Aerial Deer Hunt  Concludes in TB Management Zone

by Rob Crowe

    While it ended a bit sooner than planned, a local DNR official considers the recent aerial deer hunt in the TB Zone a success.

    “We harvested 216 deer with the aerial shooting. We shot less deer than last year, but there are fewer deer. We had set up 36 shooting blocks that we wanted to cover and we covered 33 of them,” says Thief Lake WMA Supervisor  Randy Pracher, “We stopped because of the flooding. We had to be able to get to the deer that would have been shot but there was a lot of slush and water in the woods. We had planned on finishing the blocks and reshooting some, but couldn’t.”

    “We had one suspect deer of the ones we harvested.,” Pracher said, “it is important to note that the deer is only a suspect, it will be months  before the tests are completed and we find out for sure if it had Bovine TB.”

    Pracher continued, “ We were feeling our way as to when to end. We had originally planned to shoot through this week and into the next, but the conditions required a quick decision. It went very well and did what it was supposed to do.”

    “The ground hunt is still going. We will be sharpshooting in some of the blocks, but that is done differently, said Pracher, “the sharp shooters set up baits and work around those baits. We know where there seem to be concentrations of deer, but the deer movements change and sometimes we catch the deer in those transitions.”

    Pracher concludes, “the deer are moving from winter to summer range, and we will be trying to catch some of the deer on their way into the Management Zone.”

    Pracher is a 20 year veteran with the DNR and has been Supervisor at Thief Lake for three years. He is also serving as interim supervisor for the Roseau River Area.

    For more on DNR’s TB eradication efforts go to www.mndnr.gov/hunting/deer/tb.

For more on the Minnesota Board of Animal Health’s overall coordination of the state bovine TB response, go to www.bah.state.mn.us/tb.

 

On this Day, You are invited to take some time to re-read the events that took place in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago … from Matthew 27

 ¹Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. ²They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

³When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴"I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."
      "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."

 ⁵So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

 ⁶The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." ⁷So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, ¹⁰and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."^[a]

  ¹¹Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
      "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

 ¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" ¹⁴But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

 ¹⁵Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" ¹⁸For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

 ¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."

 ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

 ²¹"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.
      "Barabbas," they answered.

 ²²"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
      They all answered, "Crucify him!"

 ²³"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
      But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

 ²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"

 ²⁵All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

 ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

 ²⁷Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

 ³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). ³⁴There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.^{[b] 36}And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁸Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

 ⁴¹In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴²"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " ⁴⁴In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

 ⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi,^[c] lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"^[d]

 ⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

 ⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

 ⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

 ⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵²The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

 ⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son^[e] of God!"

 ⁵⁵Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

 ⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

 ⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' ⁶⁴So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

 ⁶⁵"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard...

To be continued...

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