Suburban Bowhunting Deer
Our service is FREE to the property owner. We are a not-for-profit organization in the state of Missouri. Our administrative costs are primarily funded by our professional bowhunters through their membership fees. We will also accept donations from individuals and businesses that are interested in, and supportive of our mission.
The minimum size of the property depends on the regulations of the city in which the property is located. In practical terms, our field staff has worked with properties as small as 1 acre. When several adjoining property owners are experiencing deer damage and they all decide to seek our service, the properties can be managed by us as a single unit. This is often the best approach for smaller tracts. Developments experiencing deer damage with “open space” or green space controlled by a homeowners association can use the “open space” as a tract for deer management. Other than the restrictions place by the city, there are no hard and fast rules. We will evaluate each property on a case by case basis.
Missouri Law strongly supports the property owner. In addition, the Suburban Bowhunters carries liability insurance that protects both the organization and the property owner. In addition, the Property owner Agreement signed by Suburban Bowhunters and the property owner includes a “hold harmless” clause which indemnifies the property owner.
Absolutely! Hunting in general is a very safe sport, even when done with guns. The chances of a hunter being injured or causing injury to someone else are many times greater when the hunter is driving between home and his hunting location than when the hunter is in the field hunting.
Using bowhunting as a deer management technique is especially low risk to the non-hunting public. Unlike hunting with firearms, bowhunting is an extremely close range sport. All shots are within 20 yards. At that distance there is no difficulty positively identifying the target. In addition, experienced archers don’t shoot at running deer as is often the case with gun hunting. In a suburban setting, bowhunting is done from a tree stand typically elevated to a height of 15 to 20 feet. Shooting at this downward angle, any arrow missing the target would only travel a few feet before impacting the ground.
The reality is that you are much more likely to be killed or injured in a deer-car collision than to be injured by a bowhunter managing deer on your property.
This is a controversial subject in public discussion. Many groups opposed to hunting often try to suggest that wounding rates are high. The numbers they quote are very subjective and based on assumptions made to prove their point. The first controlled study was recently completed that offers statistically significant scientific data on this subject. It was conducted over a 4 year period at Camp Ripley Minnesota. The study group included a broad cross-section of Bowhunters with experience levels ranging from novice to expert. This study concluded that only about 13% of the deer shot were unaccounted for. The important thing about archery wounding is that normally if an animal is not mortally wounded, it WILL recover in the great majority of cases. This is not true with firearms.
The Suburban Bowhunters deploys experienced professional bowhunters that have undergone a rigorous certification process. In addition, we have a pool of our most experienced trackers on-call. In case a member hunter is unable to recover a deer, the hunter can call one of these trackers to aid in the search. We make EVERY effort to recover all deer.
Our wounding rate is markedly lower than those measured in the Camp Ripley study.
Finally, let’s consider the unlikely but possible case of a deer that it not recovered. The natural cycle of life and death never leaves anything to waste. The death of any animal is used by nature to sustain other wildlife.
These aren’t problems that can be solved. They are resources to be managed and stewarded. The natural predators of the Whitetail deer, large carnivores like wolves, bears, coyotes, mountain lions, etc, have been replaced in the suburbs with SUVs and other automobiles. In some areas with large tracts of undeveloped land, like Yellowstone National Park, populations of the natural predators have been reintroduced in an attempt to restore the natural balance. Since it is impractical to do this in the densely populated suburbs, continuous management is required.
Just two deer without predation can produce a herd of up to 35 deer in just 7 years. How quickly we can restore the balance on your particular property depends largely on the surrounding properties. When a number of nearby properties are under management, the balance can be restored much more quickly.
Call 314-393-2195 for more information about this FREE Service
