According to Island County, there are between 120 to 140 deer killed per year countywide (on both county roads and state highways). What an amazingly small number that is! How many tens of thousands of cars travel the roads in this County each day? And that’s just local traffic! There are also millions of visitors each year traveling our county roads. Considering the fact that most county roads are narrow and the speed limit is 50 miles per hour, I’m surprised at how few deer are hit.

If deer are coming onto the roads to be hit, it is not because there are too many deer, it is because the deer have too little land. We are on an island after all. Both the deer and the high speed vehicles cannot safely travel the same small, confined piece of land. Occasionally a deer will die. The same is true of trail users and gunshots. They cannot safely share the same small, confined piece of land. Occasionally a trail user would die.

At the public hearing I attended on Camano, a hunter stood up and proudly boasted that there have only been three hunting accidents on Whidbey Island and one was self inflicted. What the heck was his point! Only two shot someone else? How comforting. Well then, let’s give them a real challenge and send them into a heavily used trail system and have them hunt there. That makes absolutely no sense. There is no way to justify hunting at Kettles. The latest absurd thing I’ve heard about wanting to hunt Kettles is: “When I hunted off island I was unsuccessful,” and “I would hunt on my own property . . . lately more dogs have come into my area and I rarely see a deer.” Sounds like this guy must live near Kettles!

To him I ask: Do you know how many dogs and horses and hikers and cyclist are there moving through the Kettles property, scaring off deer, every day? And you want to hunt there? Pathetic!

Darcy Patterson

Oak Harbor