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Let’s Discuss: How can we Protect the Elk Ridge Deer?

Welcome to Our Community Discussion: Saving the Elk Ridge Deer

Elk Ridge faces a critical decision that impacts the very essence of our community and its natural environment. Based on less than 1% complaint, a drastic measure to euthanize our local deer population each August has been enacted. This blog post serves as a central hub for all of us who care deeply about our local wildlife and wish to preserve not just the deer but our shared values and environmental responsibility.

Here, we invite you to share your thoughts, propose solutions, and engage with fellow residents on how we can collaborate to overturn this decision. Your insights are invaluable, and together, we can effect change. Join the discussion below and let your voice be heard.

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Jam Brewer
Jam Brewer
1 year ago

Horrible decision

Randy Olsen
Randy Olsen
11 months ago

Necessary decision

Mark Allen
Mark Allen
11 months ago

Council Man Jared has been advocating this for a long time.

He has a stake in a construction company – https://www.buzzfile.com/business/Construction-Solutions-and-Engineering,-LLC-801-850-7661

Seems like conflict of interest. Why was the vote not taken and let Elk Ridge Residents decide. We cannot decide on our own when to kill wildlife. Next they will say there are too many humans, let’s kill them.

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Perry C Ewell
Perry C Ewell
11 months ago
Reply to  Mark Allen

I believe thse are geese, not deer.

Mark Allen
Mark Allen
11 months ago
Reply to  Perry C Ewell

Ofcourse

Mark Allen
Mark Allen
11 months ago
Reply to  Perry C Ewell

Ofcourse!

Sea Bass
Sea Bass
11 months ago
Reply to  Perry C Ewell

Mark Allen got burned!!!!

Perry C Ewell
Perry C Ewell
11 months ago

Well, this is not a very persuasive site. There aren’t really any talking points or rebuttals to the proponents’ reasoning. Actually, 25 complaints are significant in a town of 6000. What were the complaints? Besides that, personal jabs at a council member don’t often win people over to your side, especially since Councilman Peterson has lived here long enough for people to know him pretty well.

Mark Allen
Mark Allen
11 months ago
Reply to  Perry C Ewell

Where are the personal jabs? Stating facts is a personal jab now? Doesn’t he own stake in a construction company? He has been advocating for this as per news web site? So where are the personal jabs? Did I attack him personally no? Yes, you are right, people know him pretty well

At Schuler’s park there were more than 25 people who were against the decision. So their voice doesn’t matter? Haha 😆. 25 complaints are significant in a town of 6000 but yet when there are more people against it, it’s no longer significant

Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson
11 months ago
Reply to  Mark Allen

I’m confused on how him owning a stake in a construction company has any conflict of interest with the decision about the deer. Could you please explain?

Jim Chase
Jim Chase
11 months ago

So who are you? Why do you hide who you are? Who is leading this cause? Who is funding it? Nice fancy spendy pieces left on doors. Now some facts, Elk Ridge does not have a population of 6000 as you claim, and probably not even 5000 yet. You seem to forget there is a large silent majority in any cause. We usually only hear from a vocal few. That is certainly not a majority as implied. Why pick on Jared personally? What he and the mayor are doing and has done is what research from experts has shown, the deer living are in an unnatural, unhealthy habit, eating unnatural fodder, under weight, are sickly and frail. Fresh green lawn grass is not a deer diet. If you feed deer some nice good hay in the winter, they will starve and die. Hardware Ranch feeds only elk not deer. The elk can survive on hay, deer can not. Look in the picture posted, is that a healthy deer? Humped over, gaunt stomach, that’s hunger, starving. There are so many deer in the city eating food that they can not digest well. They do not leave in the spring and go up in the mountains to forge to get a healthy normal diet of sage brush, brush, and dry grass. Research shows they are urban deer, smaller, more sickly, and crowded in many of the urban areas including Elk Ridge. Without good management practices as awful as that may sound someday we may not have a deer herd to enjoy in Elk Ridge at all. We all enjoy our deer, and we don’t want to see sickly ones that are suffering from no management. Why does does the State of Utah have a deer hunt every fall, to manage herds so that they remain strong and healthy.

