Overriding deer veto would be wrong

To the Editor

September is upon us and time for the congress of the State of Missouri to reconvene and part of their time will be to take up in attempting to override bills that Governor Nixon vetoed. The one bill that they should back off from is the "Bill to move captive deer to the Missouri Department of Agriculture". I don't believe that these politicians realize the number of challenges that would come up in court if they were able to override the veto of this bill. Also, why wouldn't people be able to take young deer fawns, pen them up, and declare them as livestock? What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

The politicans should read the dictionary definition of DEER. It reads: "DEER - A WILD ANIMAL, of a family of hoofed curd-chewing animals, the male of which usually bear antlers that are shed annually."While reading Joe Humphrey's Letter to the Editor to the Poplar Bluff DAR, dated Sunday, July 06, 2014, he wants to blame the introduction of "Chronic Waste Disease" (CWD) on: (1) The hunters bringing dead wildlife across state lines (2) Dead Carcasses, (30 Crows, (4) Alfafa hay, (5) Walking across State lines, etc., but never the fault of the Hunting Preserves. He also states that the deer breeders are held to extremely high standards of rules, regulations, and testing.

Missouri's first cases of CWD were detected in 2010 and 2011 in captive deer at private hunting preserves in Linn and Macon Counties with several cases of CWD that were confirmed in captive deer in these facilities. According to his statements, apparently this happened from crows, alfalfa hay, dead carcasses, and walking across state lines. WOW!! These preserves are at least 50 miles from the state line with Iowa.

I have never understood how these people have been allowed to take the wild deer, put them into a fenced area, feed them in captivity to the point they rely on this feeding, then have people pay several hundred dollars to come in and be set up close to the feeding stations and shoot the deer. I would be embarrassed to let anyone know that I would take deer hunting this way. This type of hunting should be classified as hunting for "THE GREAT WHITE HUNTERS". At least hunting in the wild give the deer a 50-50 chance of survival, here they have a zero chance.

It was embarrassing to see U. S. Representative Jason Smith petting a deer at Bakers Bucks in Carter County on the front page of the Poplar Bluff DAR newspaper on Sunday, August 22nd. Also showing a big racked captive white tail buck deer whose life is probably not worth a wooden nickel. Smith states that agriculture is the No. 1 industry in our 8th district. IS THIS AGRICULTURE?? He too should read the definition of a Deer.

The Missouri Department of Conservation was established by the people of Missouri to be responsible for the wildlife, fisheries, etc., and to set the requirements of hunting and fishing in order to keep our wildlife viable and in control so that they will always be available for our future generations to enjoy as well to hunt as needed. The people of Missouri need to Email, call, or write their Representatives and Senators letting them know that they need to back off and let the Missouri Department of Conservation do the job that they were established to do. The Department of Conservation has done an exceptionally great job over the years with the protection of wildlife and fishing needed for the future as well as the present. This has been done without the interference of the politicians up to now, appearing to be the only organization in the state of Missouri that knows what they are doing. These politicians can be contacted at the following address: Representative , 201 W. Capital Avenue, Jefferson City, MO 65101 or Senator , 201 W. Capital Avenue, Jefferson City, Mo 65101. They can also be contacted by Email: (theirname)@house.mo.gov and (theirname)@senate.mo.gov.

Tom Melton

Doniphan, Mo.