A hunter’s perspective on the S.M. Park deer controversy

When members of Bite Club of KC made their case to stop the deer harvest planned for Shawnee Mission Park, they often conjured gruesome imagery.

Addressing the Johnson County Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners in recent months, animal rights activists predicted terrified, half-dead deer, with arrows stuck in their anatomy, bolting into traffic or dragging their bloodied bodies onto family doorsteps.

They suggested that deer corpses would be abandoned, scattered to rot in the woods, and the family park would reek like a slaughterhouse.

One activist predicted that area children would be traumatized by the sight of such carnage and the local school district would have to contend with a rash of behavioral problems.

Ken Payne, president of Heartland Suburban Whitetail Management, scoffs at such predictions.

“It’s amazing how some people have just lost touch with reality,” Payne says.