Deer in the yard

Check out www.Deerintheyard.com  

The first video on there is really great.

A link for us? 

The mama doe is calling her fawn. It's hilarious.

FAQ Updates

Just wanted to tell you that the USDA does not get its funding from the sales of hunting licenses like the ODNR. Tax dollars pay their salaries. Their job is to kill our wildlife and people have to know that if they aren't killing animals they aren't being paid. You have this on the QUESTIONS page so we better correct that.

Can you please add WILDLIFE SERVICES after USDA?  YES-DONE!

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Also, and I think this is important. I would remove that part about the ODNR say the deer acclimate to the Strieter Lites. Right off the bat people who know absolutely nothing about them will see a negative, make them question their efficacy.

Q. We tried Strieter Lites and saw no difference in DVAs.

This statement isn't accepted by all city officials and its successful use on large herds makes this unlikely. 

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ODOW made the allegation that deer become acclimated to DVA deterrents. A study shows 10 year effectiveness. This self serving statement is not born out by the facts. Click here for a discussion on this topic.
YES BUT!!!  This is what they said, do we really want to leave the question unanswered?  
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We have to introduce them by sending the message out THEY WORK.  I would get rid of that survey report for now and hold on to it in case we need it later. Let's just show all the positives.

 I sent you 2 PDF files from John Strieter showing the successes. Let's put those up instead.

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Also that part about human life being more important the animal life is a big no no. We're playing right into the opposite side's hands. You really never want to say that. We are saying that ALL life should be valued and respected. We really don't want to go down that road. It opens up a can of worms and distracts from the real issue.

Q. Isn't human life more important than animal life when we're talking about all these car accidents?
Killing deer doesn't stop car accidents, the city admits that.  But there are deterrents that dramatically reduce car accidents to near zero.


YES BUT!!!  This is what people are saying, do we really want to leave the question unanswered?  Added back out 5/1/11

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REMOVED:

Q. We tried Strieter Lites and saw no difference in DVAs.

Q. Isn't human life more important than animal life when we're talking about all these car accidents?

Q.  USDA Wildlife Services & ODNR/ODOW are the experts and they say that lethal methods must be used.

Both these agencies receive the bulk of their funding from hunting interests.  Their goal is to expand hunting into urban environments and thus earn more in hunting fees.  They have a serious conflict of interest.

Q. LYME Disease
Q added 5/1/11

I'd like to do a piece on Lyme Disease with some stats and links back to the CDC.  Do you think there would be any interest? 


There is no issue with Lyme disease here so we should definitely  not add yet another problem and hand our opposition another scare tactic to use against us.


That's fine, I know we don't have a problem with it, but I recall some hysterical individuals mentioning it at the meetings.  We can wait and see if it becames an issue later.


Yep. It won't though. The --- mayor Akers in Pepper Pike tried to use that as a scare tactic but then stopped because he knew the facts spoke differently. We are so lucky that we don't have to deal with that. Our friends in MD, CT, NJ, etc all have Lyme to defend too.


YES BUT!!!  This is what they said, do we really want to leave the question unanswered?

Home Page

GET THE FACTS

Understand why bringing snipers or bow hunters into our neighborhoods to kill deer is UNSAFE    INEFFECTIVE AND UNNECESSARY.

After five years of a costly and ineffective culling program our elected officials are under pressure from a minority to continue their mistake.  Their plan squanders taxpayer's dollars and endangers people in our community with a poorly conceived and ineffective program.  Despite our history with this program, it is not well researched and it ignores long-term, science-driven and cost effective methods for resolving deer-human conflicts.  Worst of all, it puts everyone in our community at risk by using hunters with cross-bows and sharpshooters with high-powered rifles.

We have the means to prevent culling from going  forward again by putting the issue on the ballot in November.    Let's take this very important decision directly to the people to decide.  To this end and through the efforts of many people from a wide range of viewpoints, we have prepared an Initiative Petition in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code.  With XXXX signatures by June 30, Solon residents will have the opportunity to change the law here and prevent the mistake of culling from being a “management” option.  With your help we can heal the divisions created by this issue while keeping us safe and making Solon a community to be proud of.

PHOTO OF UNCLE SAM  

            TAKE ACTION!

 JOIN with fellow Solonites and realize the phenomenal power we possess by being involved in the Democratic process. Exercise your right to be counted.  You can help by signing this petition, circulating, or by placing a SIGN on your lawn. 

WHO WE ARE

Solon Deer is a group of concerned citizens from Solon neighborhoods who support safe, rational approaches to reducing deer-human conflicts. SolonDeer.com functions as a central point of information and public communication for those concerned with the Solon deer issue. We encourage you to become more informed and to get involved to generate the best outcome for all.  Please email us at solondeer@gmail.com.