Steven Morley
Steven Morley
11 months ago
Reply to  Jim Chase

Very well worded and logical. Loved this post.!!

It was awesome to hear at last years city meeting that the decision about the best way to correct the issue with the deer was presented by the Division of Wildlife themselves after sedating and testing over a dozen of our local deer.!!

Jody Hancock
Jody Hancock
11 months ago
Reply to  Jim Chase

Very nicely stated. Thinning the deer population that have become dependent on lawns and non-native shrubs and plants is necessary. They are also a hazard to human life when they cause accidents and destroy property. A deer hit me on Elk Ridge drive. I didn’t hit it. It ran full speed into the side of my car. Luckily I didn’t have a passenger.

Makena Wailea
Makena Wailea
11 months ago

What are the deer doing that is so disruptive? We definitely decided to build homes and live in their backyard. I’d say coexisting with the deer is pretty reasonable and is part of the beauty of living in Elk Ridge. By the way, my neighbor is disruptive and has a lot of complaints. Can we euthanize him? 🙂

Sea Bass
Sea Bass
11 months ago
Reply to  Makena Wailea

What are the deer doing that is so disruptive? Unfortunately some of the deer have tasted human blood and they now have a thirst for it.

Frank Maddox
Frank Maddox
11 months ago

I believe we should have some signs that read “DON’T FEED THE DEER”. They need to be managed by whatever the DWR seems necessary.

Kelly Mcilrath
Kelly Mcilrath
11 months ago

The need to remove the deer population is a rational one. The deer are eating shrubs and plants that are not good for them. They cannot remain healthy by eating these plants. As they weaken, cougars are following them into our neighborhoods. This endangers children and pets. Deer also carry fleas and ticks: educate yourself about Limes Disease and you will not want deer wandering through your yards.
The idea that ecology is only about allowing Bambi to make picturesque appearances in our yards is immature and ill informed. Wild creatures belong in the wild and unless you are willing to donate your home and land as a preserve, culling the deer is the best option for a healthy herd and disease free neighborhoods.
This is a logical approach for the benefit of nature, don’t be swayed by the liberal ignorance that paints humans as the bad guys.
Its called Elk Ridge but you don’t see many elk here. Elk are smarter than deer. They have retreated into habitats that can still provide them with protection and nutrition. Deers are elegant looking rats and need help to be pushed back into healthy environs.

James Morris
James Morris
11 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

Our lord and savior teaches us to be kind and merciful. Torturing his beings by capturing them like this and then waiting to be killed is neither kind nor merciful. There are better and kind ways. These are his lovely creatures too. We can do better

Kelly Mcilrath
Kelly Mcilrath
11 months ago
Reply to  James Morris

Apparently, your concept of merciful is to allow the deer to become weeker and more sickly. Think it all the way through: deer are better off in the wild. Neighborhoods are not the wild.
If you have not grown up in Utah near wildlife, this may not seem logical. Your emotional response is about your feelings, not the animals well being.

James Morris
James Morris
11 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

Again there are better and kinder ways, if you are so worried about them, then you would advocate for relocating them or using immunocontraceptives. Any one who promotes torture is not a merciful person. Capturing them in a net and then killing them is torture. If someone did that to you because in the future you will become old and weak, would you appreciate it? This is not about my emotions but fact that torturing his creations is not humane

Kelly Mcilrath
Kelly Mcilrath
11 months ago
Reply to  James Morris

I would rather they were humanely treated. Have you gone to the city council with a plan? Tranquilizers damage their brains, so that may not be best for the deer.
I would be interested in hearing a feasibility plan for somewhere way, but until then, Jared Petersons plan is the best thing proposed to date. Jared is a man of action who understands the issues. If no one else presents a better solution, complaining without a viable plan is useless.

