Dunlora residents fear risks of arrows meant to kill deer

With a proposal to cull deer before their community association, some Dunlora residents are hoping they’ll be able to keep bow hunters out of the bucolic neighborhood.
They’re hoping that the board will table the idea or, barring that, put it to a community-wide vote.
“I’m a Dunlora resident and father of 5- and 9-year-old girls who frequently play along the trails, the streams in Dunlora, and I am largely concerned about the safety of my child and my neighbors’ children with bow hunting going on in the woods during the exact same time that the children are typically there,” Dr. George Hoke said.

The man who would likely implement the plan and the state’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries have praised the safety of the technique, but some, like Hoke, are unconvinced. Proponents also say the hunters would be inconspicuous. A fact sheet supplied on the community association’s Web site identifies the hunting program as the most affordable, effective option.
The proposal was sparked by residential concerns about property damage from the deer, along with worries including risk of Lyme disease and automobile accidents, though opponents remain unconvinced that the situation requires killing as a solution.
The objections run in three main channels: an ethical objection to killing animals, particularly to protect plantings; a concern that children will be exposed to the graphic realities of hunting; and a sense that, because people move to Dunlora to live with nature, the program would undermine one their neighborhood’s distinctive characteristics.

“There are some people who are extremely passionate about the ethics of shooting animals in general and then there are more pragmatic issues of, it costs money and may not be effective anyway,” Hoke said. “Your azaleas still may get eaten anyway.”
Many of those concerned about safety worry specifically about children.
“As a mother, I feel like my perspective is a little different than people who are looking at it from a perspective of people who are trying to protect ornamental plants,” Sarah Raffinan said.
The proposal before the board would see the community association paying $1,500 per year for a handful of hunters to pursue deer weekly from mid-July to mid-March. The hunters would use bows and hunt from tree stands.
Raffinan said concerns about the character of the community are important to her.
“Dunlora as a community needs to be grounded upon the idea that we all love the nature around us … ,” she said. “I just don’t feel like it suits our community to think that the easiest solution to a deer encroachment problem is to just eradicate them.”

She said her 3-year-old daughter likes to stand on the back deck and talk to the deer in the yard.
And some opponents feel that those advocating for the deer to be killed haven’t shown enough evidence to prove their point.
“No evidence has been provided that indicates a need to reduce deer in our community that is any greater than anywhere else in Albemarle County as a whole,” wrote resident Dr. Lauren Gregg in an e-mail. “In fact, Dunlora borders hundreds of acres along the Rivanna River.”
Local naturalist and author Marlene A. Condon calls white-tailed deer the “poster animal” for the consequences of man’s interference with the natural world. She wrote in an e-mail that man eradicated predators, including the mountain lion and wolves, from the area. As a result, people are stuck trying to control the deer, she wrote.
“We do need to limit deer because, in addition to being a problem for people by eating landscape plants and being in the roadways, deer are impacting other species, such as birds that require low-growing plants for habitat. The best way to accomplish this would be for people to learn to live among the coyotes that have moved into Virginia now that the bigger carnivores are mostly gone,” she wrote.

She acknowledged that coyotes come with some downsides, but wrote that residents could easily live with them, if they conduct themselves responsibly.
“Man evolved (or was put on the Earth by God, if you are a believer in the Bible) with a natural system of checks and balances in place so that the environment would function properly,” she wrote. “If humans would accept that truism, we wouldn’t have many of the numerous environmental problems we face today.”
More than 100 Dunlora residents have signed a petition asking that the question be put to a vote in the community. Residents said the argument has been passionate, but not rude.
“I think it’s been very civil,” said resident Laura Kuhn. “I really do.”

One thing they’re not unanimous on is how many people oppose the plan. Some folks, even in the opposition, say that the community is split fairly evenly, while others claim that the opposition has a large numerical advantage.
Raffinan suggested that the difference in perception might be related to which public meetings residents have attended.
“In reality, I think it’s probably pretty evenly divided, and it’s ultimately going to not be easy for there to be a good resolution,” she said.