Petition info is on Petition page, top of home page is WHY SHOULD I CARE, bottom is WHAT SHOULD I DO.  Who we are and former home page material is in About Us page.

Power into Action

Ok. All good. The one thing we need on our home page though is the Uncle Sam photo saying We Need YOU and maybe please sign here for your support and would you like a sign and volunteer. We'll let them know that we will be putting the schedule and locations where we'll be petitioning on our site and they should check back often.

 

We need to get their attention right on the homepage to get their contact (Email)  That is vital, top priority. I don't want to lose people if they have to click around too much for that.

 

Can we fit this on the home page?  VERY important. Or maybe the Uncle Sam photo with the WE NEED YOU and then  Put your Power into Action and click which leads to the below and where to put in their personal information

 

PUT YOUR POWER INTO ACTION!

 

  Solon’s decision makers have abused their power long enough by squandering taxpayer's dollars, not fully researching, or outright ignoring long-term, science-proven, cost effective methods for solving the deer conflict and by putting it’s citizenry at risk by suggesting that hunters be allowed to use cross-bows in Solon and allowing sharpshooters with high-powered, lethal weapons to stalk our neighborhoods at all hours of the day and night.

 

  The five year deer management plan was a failure. The advocates for 21st century solutions have been right all along, but we can't win by just being right.  Just because we've never done this before doesn't mean we can't.  Exercise your right to be counted, become politically active and with your help we can win!

 

 Roll up your sleeves and try something different. Join with  fellow Solonites and supporters of a long-term, rational, cost effective solution and realize the phenomenal power we possess by being involved in the Democratic process. You can help by getting out and collecting signatures for the ballot intiative and by placing a sign on your lawn. Anyone can do this with a little guidance and direction. We will have short training sessions to prepare you for collecting signatures.. Help us unify the formidable force that is within each of us.

 

 Let's take this very important decision directly to the people so they can decide.  With your help we can restore civility to the city of Solon by bringing us into the 21st century in solving a very solvable problem while keeping us safe and making Solon a community to be proud of

Home Page

 I liked the following verbiage starting with the blue.  Correction.  I told her it was TOO WORDY!  We had a conversation about simple, simple, simple. 

This needs to be pared down!

We need to get that home page ready first and foremost. We need to have the word BALLOT INITIATIVE on our home page so people know what we're doing.  

First we need to explain the issue, then Ballot Initiative

I'm pasting what I wrote the other day and will pluck out some key points we should probably use IN BLUE or pared down but Mel and I both like EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO BE COUNTED. WITH YOUR HELP WE CAN WIN.

Also, John take a look at the SIGN page from Village deer (sent you the link) Easy and it stands alone so people may be inclined to contact us for a sign. Your thoughts?  DONE

Solon’s decision makers have abused their power long enough by squandering taxpayer's dollars, not fully researching, or outright ignoring long-term, science-proven, cost effective methods for solving the deer conflict and by putting it’s citizenry at risk by suggesting that hunters be allowed to use cross-bows in Solon and allowing sharpshooters with high-powered, lethal weapons to stalk our neighborhoods at all hours of the day and night.

 

 The five year deer management plan was a failure. The advocates for 21st century solutions have been right all along, but we can't win by just being right.  Just because we've never done this before doesn't mean we can't.  Exercise your right to be counted, become politically active and with your help we can win!

 

 Roll up your sleeves and try something different. Join with  fellow Solonites and supporters of a long-term, rational, cost effective solution and realize the phenomenal power we possess by being involved in the Democratic process. You can help by getting out and collecting signatures for the ballot intiative and by placing a sign on your lawn. Anyone can do this with a little guidance and direction. We will have short training sessions to prepare you for collecting signatures.. Help us unify the formidable force that is within each of us.

 

 Let's take this very important decision directly to the people so they can decide.  With your help we can restore civility to the city of Solon by bringing us into the 21st century in solving a very solvable problem while keeping us safe and making Solon a community to be proud of.

 

This can be on the home page or after they click "JOIN"  Wherever you can fit it. 
Will review...

Don't forget to take that TEST word off of the DeerDeter page. 

Can't find it

Let's start getting stuff moved to the public site. I'll start editing tonight but we don't need to get too hung up on it. As long as there aren't spelling or grammatical mistakes. 

Some of this is VERY long and hard for the typical apathetic voter to follow. 

 

Ok guys, start asking people if they can get out there Th. nite. Remember, we need volunteers. We only have until the end of June! 2200 signatures.

We'll have to give them a quick briefing before they begin. 

Petition page added, can post volunteer training time and signing events. OVERDUE!

Will add > to Sign Petition link next to Uncle Sam as soon we have those times. PAGE ADDED, WITHOUT TIMES.

