strong, healthy deer, when natural predators such as bears and coyotes hunt the sick and weak deer. When the healthy bucks are killed, it throws off the balance of the herds and how they mate. A strong buck will have several doe in his herd, his "harem," and this harem only he is allowed to mate with. He keeps the sick and weak bucks from breeding, and this helps ensure not only the next generation of deer are healthy, but lessens the chance of all the does becoming pregnant.

When a hunter kills the bucks in charge of these harems, it allows any buck to breed. This raises the chances of a doe being pregnant since a multitude of bucks can mate with her and mate a lot. It also makes the next generation of deer at risk of not being as strong, or passing down diseases.

This in turn raises deer population, and not always with healthy deer. So "population management" is thrown off and the end result is the opposite of what was desired. This is why the deer population is so high.

Not only does hunting deer increase the population and harms the health of deer, but it in itself is cruel. Hunters do not instantly kill deer. Even a head shot is never an instant death. Just as animals in slaughterhouses are long alive after a bolt gun to the head and their throats slit open, a deer can live for hours, days, even weeks with a bullet or arrow in them. Succumbing to the pain, bleeding out, or an infection.

Many deer are spotted with arrows in their faces, necks, sides, etc. In immense pain, desperately trying to stay alive. Arrows are absolutely cruel, and cause so much suffering to these gentle beings.

A member of the Maine BowHunters Alliance estimates that 50 percent of animals who are shot with crossbows are wounded but not killed. A study of 80 radio-collared white-tailed deer found that of the 22 deer who had been shot with “traditional archery equipment,” 11 were wounded but not recovered by hunters.

A British study of deer hunting found that 11 percent of deer killed by hunters died only after being shot two or more times and that some wounded deer suffered for more than 15 minutes before dying.

But worse, to have deer hunters in a park where people are walking their dogs, children are playing in the field, and people scared to hike for fear of being shot is unacceptable.

Rock Hill District Park is frequented mostly for its large dog park. Dogs sometimes escape their handlers, or may go off-leash when in the woods behind the fenced in dog park. The dogs are at risk of being mistaken for a deer and shot. Even humans are mistaken and shot by hunters.

A report conducted over a ten year span revealed that about 123,000 humans are injured in hunting accidents per year. This did not include the non-human animals injured or killed who were not intended targets. Many animals from dogs, cats, horses, cows, etc. are shot and injured, even killed by hunters yearly. And at a park where many dogs, especially large dogs, are running around and could escape, it is very likely they could be shot.

And with children playing at the park, they will be forced to see the mangled and disemboweled remains of innocent deer dragged through the park, or may become victims themselves. Children who decide to go for a hike in the woods not realizing the danger, or possibly get out of sight of their caretakers are at high risk of being shot and killed, or severely injured.

No one should be scared of their child, dog, or themselves being injured or killed when going to the park. And with Rock Hill's proximity to a high school, many children are in the area, and may be shot.

No one wishes for the deer in the park to be killed, nor to be at risk of also being shot by an arrow.

Furthermore, a study conducted by the Animal Rights Coalition revealed the following facts and information on bow hunting in America:

This report summarizes twenty-four studies on bowhunting from across the country. The facts in these studies show clearly that bowhunting is inhumane and wasteful. The possibility of a deer being impaled by a broadhead arrow and then dying instantaneously is extremely slight.

Wounding and crippling losses are inevitable. Every one of these studies has concluded that for every deer legally killed by bowhunters, at least one or more is struck by a broadhead arrow, wounded, and not recovered. The studies indicate an average bowhunting wounding rate of 54%, with the shots per kill averaging 14. We believe that these numbers are conservative.

