Motorist killed by deer proves need for hunting

Every idiot who even once stood around with a protest sign or complained to neighbors that hunting is wrong should be ashamed of themselves. The death of a man from Franklin is all the reason they need.

Mark Rodgers was driving along South Middlebush Road at 5:37pm Friday when a deer entered his lane. His 2017 Hyundai Elantra hit the 212 pound animal, sending it over the hood and right through his windshield. It wound up in the back seat. In between, it had to go through Mark. This poor 63 year old man suffered horrific injuries. Photographs of the crash scene were so disturbing that police refused to release them to the public. He fought for days at a local hospital in critical condition. He lost his battle Tuesday. He passed away at 2:50pm.

Mark Rodgers could have been any one of us. It is estimated more than 25,000 deer are stuck by cars in New Jersey in any given year. Nationally, 10,000 people are injured from deer car collisions and 150 people die each year. Mark Rodgers' death is a serious reminder of how bad this problem has become in the Garden State. October through December is the most dangerous time for a deer strike, but it can happen all year round.

The reason it's so bad in fall? Not because of deer running for their lives away from savage hunters as some moronic protestors would like you to believe. But because it is their natural mating season. Deer become far more active and more reckless this time of year. In fact, for anyone who ever complained about hunters, think about Mark Rodgers. How many more human injuries or deaths would we have if there were no annual hunt? Plenty more. Because for as high a number 25,000 collisions is, the number of deer taken in our annual hunt is almost twice that. The average annual harvest over the last five years is 48,985 deer.

Imagine we didn't have hunting.

We would have the chance for this many more deer running into our roads. So many more injuries. So many more tragic deaths. If you're the type who values the life of a deer the same as or greater than the life of a human then I have no time for you. Half-wits portray hunters in a terrible light. These are the same liberals who whine about us encroaching into the deer's territory and the evils of sprawl. Yet they'll do that whining from inside a house they seem to have no problem living in. I'm sure deer once roamed their plot of land too. They'll drone on about how it's immoral to hunt. Yet they'll dine on store bought beef and chicken because as long as someone else did the killing for them they can be a sanitized hypocrite. And if these protesters want to pretend to be nature lovers, that's their delusion to wallow in. But the fact is hunters are the biggest conservationists we have.

Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter, forever protected over 200 million acres of wildlife for the public to enjoy. Hunting funds conservation efforts. Nationally, through state licenses and fees, hunters pay almost $800 million a year to those efforts. In 1900 whitetail deer numbered only 500,000. It was hunters who spearheaded conservation work that resulted in over 30 million today. The same for elk, that numbered only 41,000 in 1907 and rose to 1 million today, and wild turkeys that numbered only 100,000 in 1900 and now number over 7 million. If you want me to show you someone who has the greatest appreciation and most reverent love for nature, I will show you a hunter. If you want me to show you someone who's all talk and no action, I'll show you a protester.

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