Sharpshooting

The word Sharpshooting is a misnomer. Actually, there is no sharpshooting involved, instead, it is the baiting and killing of deer.

Because most people are uncomfortable with killing mass numbers of deer the word "sharpshooting" is used to disguise the reality and to make the slaughter more acceptable. It is a false perception.

In a bait and shoot program in NJ

The public was told that Sharpshooters, who were off duty police officers, would be used because they were more responsible than average hunters. This was an important factor, because many people were uncomfortable with the sharpshooting concept, and the thought of the police being more responsible than average hunters helped the County officials push through the 'bait and kill' operation.

However, what the general public did not hear was what was said at the 1-18-95 meeting of the Fish and Game council. Charles Sigmund, Director of the Division of Parks and Recreation for Union County, testified that while the public perceives them (the police officers) to be more responsible, he does not necessarily support that.

Hundreds of pounds of food were put out for the tame deer of the Watchung Reservation. Every morning, the 'sharpshooters' killed deer feeding at these sites. After the first 30 deer were killed, Union County official Dan Bernier admitted that 3 deer were shot, but escaped into the woods, wounded. The 'sharpshooters' were shooting tame deer over bait sites, and still wounded 10% of the animals.

Since hundreds of pounds of food was now available for the survivors, this action surely wound up creating more deer than what would have occurred without the sharpshooting. Sharpshooting, like all other forms of hunting, is cruel, inaccurate, and only leads to increases in the deer populations that it supposedly seeks to reduce.


White Buffalo, Solon's former deer extermination contractors, trained the Summit County Metroparks.

Claims that the deer would be "euthanized" by highly skilled sharpshooters were exposed as lies when SHARK's undercover video cameras documented animals shot, but left alive to suffer. The deer were shot only once, even though in many cases they did not immediately die.

Back to Main Site