By: W.C. Reader

Normally, it was our nap time, but we came awake long enough to listen to - and form an opinion about - a story which was broadcast recently by one of the San Antonio TV stations. It pertained to a number of the residents of Hollywood Park; a suburb located North of San Antonio. It seems that these people are being bothered by about 300 deer who, presumably, reside on the same soil, as do the people who are making a complaint. It is their desire to have these animals destroyed, or trapped and sent elsewhere.

We were living nearby when this was raw ranch land and farmland, populated for the most part by the ancestors of the present deer and other of God's creatures. Suddenly, after the end of WWII in 1945, there developed a strong urge among some people to separate themselves from the confines of San Antonio, and it was easy for them to find investors and land developers to heed to their wishes. So these people picked up their maps and their survey kits, and moved several miles North up Hwy 281 (San Pedro Ave.), where they put together parcels of land for developers, which soon would become suburbs that ringed North San Antonio. One of these was - or is - Hollywood Park.

In the early developmental years, the newcomers lived in relative peace with the native deer and other creatures. This was because there still was plenty of open space for all. But when this open space began to disappear, being replaced by trim lawns and beautiful houses, there was little space left for the native creatures to forage, as in olden times. What to do? Well, we suspect the deer have stayed in their native habitat, and developed a taste for lawns, flowerbeds, shrubs, trees, etc. And while we don't know the people who have registered this complaint, they don't sound like somebody who will surrender the domain they occupy - even if it is defenseless deer. 

So, how do you handle a dilemma like this? Well, we are tempted to suggest they use the same system we use on our little spread over in DeWitt County. We have just divided it into two parts, with one left for fields, and the other left for pasture. It has worked pretty well, with the deer, turkeys, and other creatures staying on their side of the road. The only problem has been the wild hogs who seem to be free spirits that seem to go where they want to, regardless of whether they are dealing with stockbrokers, wine tasters, or a hapless country news reporter.

Now we're not going to further involved in this matter, except we don't go along with these people who want to kill those deer. Why don't they consider rounding up all those disinherited deer and put them on some of that worthless land out West, just the way our ancestors treated the Indians? Who knows? They may discover oil on that land, and then the castaway deer will be welcomed back to Hollywood Park with open arms.

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