There are way to many of these things. I have lost thousands on plantings in our yard. We see them EVERY day. Look at your own police log reports last two weeks. How many deer car accidents 3 or 4. We now have coyote roaming in our back yard. Let me know if you want my picture of that!

Yes, based on my 64+ years of life in the outdoors of Weston we do have a deer overpopulation problem. Starting about 1995 we saw numbers of deer. Exactly coincident with seeing many deer, family members started getting tick bites and some of us got Lyme Disease (successfully treated). Also the deer rendered vegetable gardening useless, and ate to death or ugliness many ornamental plants. Our Selectmen and Conservation Commission have initiated the right action on our behalf with the bowhunting program

No. I enjoy seeing an occasional deer, and much prefer deer to hunters on town owned land.

I also note that none of the towns surrounding Weston allow deer hunting.

Part of the Weston Land Value is being destroyed by deer eating three meals a day on many residents properties! Yes there is a problem! Also look at tick diseases carried by deer ticks.k fairbend

We bought a bale of hay and put it on the lawn for the deer a couple of months ago, worried they had nothing to eat in the heavy snow cover. We have had no takers. We've seen no deer over here in quite some time.
If you see deer in your yard and they bother you, make a lot of noise banging your pots and pans and they will scamper off. They don't like the racket.
You can protect your rhododendrons and other plants with deer spray, both commercial and homemade concoctions. Or you can use deer netting to keep them out of your garden.
A dog will keep deer way too. Actually we have a lovely dog next door who comes over all the time. Maybe that's why we see no deer over here.
If there is a deer problem in Weston, I say it's far better to be creative than cruel.

I do not consider that Weston has a deer "problem". Lyme Disease rates are going down in MA, as are the number of deer related car accidents. That last number is on record at Weston Police Dept. I am more concerned about the number of family pets lost to coyotes than the loss of a few shrubs. The scent of my dog has kept the deer far from my house, even during this hard winter. We see them passing in the woods and I'm glad the hunting season is over for the year. I hope it is over forever in Weston.

The question to ask, is NOT if there is are too many deer in Weston. The key question to is: IF there is a "deer problem" in Weston, is that problem going to be solved with bow and arrow hunting of deer? The answer to that question is a resounding NO.
First, the only way to control Lyme disease is to control the tick population and the white-footed mice that carry the bacteria that produces Lyme disease. Deer DO NOT carry Lyme Disease, they just provide a blood meal for ticks. In the absence of some deer, ticks will look for other sources of blood (humans, dogs, coyotes and other mammals).
Bow and arrow hunting has been unsuccessful in every single case where it has been tried.
Second, when you kill deer by hunting, the number of deer is decreased suddenly and the remaining deer compensate by having twins and triplets and breeding at a younger age, leading to an INCREASE in the number of deer. Deer bounce back!
So, the net result is that the town will have more deer, not less.
Under the guise of controlling a "deer problem" Weston has authorized Recreational Hunting.

We live right next door to Isabella on Gun Club Lane, on an extended stretch of land between her property and Jericho Town Forest, and saw a group of 6 deer yesterday, a group of 7 deer last week, with similar spottings each week. The snow is covered with deer tracks. Happy to post a photo of yesterday's group taken from the house. Our property is posted against trespassing (equipment theft in past and other issues) but if you have an open mind, I'm open to requests to see firsthand the effects of deer grazing. (email: yetmingchiang_at_gmail.com).

Because police records show that deer-auto collisions have been declining over the last few years and CDC records show that the rate of Lyme disease has also been going down, there isn't much scientific evidence to indicate a deer overpopulation problem. But, even if there was a problem, this bow hunting problem won't solve it! Killing a handful of deer every year in a cruel manner isn't going to make a bit of difference. In fact the science indicates there could be a rebound effect which would make things worse. If anything needs to be done, the contraceptive method has a better rate of effectiveness. For more information about the science behind this please come to the "Living With Deer and Without Lyme Disease" forum at the Weston Library at 7:30 pm on May 1.

I've heard several stories about injured deer - I find it interesting that the town report says absolutely nothing about deer who are injured but not killed by the hunters. That is especially cruel, but there's no incentive for hunters to report it (in fact, a major disincentive as they probably rightly fear they won't get their license renewed).