The Wounding Cover-up Bowhunting journals make it clear that they do not want bowhunters speaking to anyone about wounding. Their editorials even suggest that bowhunters should underestimate their losses: ¾

- Bowhunter Magazine An article entitled “Bow Wounding Losses THE BIG MYTH” by David Samuel states: It is disquieting to know that we probably wound one deer for every animal harvested. Samuel also states: The only reason I can think of is that bowhunting is difficult, more so than gun hunting. Some non-thinking bowhunters apparently feel it’s better to say that they at least hit a deer than admit they didn’t harvest one. That’s really dumb logic and every time someone says they wound a deer to anyone else, even a bowhunter friend, it gives the wrong message to anyone who is listening.

- Western Bowhunter Sept. 1991 A guest editorial – “Responsible hunting Starts With You!” by Larry D. Jones states: Don’t talk to anyone about wounding animals, especially in public places or among non-hunters. Jones also states, If you videotape your hunts, don’t show bloody kill scenes, rough handling of animals and animals struggling, kicking or quivering as they go down, to non-hunters or anti-hunters. No one including myself, enjoys seeing animals suffer.

- Archery World March/April 1988 An article entitled “Hit or Miss” by Glenn Hegeland states: Why do so many bowhunters think just hitting an animal with an arrow is the pinnacle of success? I heard a guy the other night brag that “I hit four tonight.” Then he sort of mumbled in his soup that he couldn’t find any of them.

- Bowhunter 1989 Big Game Issue An article entitled “A Call for Accuracy” by Dwight Schuh states: Our sport can’t stand forever in the face of growing hatred. Archers must work to counteract that sentiment and build bowhunting in a positive light. The first step should be obvious. Don’t brag about hitting and losing animals. He goes on to say, There’s nothing honorable about hitting and losing an animal; it just means you screwed up. Don’t brag about it. Just shut up.

The Wounding Problem

Adrian Benke, a Texan and still active firearms hunter laid down his bow in 1969 after he had shot 31 deer with arrows. Of these 31 animals Benke states in his book, The Bowhunting Alternative (published 1989): I’d killed just seven and later found the carcasses of four others. He continues to say: I then declared bowhunting a farce and quit the sport. Since the early 1970’s, Benke has done extensive research and in-depth studies on bowhunting.

According to Benke, Archery wounding is the most denied problem in bowhunting and the most ignored problem in wildlife science. He cites empirical studies and hunter surveys that consistently indicate that bowhunters wound at least as many animals as they kill.

In a major study done in 1989 by Glen Boydston and Horace Gore, wildlife biologists at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, they compared data on archery and gun wounding losses gathered at four wildlife management areas in Texas from 1972 through 1985. During this period, archers bagged 128 deer and wounded and failed to retrieve 130 others, for a crippling loss exceeding 50%—revealing that for every deer legally killed and recovered by a bowhunter, at least one or more deer were wounded and left to die in a slow and painful manner. Gun hunters killed 2,266 deer and wounded 150 others for a crippling loss of 7%. Thus, only 1 out of every 14 deer shot with guns was not retrieved.

In bowhunting, wounding and crippling losses are inevitable.

The Texas study also states:

~ Bowhunting is an extremely demanding, exacting sport. A hunter must be within 30 or so yards of a deer, draw and release an arrow undetected, and hit the vital areas of the animal.

~ The broadhead must cut major blood vessels, thoracic organs, or the neurological center to cause a quick death. Under most hunting conditions it is generally difficult to shoot a razor-sharp broadhead into a vital area (an absolute must for bowhunting proficiency). Almost all abdominally shot deer die a slow death from peritonitis.

~ If there is a relatively low exit wound in the thoracic hit, most bleeding is internal, which results in poor blood trails. The deer runs off and dies a slow death in the woods days or even weeks later.

~Many bowhunters are novices; they lack experience and knowledge in stalking, shooting, and tracking. Experienced bowhunters wound more deer than novices, because they get in more shots and have more of an opportunity to wound. (Novice archers usually miss animals entirely.)

The Texas study provided evidence that, on average, 21 shots were made for every deer killed, or about 10 shorts per deer hit.  

