Deer Killing Season in Little Canada

Tonight, our city council took on what must be the most menial task ever accomplished by a city council in times of economic depression. By a 3:1 vote (Rick Montour was the dissenting vote), the Little Canada City Council decided to allow hunting in the city limits because a couple of residents complained that they were being terrorized by killer deer or some such equally inconsequential rational. At the council meeting, an equal or great number of citizens disagreed with that decision. Obviously, three minds were made up before they heard public opinion.

This is, of course, the goose game all over again. Against the wishes of the majority of citizens, the city goes off half-cocked on a non-issue. You have to wonder why this kind of thing gets more than a few minutes of consideration. “Frivolous” is, apparently, a word that is not in the councils’ vocabulary.

The city has an overstock of empty business buildings, some of which are new construction and were subsidized by taxpayers. The state is hemorrhaging money and cutting back on Local Government Aid (LGA) payments which will likely result in increased property taxes. Some of us have had the value of our property decimated by actions and inaction by our city government (which was the original reason for this website). I doubt that any Little Canada resident feels well-supported by what the city does with tax money. And the city council spends time worrying about excess deer? Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. It will be interesting to see the council minutes to learn how they justify this waste of public time and resources.

One of the great advantages of living in a rare suburb like Little Canada is that is has the feel of living in the country while having the convenience of being very near an urban center. If the city government can easily be panicked into foolish and unnecessary action every time one or two residents complain about scary wildlife on their property, a good bit of that advantage is lost. This would go under the heading of "bad publicity" for our little village.

The Little Canada Deer Hunt

During the August 12th City Council meeting, the longest discussion was about managing the deer population in the city. Apparently, the city's "herd" has increased from 21 head in 1999 to 71 in 2009. Some of our neighbors have been complaining, although they were unnamed in the meeting (as usual), about "plant damage and vehicular accidents."

As an aside, this citizen complaint rumor tactic was used for justifying the "goose roundup" last year. It would seem that a reasonable accounting of the actual number of complaints, who made the complaints, and a minimal bit of evidence would be desirable if the city is going to spend money and take this kind of time out of a city council meeting to discuss these issues. Putting something like this on the agenda, because the "City Administrator reported that he has received a number of calls" is a pretty poor use of the city's time.

John Moriarty, a Natural Resources Manager for Ramsey County Parks, recommended "a sharp-shooter" at $350 a deer. I wonder if he can suggest someone who'd be willing to take a contract on deer for that kind of money? If we're going to pay a local hitman $350 a deer to get the numbers down to the 1999 herd size, we're going to be coughing up $17,500. That would buy a lot of deer repellent and if it turned out that the "number of complaints" was as sparse as the goose complaints, we'd probably have deer repellent in stock for a few decades. Oddly, Moriarty said "noted that if a deer is shot at and the shot misses, that deer becomes trained to avoid the area." Seems like some well-placed fireworks could chase the deer out of the complaining neighbors' yards, if that's the case. I particularly enjoyed the comment that a deer trailing blood and guts across the neighborhood would produce "disadvantages from the public perception standpoint."

You think?

John Sculley was on hand to complain about deer on his property, but said "the only ones who will hunt Sculley property are named 'Sculley.' Sculley indicated that his brother and nephew are bow hunters and capable of taking some deer on his property."

The deer hunting party was tabled for further consideration. In the meantime, look forward to the possibility of bow hunters and sharp-shooters in your neighborhood any day now.