Call for Support

PUT YOUR POWER INTO ACTION!

1) Solon’s decision makers have abused their power long enough by squandering taxpayer's dollars, not fully researching, or outright ignoring long-term, science-proven, cost effective methods for solving the deer conflict and by putting it’s citizenry at risk by suggesting that hunters be allowed to use cross-bows in Solon and allowing sharpshooters with high-powered, lethal weapons to stalk our neighborhoods at all hours of the day and night.

2) The five year deer management plan was a failure. The advocates for 21st century solutions have been right all along, but we can't win by just being right. Just because we've never done this before doesn't mean we can't. Exercise your right to be counted, become politically active and with your help we can win!

3) Roll up your sleeves and try something different. Join with fellow Solonites and supporters of a long-term, rational, cost effective solution and realize the phenomenal power we possess by being involved in the Democratic process. You can help by getting out and collecting signatures for the ballot intiative and by placing a sign on your lawn. Anyone can do this with a little guidance and direction. We will have short training sessions to prepare you for collecting signatures.. Help us unify the formidable force that is within each of us.

4) Let's take this very important decision directly to the people so they can decide. With your help we can restore civility to the city of Solon by bringing us into the 21st century in solving a very solvable problem while keeping us safe and making Solon a community to be proud of.

---

Number one: We really must make email a * required field. That is extremely important. We will need a way to contact these people in the next few months. Priority!

We have decided to put a public domain picture of 'Uncle Sam' on our Homepage with the caption WE NEED YOU TO HELP. Click here or something..... and then they can fill out their personal information/contacts.

Coexistence Pics

This is a real warm fuzzy. Do you think we might put these photos on our site or maybe just one subtitled

THUMPER AND BAMBI

IF THEY CAN DO IT WHY CAN'T WE?

A group of photos showing a rabbit and deer getting along...

[NOTE] Can convert to PDF and embed into Blog post...

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Another sequence of a very young fawn and a horse.

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Write some text on coexistence between wildlife and humans...
IF they can do it why can't we

Pics

These deer are all dead now thanks to the metropark death squad. These pics were sent to me by a friend and we can use them. Do you like any of these for our site?  Lets not say they were metro deer but neighborhood deer which they are, err were. People like visuals.

Now loaded to default Blog Picasa Album...

[Note] Find a good location for photos, no copyright issues.  Can use individually and/or can write a post describing situation and tag photos into it...


[Note] Setup Google Picasa photo galleries


[Note] Check for Blog widget to do a slideshow of deer on blog sidebar.

Editorial Cartoons

What about the deer who are just visitng relatives or stopped by for a bite to eat? Maybe they need to wear bumper stickers like "Don't shoot me I'm from Bedford".This is getting more and more ludicrous.

Hilarious! Kidding aside does Ron Hill still do cartoons for the Sun paper? We should put this on our site. Get a photo of a deer with a bubble over his head saying this.
I'm 200% serious. People will read/look at a cartoon. Good to make people laugh.

Perfect way to drive our point home and people WILL remember that. They'll even say to friends and family, hey did you see that cartoon...............

John, please can you do that?

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[Note] Could put them on Comments web site, hilight on main site?

ODOW Deer Counts

From 8/10   What's in a number? Deer population totals not as important as 'what's in my backyard?' E-mail Story    |    Print Story    |    Comments    |    ShareThis   about 19 hours ago By ART HOLDEN Daily Record Outdoor Editor At the Farmer and Hunter Quality Deer Management Cooperative shortcourse two weeks ago at West Holmes High School, biologist Dr. Mike Tonkovich had offered some interesting insight in both his talk to the crowd, and his interview we me. Tonkovich, the chief wildlife manager for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and the No. 1 man when it comes to suggesting and making new deer regulations, adamantly noted that his job of "putting the right number of deer on the land," comes just as much from his passion for the animal, as it does with his job of managing Ohio's deer population. One of the points I found most interesting that Tonkovich made, was his reluctance to put a number on Ohio's deer herd. While he said that the media, and other organizations want a number to judge the whitetail population, Tonkovich says "the hunter wants to know how many deer are in his (hunting) area, not how many deer are in the state." "What's the statewide population mean," he asked. "I want to know what's in my backyard." They want lotsa deer in urban zones to sell more licences plus big trophy bucks live there and are semi-tame. Easy prey

Cayuga Action

This part is very important so we can involve the residents right now.


green from BTV

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

A positive resolution of this issue depends on individual people getting involved and taking action. I’d leave out the sentence and just leave it as “What You Can Do:”  OK

