On 20 Oct 2002 19:14:52 GMT, (Nick Maclaren)
wrote:

In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:
On Sun, 20 Oct 2002 15:12:11 +0100, "Dennis Simpson"
wrote:

Muntjack deer have a habit of wandering around our group of six retirement
bungalows and munching flowers in pots, particularly Pansies. Anybody know
of any easy "buzz-off" ideas?

A large dog off the leash and/or a shotgun discharged with
freedom and elan. Combine bans on hunting with effective dog
leash laws, and the deer run riot; at least, that's what's
happened *here*.

And here. But I want to object strongly to the above of shotguns
for such purposes on the grounds of cruelty....

The appropriate weapon is a 0.22 rifle, or even a long
barreled pistol firing a 0.22 magnum.

I stand corrected. I don't think I've ever handled a firearm in
my life so one gun is indistinguishable from the next afaiac.

You need to be EXTREMELY careful using those in built-up areas,
but it is actually easier to use them safely in such conditions
than shotguns.

Of course, the ecologically correct solution is the reintroduction
of Eurasian lynx, which is where I came in. But the aforementioned
misbegotten and misgenated will have nothing to do with that ....

Believe it or not, they are actually reintroducing wolves into
parts of North America that have been wolf-less for a century or
more.

Can I ship you a few cougars as an alternative deer-control
predator? They seem to be having a minor population explosion of
their own, perhaps thanks to the introduction onto Vancouver
Island of rabbits and grey squirrels, both of which provide
medium-small mammalian prey for cougars. Aside from these two
introduced species, we have very few mammals in the same general
size range. Lots of mice and mouse-like critters, some tiny red
native squirrels (very shy and very territorial -- in 32 years
I've only seen one three times), beavers, and the nearly extinct
Vancouver Island marmot. And more raccoons than you can shake a
stick at. That's it afaik.

No moles, gophers, skunks, possums, or anything else along those
lines. There are advantages to living on an island that was
almost entirely glaciated during the last ice age.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada