I hope this so called "count" is a little more realistic than the one conducted by the the animal warden , G. Miller ,whose methodology seems to have consisted of him sitting on his butt in a pick up truck. The numbers he gave (600-700 ??) seem a little out of whack considering two Solon property owners with large tracts on wooded land told me they haven't seen any deer; that is NONE.

Here in Thornbury Development,I've seen so many deer. The other day I saw one limping, left front leg. They have eaten everything in the back & tree trunks have been sawed so much by antler rubbing. If I don't see them physically, I still know that their there. It looks like a jigsaw puzzle with their footprints all over the snow. Last year ,summer time,I had a buck crash into my front window, house shook ,ran outside to find the guys cutting the grass outside laughing. They explained what happened....even have one of his antlers to prove it. ( wonder what his MaMa said when he got home!) Thumbs up from me for deer management. Why not have some Solon men or women ,that are hunters, who know what they are doing?! That would save the city money.

I am sure the deer would like to have some "human management," especially in the Thornbury Development, which was all deer country until some greedy developers got the idea that Solon needed more McMansions. They now sit unfinished and home to Meth labs. I guess you reap what you sow, Maria. BTW- "why not have some Solon men or women, that are hunters, who know what they are doing?!" is not even a complete sentence? Did you complete the 5th grade?

Greg Miller who is on the payroll of the city of Solon has done the count. Hellooo. Furthermore Miller has a Nuisance business where he captive bolts deer in Pepper Pike and traps and kills-oh sorry, dispatches animals in Punderson State Park. Conducting a ground count or distance sampling-as its correctly called- is a very precise science, performed by experienced biologists/scientists. What qualifications does Miller have? The following questions are vital factors one needs to know to obtain accuracy.
What methodology are you using?
Is it random or stratified?
How do you account for double counting?
How do you account for deer coming in and out of the neighborhoods and neighboring cities?
What percent of the count is this?
What is the standard error and confidence interval for your count?
What is your formal training or those conducting the counts?
I think its only right that he answers these questions. Furthermore, professionals know that distance sampling is far more accurate than an aerial count. In previous years the aerial count included Glen Willow. No one could say why. To inflate? Can hardly wait to see the dog and pony show put on by the USDA Wildlife Services and ODNR-State run hunting club. WS is the gov agency that kills one million animals and spends 100 million of our tax dollars annually. If they aren't killing animals they aren't being paid. They're the agency that recently poisoned all those birds that just mysteriosly fell fron the sky.

Interesting that experts on non-lethal solutions are not only not being consulted with but also ignored. Experts on road deterrents, which are proven to work to prevent deer-vehicle-accidents, have contacted Solon admin but have been ignored. I guess I misunderstood that their comprehensive plan includes only lethal solutions. Poor Scott Peters (ODNR) He's been waiting so long to get hunters into Solon. When he goes from city to city trying to sell hunting to the residents he always brings up Solon. He tells them that Solon has spent thousands to pay sharpshooters and thats a quick fix but that needs to be followed bya long term hunting program. He says the key component is to get the public to agree to lethal and it is very difficult to do a deer count in Cuyahoga Ct. Urban deer kills are about hunter retention and recruitment. People are catching on and are angry at having hunting foisted on them. They think about that when they cast their votes.

I wonder how many of the 922 deer that were counted in 2004 were actually Glenwillow deer and not Solon deer? What would be the purpose of counting deer in a neighboring community other than to inflate the numbers. Using that logic why not also include the deer in Bainbridge, Twinsburg, Reminderville, Oakwood, Moreland Hills, Bentleyville and Bedford Hts? I mean if you want some really high deer counts, that's what I would do!

Thanks for reporting back, Heinz! Beat me to it!

You are so correct Heinz-Solon is again shooting first and asking questions later. Their minds have been made up and now they're making everything fit to justify the continuation of their failed pogram. Deer and most species are self-regulating. If the environment cannot support a certain number of deer a doe will reabsorb an embryo among other things. Solon officials are so arrogant and so hell-bent on killing that they think they are the lords and masters over nature. They have also underestimated the intelligence of their constituents who are capable of deductive thinking. After 5 long years of killing resulting with the same problem people are starting to say, hey wait a minute here. They're also wondering who stands to gain. Why do Solon admin want to keep the residents in the dark about long-term, sceince-proven, cost-effective non-lethal solutions? Why is council withholding this vital information? Is that good government? People don't like to be made fools of and especially when it involves their hard earned money. I think we need to elect new people that truly have the resident's best interests at heart.

When the USDA agent presented at last night's safety committee meeting, he was asked by one rez "what have either you at USDA or the Div. of Wildlife ever done to help animal? Have you done anything to help them" The USDA official only could offer one example; unfortunately for him, it was probably the worst possible example. I know for a fact raccoon rabies was eradicated, either completely or virtually, over the past few years. I know this because I researched it last year. His only response to her question was, "We've been helping raccoons by using vaccines." But part of that probably means testing, whereby the kill them and cut off their heads for testing; not sure if that's what they're doing, but even if only admin. vaccines, it's not necessary. There were no other answers to her question. Most appalling, when O/DOW said any sharpshooting or large scale plan is used, there should first be in place immediate follow up plan of action to keep numbers down. Solon not only did not do this, they didn't even know they were supposed to. They shot first, and asked questions later -- $575K and 1,500/1,600 dead deer later; as predicted, they've rebounded. Somebody should intervene and take away their authority over this because they aren't doing it in a logical, cost-effective, comprehensive, systematic, and last but not least, humane, way. Solon needs to submit to real experts, nonlethal ones. Let's see if they keep their promise to do so.

I was thoroughly entertained at last night's stunning performance. Do you think Mr. Russo and Scott Peters (ODNR) rehearsed or just ad-libbed? Either way they should have coached the Wildlife Services agent who frankly sounded, er, unprepared. I'm sure he was caught off guard when the truth about what Wildlife Services does was exposed. He would have sounded much more professional if he would have expounded on the many poisons they use, the aerial shooting, snaring and other killing methods. I'm sure the audience would have liked to hear about the thousands of birds they just poisoned to help a farmer. Thank goodness we have them to protect us from such life-threatening situations.