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Fish And Wildlife Officers Cite Deer Depredation Permit Violators
October 5, 2009
Last week, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties worked a week-long detail targeting violations of the agency-issued deer depredation permits and the illegal taking of deer at night with a gun and light.
A deer depredation permit issued by the FWC allows farmers to kill deer out of season to reduce severe or persistent damage to valuable crops.
Eight officers and three lieutenants worked until midnight each night checking nine deer depredation permits and 18 hunters.
The FWC issued two citations for possession of untagged deer removed from a permitted field. Two citations were issued for hunting license violations on the permitted field, and another 13 warnings were issued for various violations of the deer depredation permit restrictions.
Officers also checked an additional 55 users near activated deer depredation permitted fields resulting in one arrest for DUI, two arrests for taking deer at night with a gun and light and two arrests for operating a vehicle off a named or numbered road in a management area.
The FWC did not release the names of those that received citations.
Comments
7 Responses to “Fish And Wildlife Officers Cite Deer Depredation Permit Violators”
I have had damage to my vehicles 5 seperat ocasions within the last two years. Something really needs to be done about the deer population. With the deductables I have payed I could have bought a vehicle
Farmers that are getting their crops destroyed by deer shouldn’t let hunters feed deer on their property from October to February (Florida’s hunting season). If you feed them corn or sweet potatoes at a field for 5 months of the year, they are going to come back and look for feed other months.
Facts, you hit the nail on the head. Florida should go with a system where a hunter has to harvest a doe before they can harvest a buck. Thats the only way to keep the population in check since one buck will breed with several does.
Yellar Hammer – I hunt on private land (a farmer) in this area. We have applied for and have been issued doe tags for the past 10 hunting seasons. Most years we have filled all or most of our tags, and the farmer has still has had problems with deer. The last year this farmer lost over 40 acre’s of beans to deer, and he lost several acres this year (more than 10). Thats a lot of money. The deer that are depredated, can be eaten and or given to food banks. It is legal to transport them and eat them as long as they are tagged. I think a better solution (just my humble opinion) that would improve the overall deer heard quality, is that Fl should go to a system like Al. Where you can shoot all the does you want, but are restricted in the number of bucks you can shoot… including antler restrictions. Too many folks around here just shoot every legal deer that walks… which is mostly spikes and 6 pts. We rarely shoot or see nice deer anymore.
These deer multiply like rabbits if not keep in check. I hunt in Lafaresta Land and they issue anterless tags yearly to help keep the population down, this process is working. Places like Blackwater and other managments don’t follow this process. This process works and is a benifit to the hunters, the slautering by farmers is a complete wast of good food source of food for those that hunt, all the deer that are killed are destroyed and not even given to the poor for a food supply.
No names to go with the crimes? How can FWC block public records, which keeps criminal activity a secret? Another avenue would be to contact the clerk of the court’s office to see what FWC has turned in for charges over the past few days, this way these unscrupulous hunters can be fully publicly recognized for their illegal activities.
Hope the permits and licenses were pulled from those land owners who violated or permitted violations on their property.
What happened to the thrill of the hunt? There was a time when hunters would never consider hunting at night, over baited fields or bait piles, but nowadays seems like that is all people do. If you kill a deer while he or she lazily munches from your corn pile or while you blind him with a million watt spotlight in the middle of the night, please do not consider yourself a hunter. Might as well tie the deer to a tree. What pleasure does someone really gain from this type of kill?
To me the biggest part of the thrill is the chase. Months of tracking and patterning the animal, so on that chilly fall afternoon you can send that arrow or lead through their heart and lungs. Sucess rate may not be quite as high, but the reward is so much greater.