Socon, are you a meat eater? Do you go to the super market and buy steaks, roasts, chops or whatever? Are you having a Turkey for Thanksgiving, or a Ham for Xmas? Do you know what goes on in slaughter houses? Check it out sometime.I was raised on a farm, we raised and butchered most of our own meat and we hunted for the rest. Most of us hunters are out there to fill our freezers, not just to kill wildlife and we do it in the most humane way we can. A clean kill.

I am a hunter. I hunt for the food. The past few years I haven't gone hunting because our family hasn't eaten as much venison. But, I do know people that could use the meat and I plan on hunting again and giving any extra meat to families that could use it. I know a number of hunters that do the same thing, give any extra meat to families that need it. So, some of us are not onlyhelping controlling the herd but also helping needy families. As far as the herd being able to control itself naturally, well, that is because of us. We are taking away their natual habitat by building more. So, socon, are you willing to give up your home to give the wildlife back some of their habitat?

Hunting has been happening for centuries. If you choose not to do it then that's your choice but some people find it cheaper to buy a couple shells for a shotgun and shoot a deer that can be your meat for the winter or longer then go to the store every week and buy meat.

Boy, so much happens when I step away. BTW, I did actually hit a deer a couple of years ago and thanked my lucky stars I saw it the second that I did. My reaction was to 1) be grateful to be alive and relatively uninjured with no injury to other persons or property and 2) ensure that law enforcement made sure the deer was not suffering, which it was not as it had been killed instantly. Socon, I don't think either you or I know the statistics on how many skinny or ill deer survive until the next year, especially as we don't hunt. But I do know I would not want any animal to suffer and a clean kill is preferable. By the way, if you have a pet who is now elderly and ill, would you just keep him alive because that's nature, or would you do the kind thing and have him gently put to sleep?

Not only an I going to shoot 4 or 5 deer this weekend, I might try to find a little bunny to get for a hors devour to snack on while my venison tenderloin is grillin.

Isn't it great to be at the top of the food chain!!

I am going to go out and shoot a deer and then cut down the tree that my stand was in so I can not only feed my family but heat my house this winter!

socon, will you still think that way when you hit a deer with your car??? There is a overpopulation problem and this is the best way to deal with it not to mention the amount of revenue the state gets from hunters!

I don't hunt. I'm too lazy. But i don't see anything wrong with it at all. Humans are omnivores. Not by choice. By nature. That means we are designed to eat both plant and animal matter.No ammount of do-gooder whining will change that fact. If YOU don't like meat, dont eat it. ANd trust me, those of us that do enjoy a good steak on the grill, medium rare with some onion and mushrooms on it, don't give a rats behind that you don't like it, and we are tired of hearing it. So zip it and find a cause that matters.

Survival of the fittest, it’s how the world works.
And unless you are a vegetarian that has never eaten meat in your life, or used most of modern day technology that harms the environment and takes away from the eco system that these animals live in, you are a complete hypocrite. It seems that most people that have an issue with killing deer (or any animal for that matter) say it is so wrong, but it’s ok as long as you are not the one that is actually doing the “dirty work.”

I am sure the deer would prefer not to be killed regardless of how much suffering they might face. I don't see how this is different from humans who are starving. Should we kill them in their "desperate attempt to survive"? Tell me this JoyM. How is it that the deer that are too young, too skinny, not worthy of being eaten survive through the winter and grow to become the trophies for the following years? Deer are wild animals, and are thus resourceful enough to survive when vegetation is scarce. Hunting is done out of tradition and pleasure. Any attempt to validate it based on the benefits for the animals is a logically inconsistent argument. Population control is for our benefit, not the animal's. How did wildlife ever survive before we started helping them?

Would you rather have the deer die a slow, agonizing death from starvation, after having denuded all the vegetation in their area in a desperate attempt to survive? I don't hunt and don't plan to do so, and nobody says you have to, either, but be realistic. Unless you have a grand and personally (not tax-payer) funded plan to start neutering the deer population, this is the humane way to protect the ones who aren't taken as well as the environment around them, which sustains other wildlife as well.

The state's deer population would like to remind hunters that a muzzle pointed at them is not pointed in a safe direction. "We are living animals, not targets," a spokesdeer says. "The majority of hunting 'accidents' involve the deaths of thousands of deer every year. Please be careful and use caution when we are present." Donations of blaze orange deer jackets are being accepted.