Kevin Kelly: "The DNR won't control the herd"

John Carlson has a big article on Kevin Kelly in today's Des Moines Register:

Kevin Kelly has never been shy about shooting the deer that chew up his trees, and he doesn't care who knows it.

After all, trees are his business. He has tens of thousands of seedlings and larger walnuts and oaks, thousands more spruce and pine, and hundreds of Christmas trees.

"You ought to see what the deer do to these trees," said the 54-year-old owner of Kelly's Tree Farm near Tipton. "In the springtime when the little trees start to leaf out, it's just like candy for the deer. I can't put up with it if I want to have a business."

So Kelly, like a lot of farmers in Iowa who pack rifles on their tractors and combines, started shooting the animals as the size of the deer herd increased.

"The DNR won't control the herd," he said, referring to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "They see their job as protecting the deer, not me or my property. I decided I had to protect me and my property. So I shoot a few every year when I see them eating the trees."

The difference between Kelly and those who try to control deer from the cab of a combine is that he is not quiet about it.

He wanted to get caught. Heck, he insisted on being caught. And prosecuted.

"This deer problem needs to be resolved, and a court is the place to do it," said Kelly, whose property has been in his family nearly 100 years. "I guess I'm as good a guy as any to get it into court."

He shot a deer in 2004, called a DNR conservation officer and said, "Come and get me." He said an officer stopped by and even took Kelly's picture with the deer, but no charges were filed.

So he tried it again in 2005. Shot a deer. Called the DNR. Asked to be charged. Again, no response from the state.

Kelly did the same thing earlier this year. On June 2, he shot one of the deer that was chewing up his trees and made the call. Charge me or I'll figure it's OK, he said.

It wasn't. A DNR officer went to Kelly's farm and took his picture with the dead deer. Kelly gladly signed a confession and three months later was charged. He faces fines, including a $1,500 assessment to "replace" the deer he shot. He goes to trial in March and can't wait.

"I'm protecting my property, nothing more, nothing less," he said. "Any farmer would understand. I know the DNR has its rules and regulations. I have the Iowa Constitution and the Supreme Court on my side."

Kelly said he will prevail because of a 1915 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that dealt with what he believes is this very thing...

There's much more, read the whole story.

It's about time somebody challenged the Iowa DNR in court. They have mismanaged the deer population in Iowa over the past 25-30 years, leading to numerous deaths on the roads and financial loss on the part of drivers, homeowners, and now businessmen like Kevin Kelly. And for what? So Bo Jackson can come to Iowa and shoot a big ass buck?

See what happens when you run government like a business? Revenue from deer tags and "tourism" is much more important to the bureaucraps at the DNR than people's lives or livelihoods. It's the same sort of crap Iowa had with those Touchplay Slottery Machines, when you think about it. It's just endless greed.