James Morris
James Morris
11 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

So let’s do it. Let’s stop it and let’s come together and figure out a better solution and alternatives. Any one who is a man of action would allow to discuss alternatives. Any man of action would ask residents to come and discuss solutions. It’s easy to sit behind a computer and tell me that someone is a man of action.

I will ask again. If you and your wife become old and weak, would you like to be trapped and killed? If your answer is yes, then I am all for it. If not, then it’s pure hypocrisy.

Kelly Mcilrath
Kelly Mcilrath
11 months ago
Reply to  James Morris

Your question is ridiculous: equating human life and animal life as equivalent.
Nice diversion to not answer my question: have you been to the city council and presented any alternatives?
No. You are too happy whining about a problem without offering alternatives in the Council arena.
Your WOKE values are overriding your ability to look at the real needs of the deer and the community.

Makena Wailea
Makena Wailea
10 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

I am not woke. Not everyone that advocates for the life of an animal is woke. WE built homes here. If we were conscientious about that decision possibly teach the community what to plant and what not to plant in their yards. If you want landscaping and whatever you can buy at Lowe’s garden center in your yard you should live in the valley away from the deer.

Mark Allen
Mark Allen
11 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

at the risk of upsetting the admin, ur man of action Jared has a stake construction company – fact.

ur man of action Jared has been advocating for killing deer – as you said – fact

hmm. Interesting isn’t it? Just a question and not a slander

Kelly Mcilrath
Kelly Mcilrath
11 months ago
Reply to  Mark Allen

Try not to sound like you are making some cosmic point and state your point in simple terms. What does Jared’s company have to do with the deer problem?
And do You have a solution? I’m not hearing one.

Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson
11 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

I agree with that question 100% what does the man’s stake in a construction company have anything to do with the deer? I run a construction company and know for a fact that the deer population has no impact on anything that we do in construction whatsoever. Fact!

Steven Morley
Steven Morley
11 months ago
Reply to  James Morris

I agree with you. And I would invite you to watch as the amazing animal control personnel from the Division of Wildlife dart sedatives and move them into transport trailers. These individuals dedicate their lives to protecting Wildlife, and have made it their careers. Not a very well paid job, but when you live what you do, you make it work.
These are the experienced people who see Wildlife 80+ hrs per payperiod and know what healthy deer look like and and how they act.

I trust the city officials who trust these knowledgeable individuals.

Makena Wailea
Makena Wailea
10 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

Mule deer are one the few deer that are migratory. They go where the food is. I’d say they aren’t starving or they’d leave and find elsewhere to graze.
Possibly educating the community on what to plant as landscaping is more beneficial and higher lobe thinking than killing them.

Kent Purdy
Kent Purdy
11 months ago
Reply to  Kelly Mcilrath

I’d like to see the city promote the advantages of planting native vegetation. Not only does it preserve Elk Ridge’s native atmosphere, it requires far less water.

Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson
11 months ago

I am in agreement that thinning the herd is healthy for the deer. But rather than just catching the deer and having them euthanized, why can’t we do like some of the other cities in Utah county and have somebody that is qualified hunt the deer with a bow and butcher them and donate the meat to people that need it or even sell it to help fund it? I understand that sickly dear we wouldn’t really want to eat, but not all of the deer in Elk Ridge. Are that sickly looking and are probably fairly healthy. just a thought.

Forrest Higgs
Forrest Higgs
11 months ago
Reply to  Chris Wilson

Most of the deer and Elk Ridge are too sick to butcher.

Jody Hancock
Jody Hancock
11 months ago
Reply to  Chris Wilson

You wouldn’t want to eat those deer, trust me.😂😂

M B
M B
11 months ago

Fact: this is not Jared’s plan. This is a plan that the state has put together. They are responsible for managing all herds of deer and providing the traps and such. They are the ones who have considered the best approach and are the experts in wildlife management.

Fact: the terms of the plan communicated is not “to capture and euthanize our local deer population” but rather capture and euthanize a small amount of outwardly visibly, possibly infect with wasting disease, deer.

