[Mortis]

Being from the frozen North I know a thing or two about the over population of deer, moose, elk and bears. I have never been a hunter, but I have had to do some wildlife management, unfortunately for the cars and truck I was driving at the time, this wildlife management was very expensive.

My first "Encounter" with wildlife was in a 74 Toyota, the badger didn't make it sadly, but then again neither did my car. Hitting a badger in a small car is a little like running over a larg rock, screws up the steering and tosses you like a rag into the ditch at 70 miles an hour.

I have hit a herd of deer on the highway, I was in the fast lane and a lady in the slow lane saw the deer and rather than doing the smart thing, slow down, she decided that the deer would be less agitated if she just honked at them. The bad news for me was that the deer 6 or 7 of them, all ran directly into my lane and threw themselves at my push bar, (like a roo catcher, but smaller). I managed to slow down enough that the front of my Jeep was only slightly damaged, both front fenders removed! Sadly the deer did not live to do it again, 3 were killed on the road and a forth died in the ditch. While cleaning up the carnage (Imagine the insides of 3 deer all over the front of a Jeep, not pretty) the lady that honked stopped to give her 2 cents... her words "You really should have slowed down, I was only going 60 (km) when you passed me, I could have stopped..." needless to say I was not pleased! Remember, the speed limit on the highway is 110kmh and she was going at a blistering speed of 60, shes lucky I saw her and didn't run into the back of her car!

I have never hit a bear, bu tit has been close a time or two, I did see the aftermath of a bear - Kennworth encounter, the front drivers side wheel was removed and the fuel tank, running boards and the fender were all destroyed, the driver was lucky he managesd to keep it on the road.

I have hit an Elk, a moose and numerous deer, the moose and elk both wrote off trucks, both brand new and were replacement trucks that had met with a similar fate.

Wildlife management is important, the number of deer, moose, elk and bears have gone up steadily in Alberta for the past 20 years, since about the time PITA and others started their campaign to stop "Killers" hunting. I don't hunt, but I thank those that do for thinning the herd!