1)  Speak up--Contact your decision makers and let them know your questions and concerns.  Then list contacts and maybe a menu of things they can chose from to say. Has this been completed too? If not, I’d suggest to the reader that a contact can be as simple as stating your position, “I wanted to let you know,(councilperson,)that as your constituent, my position on this issue is (blank.). They don’t need to explain themselves or get into a verbal debate, just state their position.  And email is just fine for those that prefer it.  Remember, these people represent you.  They need to know what their residents think. DONE It has been my experience that you have to take people by the hand and tell them step by step what to do. [added link to Solon People, added detailed contact info on that page]  

2) Sign our online petition can you set this up easily? [I expect that it would be setup on change.org and just need a Link on the action page.]  Last discussion seems this will be a supporter database, see Petitions Label.  Will be put on Action Page. DONE  How clear do we need to make it that our online petition is not the same as the ballot initiative petition? This must be very clear, I don't think we can call it a petition in order to prevent confusion. Didn't call it a petition, called it Join Us. DONE

3) Write a letter to the editor and list links/addresses [added this item to Action page, linked to Solon Media page which has links to media with instructions for LTE]  DONE Should include email(obviously) and fax. I know one of the editors prefers fax, but can’t recall which. Check out Solon/Media page.

4) Help educate others Get your friends, neighbors and colleagues family, friends, and neighbors(?) – Colleagues are not very likely to live in Solon. Don’t know if should mention “neighbors. “ If you’re friendly with your neighbors, you’d consider them friends.  This one’s your call.  involved in the public dialogue about this important issue. Begin by letting them know about this web resource. You can do that quickly and easily by clicking on the Send-to-a-Friend button.  John can you set this up? [Need to research]   Added a widget to the blog to subscribe by email.

5) Attend City Meetings which are open to the public Your presence makes a big difference to the city and your representative.  DONE List schedules [See Below] DONE

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[Note] This material IS on the Action page, Solon/Media page and Solon/People page.

SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness

Animal Rights Link

http://www.sharkonline.org/

Site seems to concentrate on other animal issues...

Here's a specific link  http://www.sharkonline.org/?P=0000000428  LINK ADDED

Hunting Defined

We talked about "NO HUNTING" as a slogan, but we mean "NO LETHAL" which doesn't have much of a ring to it.  Somewhere prominent on the main site, most likely the home page we'll need to define our goals and state clearly that our "NO HUNTING" slogan means

• No killing
• No sharpshooting 
• No captive bolt
• And especially "NO (lethal) DEER Management"
• As well as NO HUNTING

I think we can expect Solon to use the tag line "Comprehensive Deer Management" to hide the fact that they want to kill. They may even admit to "lethal and non-lethal", but if history (Strieter Lite) is any measure we can expect that anything "non-lethal" will be very half hearted.

Home Page

HOME PAGE/INTRO 

(put at top)#1: What Solon residents need to know about the city’s deer “management” plan.

The purpose of this website is to raise awareness about the truth behind urban/suburban hunting of deer, using Solon Ohio’s failed “management plan” as a microcosm.  Why is Solon repeating its mistake? “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

Currently:  If you are concerned about the costly and inhumane slaughter of deer in Solon, you've come to the right place.  Stay tuned to this collection of web services to fight against hunting interests in our city of Solon.

There are many non-lethal and effective alternatives to killing wildlife every year only to have them regain their strength, rebound their population, only to repeat the killing the following year at great expense.

News / Reference

Much of the News and Reference content could be hosted on the Companion Blog.  Some of the most critical issues could be put on the Main Site.

We need to gather some initial items for the Launch.???

Should these two pages be removed from the main site?  REMOVED

Is News Label on Blog good with monthly media links?

Should News be moved to Comments Blog?  MOVED NEWS AND RENAMED THE BLOG

Non-Lethal

Add content to page/subpages

Start your comment with the page name then comment

• Non-Lethal
• Contraception - Need OAC reference
• DVA Deterrent - OK for now
• Gardens - Replace dog feces with something people will easily relate too

Lethal

Add content to page/subpages

Start your comment with the page name then comment

• Lethal
• Hunting - See email discussing Stanek's bow hunting proposal
• Rebound Effect
• Sharpshooters

Glossary

Please Add content...

Aerial Counting

or counting in general.

Error prone.

Glenwillow included.

See what was said on 

https://sites.google.com/site/villagedeer/Myths-and-Facts

Letters to the Editor

Should we have a place for letters to the editor? As I am sifting thru old newspaper clippings I'm finding some terrific LTE from angry Solonites expressing their outrage at the continued carnage and waste of $. There are also some good Ron Hill cartoons.

And what about the most recent Letters to the Editor...

YES, I saw that at one of the other sites.  I'd say we probably have enough material for a separate page from the News Page. We can expect a lot of these.  I've setup a separate blog - SolonDeerNews.

Comment or update this post with links...  Gather scans and we'll put them in a document repository ScribD or Google Docs.