3 In addition, the potential for bowhunting inaccuracy is enormous. Benke’s book cites several studies documenting that the best bowhunters wound more animals than the worst. Even the most skilled bowhunter has to admit that a direct hit to the heart in a hunting situation would be extremely unlikely. Even then, the chance the animal would be rendered unconscious immediately is almost zero.

Shot placement is, for all practical purposes, random.

The Texas study is not unique:¾In a 1983 study of wounding loss in Iowa, H.L. Gladfelter, confirms Benke’s contention and reports that crippling is not correctable by increased training or field experience and is a by-product of the sport.

~ In 1989, during a bowhunt at Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, bowhunters killed 8 deer and left 9 deer wounded.

~ At Rock Cut State Park in Illinois in 1988, bowhunters killed 53 deer and left at least 42 others injured in the woods.

~ During the 1985 archery season at Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area in Texas, 101 bowhunters launched 86 arrows and seriously wounded 11 deer without killing a single animal. The ratio of those struck, killed, and recovered to those hit but not recovered is alarming.

~ A 1983 (unpublished) Minnesota study stated that for every 100 deer legally killed, 116 were lost.

~ In a survey conducted at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, bowhunters averaged 15 arrows per kill and wounded 52% of the deer that were hit.

~ Rob Wegner, author of Deer & Deer Hunting, Book 3 cited observations from records by Deer Search, Inc., an organization that has leashed dogs to recover wounded deer for 14 years. Some of the observations are:

4 Chest hits in which an arrow penetrates only one lung present very difficult tracking problems.

5. High lung shots are difficult to track even with a dog, especially if no exit wound exists. But this situation varies with the dog’s abilities and experience...

7. Deer die from “peritonitis hits” in the lower intestines. Some of these deer take several days to die while other move about for only twenty-four hours after being hit...

13. Deer wounded with broadheads are much more difficult to trail with leashed dogs than deer hit with bullets, although this generalization greatly depends on the type of hit...  

15. The entire lung area does not necessarily represent a reliably lethal target zone for bowhunters. The fact that many of us have dropped deer quickly with broadhead {sic} does not alter this fact. More research on this topic would lead to better explanations and revisions.

~ Westcott’s and Payton’s Investigations of Reliability of Self Reported Deer Wounding Rates and Bow Hunter Responses to Information on Wounding. In this Michigan research project on bowhunting and bowhunter attitudes, it was found that archers released 9.1 arrows per deer killed, with hits that tended to be scattered all over the deer. (The wounding rate was 50%. Like Deer Search, Inc. and Benke’s observations, this research documents the fact that many deer shot through the chest are wounded and lost. Most disturbing was the callous attitude in the rating of bowhunter satisfaction. Those who wounded animals rated the quality of their hunts far higher than those who missed or released no arrows at deer.)

~ In Benke’s book a letter written from bowhunter Fred Bear, a man whose reputation was epic, states: I would guess that at the minimum, two deer are hit to get one. I personally know many bowhunters whose average is much worse...

More often than not, poorly hit deer are lost.

And deer aren’t the only casualties:

~ A 1988 report to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks indicated that of 2,370 bowhunters who hit an elk with an arrow, only 49% actually retrieved their prey.

The Full Report

There are hundreds of studies that further condemn the war on nature humans have created, primarily with the harmful effect that hunting has on the ecosystem.

We, the people of Fairfax, do not wish for our parks to be a place of death and fear for the wildlife, our furry family members, nor our children. We ask that you no longer allow hunters to kill in the parks where we should feel safe and have fun, and that you seek alternative, humane, and actually effective means of handling deer populations if they do manage to grow too much.

Please, ban all hunting at the parks of Fairfax County and keep the parks a safe place for those who visit and those who reside within them.

Thank you.


(Note: Petition maker used a false name to protect identity. Will present it only upon delivery of this petition to those it is meant for.)