Holding a nuisance animal degradation permit from the MDC required before permit issued by Mt. Vernon
The Mt. Vernon Board of Aldermen voted during their meeting on Tuesday, May 12, to approve a proposal by the Nuisance Deer Committee to allow hunters with a permit from the Missouri Department of Conservation be issued a permit to hunt nuisance animals within city limits.
The committee made the proposal after meeting to study the issue at the new city hall on Thursday, May 7.
“We are going to propose that if a person is issued a nuisance animal degradation permit from the Missouri Department of Conservation, that they be allowed to utilize that permit and then we’ll issue them a permit through our city’s chief law enforcement officer,” said Alderman Jason Haymes, committee chairman after the committee’s meeting. “So, they’ve got a permit from the MDC, and then we’ll do a one-time permit from the chief law enforcement officer that would allow them to utilize the MDC permit in the city limits.”
During their meeting, the committee addressed the issue of nuisance deer within city limits.
“We hashed through the options, and some of the options would be, should we allow or try to have managed hunts,” Haymes said. “It went through not allowing it at all, because we’ve got an ordinance in the city that doesn’t allow hunting, and doesn’t allow the discharge of any projectile, so it went from not allowing it all the way through the discussion to each level all the way to the managed hunt.”
Steven Prewitt, an agriculture instructor at Mt. Vernon High School, said a herd of whitetail deer have caused significant damage to the trees that students planted at the Cecil Settle Food Forest on the MVHS campus.
“The last harvest that we had was completely taken off by animals, and they ate approximately 4,000 peaches off of the trees,” he said. “They also took probably 200-300 apples off of our trees, and then over winter, they have nipped the tips of the buds, which is the growing portion of our tree for new growth and have stunted the trees a little bit.”
Prewitt said it was impossible to calculate the amount of damage done in terms of dollars and cents, as the fruit was not going to be sold this year.
“This year was the first crop we would have had, so we were going to do some taste testing and also donate some into the school cafeteria,” he said.
Additionally, the deer have damaged trees which were planted on campus as a windbreak.
“They’ve also rubbed a whole line of a windbreak, and stunted or killed the trees in that windbreak,” Prewitt said.
Haymes said that in addition to the trees on the school campus, the deer have also damaged the municipal golf course and residents’ yards, as well.
“When the subject came up at the last board meeting, one of my council members mentioned that … somebody in her family … out east of town had a problem with the deer herd in their yard and tearing up trees and stuff,” he said.
Thinning the herd will help reduce the damage the deer cause.
“It’s the same deer herd doing that, according to the conservation agent, so helping reduce the numbers up there at the school is also going to help reduce the numbers wherever else they might be doing some damage,” Haymes said.
The permit will be issued by the city’s chief of police.
"allow" - Google News
May 24, 2020 at 08:00PM
https://ift.tt/2X2kBbX
New city permit will allow hunting of nuisance deer in Mt. Vernon proper - Lawrencecountyrecord
"allow" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KTEV8j
https://ift.tt/2Wp5bNh
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "New city permit will allow hunting of nuisance deer in Mt. Vernon proper - Lawrencecountyrecord"
Post a Comment