How the Monmouth County Parks hunt is dangerous to the public
* A hunter was shot in Crosswicks Creek Park during the 2004/2005 hunt, but the Park System chose to cover up this incident until it was publicized by Save Monmouth County Parks. Read the June 2, 2005 article from the Asbury Park Press.
* Hunting increases car/deer collisions. In an article in the Asbury Park Press (Dec. 14, 1997) the co-owner of M&S Removal, a state contractor that removes deer carcasses from roadways, said that many deer run onto roadways during hunting season because "hunters are scaring them out of the woods." The Erie Insurance Group, Pennsylvania's second largest auto insurer, discovered that car/deer collisions increased by five times on the opening day of doe and buck season. The best way to address this issue is roadside reflectors which reduce collisons up to 90%.
* Some hunters during the 2004/2005 hunt did not use tree stands, despite the requirement to use tree stands in the county parks.
*When a hunter pursues an injured deer, there is not enough time to erect a second tree stand before taking a another shot.
*Bullets can ricochet unpredictably when they hit a rock or other hard object.
*Hunting is one of the few sports that endanger an entire community, not just the participants and spectators. When people participate in other dangerous sports, they wear helmets, padding and other protective gear. Spectators who attend sporting events accept the risk that they might be hit by a puck or that a car might careen off the track. They put only themselves and other willing participants and spectators at risk. But hunting accidents have injured and killed innocent people hundreds of yards away, who never agreed to accept the risk of participating in or observing a dangerous sport.