White Buffalo and John Hayes are encouraging INDEPENDENT archers to continue

It is getting to the point where I dread Sundays. What crap will the PG's John Hayes report next? Hayes didn't let me down. More crap is in today's Deer reduction redux: Mt. Lebanon tries managed archery to remove deer

Hayes starts out his propaganda with a woman who had called him on the phone. "Great," I thought. "He's going to write about the poor woman I met at the informational meeting who called Hayes with concerns about killing deer." Nope. No such luck. However, I delivered a "Not in My Yard" sign to her the next day.

More crap like this:

Infrared aerial photo counts of deer, which Mt. Lebanon has used, are notoriously unreliable but most commissioners say overwhelming anecdotal evidence has convinced them the community has a deer problem.

And this:

discrete archers have been quietly and legally dragging out deer for decades.

Kristen Linfante's replacement, Coleen Vuono told John Hayes that she received an email from a resident saying that there were eight deer walking down a residential street. My response would have been, "How long ago?" and "Seeing eight deer in Mt. Lebanon does not justify five months of killing deer."

Hayes posted a series of Q and A's from "independent hunters."

Will hunters who are not with White Buffalo be banned from Mt. Lebanon?

Can’t happen. Legal deer hunting already occurs on private property in Mt. Lebanon, and Maddock said he doesn’t want those hunters to stop. At the landowners meeting, he said he would not put stands on properties that are already being legally hunted, and he’s attempting to coordinate with independent hunters and urge them to shoot more does.

Do independent archers have to follow White Buffalo rules?

No. Neither White Buffalo nor Mt. Lebanon can set hunting laws, which are determined by the state legislature, or regulations set by the Game Commission. Participants in the managed hunt voluntarilywill exceed those restrictions.

Are the golf course and parks the sole domain of White Buffalo?

Like any other landowner, the municipality can let anyone it wants onto its property and keep the rest out. Most of the White Buffalo hunt will occur on private land with the owners’ consent, but some stands may be placed in municipal parks.

What if a deer takes an arrow and falls in somebody’s yard?

Same rule applies to everyone. Neither hunters nor police can enter private property without the owner’s permission, even to retrieve a lawfully killed animal. Only a Game Commission wildlife conservation officer can enter a property without permission to retrieve hunter-shot game.

Will there be a major outcry when a blood trail is spotted on Washington Road?

You bet. It’s Mt. Lebanon — expect a major outcry no matter what happens.

****

A second shipment of yard signs are due tomorrow. I have a waiting list of requests. Word has gotten out and I'm starting to hear from residents in Scott and Baldwin Twp., who live just outside the Mt. Lebanon borders. Scott Township commissioners have been notified of possible "legal hunts" in Twin Hills Park, located in Scott Township.

John Hayes is doing his best to promote Mt. Lebanon as THE place to hunt. What is up with this guy?