Urban deer hunting opponents to speak to committee at forum

In Interstate 55's median, sunlight beats down on a dead buck. Nuisance abatement supervisor Ty Metzger approaches it, armed with a wooden plank. Maimed and antlerless, the deer's lifeless eyes stare at Metzger as he and officer Ben Rhymer, both of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, contemplate how they intend to get it out of the median.

The task seems commonplace for the officers, and that's because they say it is.

After little discussion, the deer -- struck earlier in the morning by a car heading north on the interstate -- is loaded onto the rigid board and shoved into the bed of Metzger's truck.

"We pick up dead deer up to three times a week," Metzger said while transporting the carcass to the Transfer Center.

Once there, Metzger drags the deer out of his truck and plops it down on the station's unloading dock, where it joins piles of refuse.

"If we had hunting in the city, that deer could have been harvested and not dumped here," Metzger said. "It could have fed a family."

Metzger is just one of several Cape Girardeau citizens with an opinion on urban deer hunting who will attend a forum on the matter Tuesday evening. The forum will begin at 6 p.m. at the Osage Center.

The Deer Management Committee's public forum will allow people three minutes to express their opinion on potential urban deer hunting in Cape Girardeau. The forum will mark the first time opposition to urban deer hunting can communicate directly to members of the seven-person committee.

"I think we'll have a good showing," said Stephen Stigers, who heads up Cape Friends of Wildlife, a group that opposes urban deer hunting.

The group has held two meetings this year, and more than 30 people have attended each one.

Attempts by the group to speak at deer committee and city council meetings have mostly been quashed. At the Feb. 7 committee meeting, assistant police chief and committee liaison Roger Fields told members of the group that they will have an opportunity to speak at the Feb. 28 public forum.

During a Feb. 16 Cape Friends of Wildlife meeting, the group planned to attend the city council's Feb. 21 study session to voice their concerns. At the session, Mayor Harry Rediger said he was reluctant to let the group speak at the session, but eventually requested group member Vivian Selby present a map she had drafted.

Selby showed council members a map of Cape Girardeau on which she had plotted churches, parks, schools and densely populated areas. She suggested that shows definitively that there are few, if any, places to safely hunt within the city limits.

Councilman John Voss, who proposed forming the Deer Management Committee, was not in attendance.

Stigers said after the session he was disappointed at the council members' reaction to their attempt to speak out directly to them.

The forum offers the group a chance to tell the committee its stance, although it may be a disjointed effort, Stigers said.

"We asked for our own block of time at the forum and were denied," Stigers said. "I think our message will be heard loud and clear. I don't think we'll be able to deliver the message as organized as we'd like but we'll still get it across."

The Missouri Department of Conservation also asked for its own block of time at the forum but was also denied, Stigers said. Urban wildlife biologist Erin Shank will share information about deer management methods, training, and safety precautions, department spokeswoman Candice Davis said in an email.

When Stigers learned a department representative would be speaking at the meeting, he sent Rediger an email protesting Shank's presence at the meeting.

"Many citizens have put a lot of time into learning about white-tailed deer and urban bow hunting," Stigers wrote in the email, which was also sent to the other council members. "We are not coming to the forum to hear more from the MDC or the police department. It is time for us to be heard."

Stigers said he believes only Cape Girardeau citizens should have the opportunity to speak at Tuesday's forum. Shank is from the St. Louis area, Davis said.

Committee member Judy Graetz, who first brought up urban deer hunting to the council, said she is looking forward to taking in the public's opinion Tuesday.

"We're expecting to hear from as many people as possible," Graetz said. "I think most people think we're overpopulated with deer."

Graetz said she has spent substantial time researching the urban deer hunting in Cape Girardeau and thinks it is the best way to stymie the deer population.

Rediger said he expects several people to be at the forum and that most of them will oppose deer hunting within city limits.

"I've had more people talk to me about favoring it than not favoring it," Rediger said. "The ones opposing it have been very vocal and I would think the ones opposing it will be heavily represented at the forum."

The committee's members will not speak at the forum, Rediger said.

psullivan@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

1625 North Kingshighway Street, Cape Girardeau, MO