"Jennifer Jones is worried about the city's plans to allow hunters to use high-powered rifles to kill deer in Eagle Creek Park."

http://t.co/zIfIizbPMT

A handful of bow/crossbow hunters could do the same thing and it wouldn't cost anything. What a poor decision that was made.

Interesting that they suggest that the sharpshooters are based at Purdue. He did grad work at Purdue but I believe it's ridiculous to say that he is based at Purdue as if it gives more credibility to his company.

I thought we were all sharpshooters!

Here's the updated story on the Eagle Creek decision. http://t.co/czA03VDxEE

Great news... Good luck to all the hunters on Friday...

I'm not crazy about this plan. I'm good with the wounded veterans having their time.
But sharpshooters at night? Over bait? If that works, and why wouldn't it.... What's next? Will anti's push for this every where?
I appreciate the creativity of those involved, but this sounds like a government culling operation. Why not use the marines? Navy seals?

HS, the sharpshooter does a very nice amount of business for towns and municipalities across America. It's ridiculous but frankly the general hunters don't create enough of a fuss over these situations where he is used. It's the easy way for officials to not have to deal with "billy bob" hunter. Generally, deer hunters don't present themselves well and make the general public uncomfortable. Sad as it is.

Do you know who they are using for this???

The Nat. park system has used "sharpshooters for years...The Dunes uses them now up here by me....remember the fiasco with White Buffalo and Tony DeNicola in Dunes Acres ? Beverly Shores tried 'em, but the residents couldnt stand the sound of the guns going off and after I presented the urban bow program to 'em they were satisfied, but the town still put limitations on us, by running background checks on the archers and having proficency testing...but the program worked and is still working today and most of those limitations have been relaxed or done away with......Delaney is right, towns/cities/parks want deer killed and dont want the stigma of having "hunters" in their midst...so they use sharpshooters....so whats the difference.. a dead deer is a dead deer, right ?....... supposedly sharpshooters are experienced, more accurate than "hunters", and supposedly they dont "smile" when they kill a deer(said to me by a ARAer).....I hope those guys kill a ton of deer before the "specialists" get to 'em.... also, why do you think Indiana has allowed "suppressors" and now will allow centerfires?...one reason, to be able to get guns closer to the populace and use them as a urban deer reduction tool...silence is golden...that is why bowhunters can work in the right situations better than guns can....

Yeah, I can't find words to describe my feelings of using a sharpshooter. A dead deer is a dead deer. All this does is allow ONE deer hunter to go in and slaughter animals...and I bet he smiles too.

Oh well, like I said earlier, nothing against the wounded veterans getting their shot at it.
I knew that at one point they were trying to use sharpshooters in a few places but I wasn't aware that it's actually going on routinely. That's really sad.

I hope they can get the deer baited to the right spots for the Wounded Warriors and they can kill a bunch of them. My past company used to use Tim Julien for wildlife control. He's good at what he does.

I have always had a bad taste in my mouth for the sharpshooter concept. Deer exterminators just rub me the wrong way. I get it. I just don't like it.

A more sustained bow hunt would be my preference here but I see how that likely won't ever fly. Then again, it works at Fort Ben on the other side of the city. Frankly I am shocked this hunt got passed. Good luck to the vets!

Trust Me On This Sharpshooters In the Federal Systems are any one who already in the system,can stay within their Budget can buy a gun ,Ammo and Spotlight and release the personnel to do the Job Simple as That

Any idea what the pay is , does the deer have to be field dressed , what happens to the meat, and what the pay is ??
Sounds like it could be a nice part time job .

The use of "sharpshooters" is ridiculous. Another waste of public funds like most everything. They could do archery hunts even with proficiency tests etc and probably make a little money that could be reintroduced as conservation funds, but instead, the loud minority is catered to as usual.

Any reports on the results of this first hunt??

I heard on the radio this morning that a jogger ignored the signs and went through the park. They had to shut down the hunt until they found the jogger and arrested him/her for trespassing.

Yea, any Idea the number of deer taken ??

Not yet.