I have noticed a decline in the number of deer that I have seen in town over the last few years. That is consistent with the decline in deer car accidents reported by the Weston Police. Additionally, I chose to live in Weston because of the rural nature yet still being close to Boston. If people don't like wildlife around, there are numerous communities that don't have the same rural environment nearby. There is not a deer problem.

No one has convinced me that we have a deer problem. Perhaps the problem is with people who think the solution to any "problem", is violence. Haven't we had enough without living in a town which sanctions bow hunting. Why are we the only town in the metrowest community whch has authorized the slaughter of wildlife?
Please help to rescind this untenable "experiment" which is not an answer to either lyme disease or the deer population. We have enough violence in our society without living in a town which supports bow hunting as town policy. This is not the community in which we raise kids, nor is it one in which we would want anyone's children to learn that violence is ever an answer. Enough!!
Carol Ott

Deer do not eat hay! http://www.buckmasters.com/what-do-deer-eat.aspx

I can't understand how people can equate bow hunting with violence? How is hunting any more violent than fishing? You jam a hook in their mouth and then drag them a hundred yards against their will. Then for all the times a fish breaks the line and then has to swim around witha large hooked lodged in their face...........are those who are against bow hunting also against fishing........ Probably not! Bow hunters Are advid outdoorsmen and some of the leaders in land conservation efforts. Most of the money spent on licenses is used by the state to purchase more land to conserve. Why are we not up in arms about all this development going on in Weston? How is taking acres of woods, stripping it and causing all the wildlife there to relocate anymore cruel than hunting? lets starve the deer to death because that's so much better of a way to go! that's what's really happening in Weston. The land can't sustain the current deer population and that's why peoples shrubs are getting eaten, there not enough food in the woods.
-Bryan Albano-

The call for contraception is not a genuine suggestion because it has been demonstrated to be ineffective unless the animal population is captive. This is just an attempt to obstruct hunting because of emotional concerns. Honestly, you must admit that eating a venison steak causes less animal suffering that having that beefsteak with the associated captivity, torture, and guaranteed early death. Check out the salmon in your fridge or take a look at those heels or that leather purse and contemplate the life of that animal. Are you in any position to criticize hunters who are filling their freezers the honest way?

I hope T Edrich will come to the Weston Deer Friends forum on May 1 at 7:30 at the Weston Library. There will be a panel of renowned scientists who have studied the issue of deer management and have concluded that bow hunting in suburbs won't solve the problem. Also, contraception actually has been effective in suburbs.

Also, T Edrich, your logic makes no sense. Just because someone eats meat they should promote harming other animals for no good reason??!! That's like saying that someone who pollutes our environment by driving a car encourage those who litter. Just because you cause the death of animals by eating meat (I'm a vegetarian by the way) doesn't mean you should encourage other harmful acts toward animals. It's pretty simple logic!

Come to the forum and you'll learn from the specialists that bow hunting in suburbs isn't an effect way of controlling deer populations.

Besides, why not have a little compassion for our fellow earthlings?

T Edrich…. The talk of eating meat or not has NOTHING to do with what is going on in Weston, but is something that people say often to distract from the real issues. Under the excuse that Weston had a "deer problem" the Conservation Commission open Weston to recreational hunting. The main goal of their "deer management program" was to reduce the number of deer and, according to them, the incidence of Lyme disease. If you feel like getting educated, you can go to the Weston Deer Friends Forum on May 1st at the Library. But just in case you don't have time to get the truth, let me tell you that there is no correlation between deer and Lyme disease; the correlation is between white-footed mice and Lyme disease! A small amount of your time finding the real issues, would not hurt.
By the way, I do not eat meat, I am a vegetarian and I believe in protecting our planet and its creatures. And…. I am proud of it!

If you hunt on your own property or, with permission, on another landowner's property, that's your business. But when you do your hunting on our town owned land, that's the public's business.

This game changer of a decision should never have been made by Weston's Board of Selectmen and I sincerely hope that my fellow voters will come to Town Meeting on Monday, May 13 and vote YES on Article 20: "There shall be no hunting on any Town-owned land in the Town of Weston, Massachusetts."