Fact: traps are placed in areas to trap deer. It was explained that once a certain number are captured, I believe what was said was somewhere around 14, they stop capturing. They then assess the deer and if the deer do not meet the criteria, they are released.

Fact: people have had multiple different interactions with deer. Even if people have different opinions, for or against this process, they can still care for the deer and the people around them.

Please, let’s stop vilifying people.

Last edited 11 months ago by M B
James Morris
James Morris
11 months ago
Reply to  M B

Can you tell us where is this plan written?

Kent Purdy
Kent Purdy
11 months ago
Reply to  M B

I’ve not heard about this proposal being at the state level. Can you provide a reference?

Nelson
Nelson
11 months ago
Reply to  Kent Purdy

It was put together by the state wildlife biologists. They provided the traps and the regulations. Without their written consent and plan being implemented it would be poaching.

Kent Purdy
Kent Purdy
11 months ago

I highly value the service and contributions the council provides to this community. As such, I was sorely disappointed to see how several of them were treated last summer by those passionate about coexisting with local herds. It’s not only disrespectful, but it’s very counterproductive.

My hope is that Elk Ridge can and will preserve what has made it so different for so many years. In a valley full of cities that do not prioritize living in harmony with nature, Elk Ridge has done a fairly good job preserving the area’s native feel.

Not only does preserving and planting native plants help us live in harmony with the herds that have been here so long, but they are also water-wise. So, rather than focus on bringing city yards into Elk Ridge and culling the deer/elk to accommodate those who do, I’d like to see an attitude of coexisting.

Resident
Resident
11 months ago

Frankly don’t understand why the city didn’t just manage to get more deer tags quietly assigned. The deer are just graceful looking rodents that eat everything in sight. Who and what is backing this fancy initiative?

Forrest Higgs
Forrest Higgs
11 months ago
Reply to  Resident

Good question.

Forrest Higgs
Forrest Higgs
11 months ago

It is nearly impossible to have a colourful yard with the overpopulation of deer in Elk Ridge, especially in the older part of town near the city offices. Deer eat flowers and vegetable gardens.

Perhaps we need to change the regulations to allow people who like flowers and vegetable gardens to put deerproof fences around their yards. That is not allowed now. OTOH, perhaps we need to allow deer lovers to put deerproof fences around their yards so that they can invite deer in and look after them so the rest of us don’t have to suffer from hungry, sick deer in Elk Ridge who don’t get proper forage.

Pam Norris
Pam Norris
11 months ago

Seriously? They moved there knowing the deer lived there too. They can move! why kill the deer. Look at relocation if it’s a must. The herds are declining as it is.

Hogan Jacobson
Hogan Jacobson
11 months ago

Urban archery tags? Just sayin. That way people in the community can benefit and deer populations are slightly lower.
Highland and Alpine have both done this in the past.

Nelson
Nelson
11 months ago
Reply to  Hogan Jacobson

That was the original plan and it was taken off the table by the DWR

Trina Murray
Trina Murray
11 months ago

This is an outrage to propose killing off the deer that have lived here years before man decided to take their land away for gain. Sound familiar? Self proclaimed civilized white men are especially self centered in this way, like the Native Americans that they gathered up and killed for their gain because they wanted the land. We have to stop this way of thinking, we have NO right to eliminate God’s creatures because they are hungry and eat our bushes. There are ways around this without killing them. I’ve lived here for 30 years on a half acre of property with baby deer being born in my backyard. I’ve had nine deer at one time sleeping in my yard. They eat my bushes, fruit trees and fruit, roses, and poop everywhere. I don’t mind this much at all, I have to remember this in their land too. Move away if wildlife bothers you. How about we starting an elimination of intolerable people. If you need to make any decisions whatsoever, always ask,” What would God do?” You’ll have your answer.

Trina Murray
Trina Murray
11 months ago
Reply to  Trina Murray

I’d be happy to show the community some way to protect there landscape from lots of damage.

Sherb
Sherb
10 months ago

The flyer on FB has a picture of a whitetail deer in a net and a fallow deer. I don’t think this committee even knows what kind of deer they are saving

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