The numbers will not be released till tomorrow, just reported on the news...

I heard they may do another hunt in late December. anyone know if this is true?

waiting for the kill numbers .... I hope the guys did good....

Any word yet ??

23 hunters, 142 deer killed!!

Over 2 tons of meat donated to Gleaners food banks!

Nice work, Wounded Warriors!

INDIANAPOLIS -

The Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation says 142 deer were killed last weekend as part of its deer management program.

The controversial cull, which was challenged by a lawsuit but allowed to go on as planned, resulted in 31 bucks and 111 does removed from the park. Twenty-three Wounded Warrior participants took part in the hunt, including 11 local disabled veterans. They kept venison from 27 deer for personal use, and the remaining 4,800 pounds is being donated to Gleaners Food Bank.

The parks department argued that the deer population in the park was getting out of control and threatening native plants as well as the forest - eliminating food sources for deer and other species, destroying bird habitats and compromising the forest's ability to regenerate.

"Being able to safely reduce the deer population at Eagle Creek Park was necessary to ensure a sustainable future for Eagle Creek Park and all species that call it home," said John Williams, Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. "Partnering with the Wounded Warriors and donating the venison allowed us to work with local partners and make healthy meat available for the community."

A second reduction is planned for a later date, as yet to be announced. That will focus on the west side of the park. The first hunt was limited to the east side of the park.

The USDA will also provide recommendations for the long term deer management plan for the park.

Learn more about the park's deer management plans.

OMG, probably had to change their lulu lemon running tights when they got in the park and heard the boom, boom, booms!

That's awesome! What a success for everyone involved, the wildlife, and the plant life!

That really is great news!

I'm really happy for the Wounded Warriors that could make it and were able to participate!

Im glad that it worked out for the WW. Read a couple of the stories, very touching.... Congrats to them all... Thanks for sharing Justin

Thats great news...more than what they were hoping for...and the meat went to a good place....I hope the next session goes just as well...

23 hunters and 142 deer taken.........Wow, talk about some action in the stand for those guys!!!!! Glad it worked out.

Good deal. Hopefully this alleviates the need for the "sharpshooters".

second rounhd is sharpshooters.

The political debate over future deer hunts/culls in city parks isn't over. Far from it http://t.co/X6hd804ke8

From the article..."“If this administration is truly interested in transparency,” Mansfield said, “this should have been open to public comment.”

Funny how these two Democrats still believe in "transparency".... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If they have that many deer it means that it didn't just start this season. If they(the parks officials) are doing a proper job of taking care of the park they should have seen this coming & done something like a draw hunt long before now. A yearly hunt is how most parks keep the deer population down. I'll bet they will do a cull hunt each year from now on & you won't hear a thing about it. With a $61,000 price tag a lot of hunting LLC companies will come out of the dark.
Just to do what we like to do for free.

Politics and the loud mouth antis will win out, it takes those with nads to stand up to 'em, and I'll bet only a few on the park board and none in the Mayors office have any to do so.....

It took a great deal of courage to get this hunt done. And it has taken years to do it. I mean decades. I have been going to this park since I was a little boy and probably saw my first "wild" deer there (although it may have been Brown County SP). As I said before, it shocks me that it actually happened.

The problem with deer is well studied and understood here. They have a fenced-in area near the old wildlife center to help visitors understand what the park could be if deer were controlled. It has been there for years also.

The park is in one of the most beautiful areas of the metro area and is surrounded by high end residential. It is very well visited. All that said, many, many residents have a vested interest in the park. And the deer are like zoo animals.

I guess what I am saying is that I can understand all sides in this battle. I am glad we started the process of controlling the deer but it will still be a very difficult battle to get them truly under control. I hope we can take the lessons learned from the other side of the city in Fort Ben and apply them here. An annual or so bow hunt helps things out a lot there.

Mayor Ballard vetoes hunt ordinance... Good for him cause he is right...


http://wishtv.com/2014/12/12/ballard-vetoes-deer-hunt-ordinance/

Good for him and the Park ....

Hats off to Mayor Ballard