Trapped in Cartier Park: A Victim's Tale of the Ludington Deer Cull

[XLFD]

On Tuesday, March 12th, this reporter was alerted early on that the Ludington DPW was setting up barricades around Cartier Park in preparation for the deer cull by the USDA's APHIS Wildlife Management squad.  Later that morning, I went to the park and scouted around the area and found that they had replenished a bait pile with fresh corn.  As baiting in a city park was a violation of state and local law, I got my rake out and raked all the corn under last fall's leaf drop, like I had previously done. 

If you can't tell, or are not one of our regular readers, I am not a fan of the deer cull; I find it a colossal waste of money and a bigger threat to public safety than the deer that the public seems to enjoy seeing at Ludington's largest natural park inside the city limits.  The city who voted to have this cull has yet to show us just one complaint from one person complaining about seeing deer in Cartier Park.  

I finished out a couple of hours of scouting and raking by looking at the layout of the barricades which seemed to be all in place (or ready to be put in place) by about mid-afternoon.   I couldn't help but notice that Lakeview Cemetery was totally open, probably because they decided not to cull deer there, and neither were the various inroads into the park from the cemetery.  

After attending the Pere Marquette Township's Board meeting at 4 PM and setting up an appointment with Sheriff Kim Cole (also attending) to discuss further my public extortion charges against City Attorney Ross Hammersley, I set out towards Cartier Park to do some more scouting with the aim of getting more deer out of the area and locate/neutralize any other illegal bait piles before darkness fell. 

Whenever this cull was discussed at council, it was premised that the killing would happen after darkness fell.  In the most recent discussion of timing in the Public Safety Committee meeting of October 10, 2023 it was entered into the minutes thusly:

"All shooting is done in the middle of the night" is fairly explicit when you notice that dusk begins on March 12, 2024 at 8:17 PM and dawn begins at 7:32 AM on March 13th.  Midnight to 3 AM would be the middle of the night for a three-hour cull.  It's quite dark then.  

I parked my car at a safe place a few blocks from the park and entered through the cemetery entrance off Bryant Road at around 5:45 PM.  My intention was to sweep through the park numerous times to scare off any deer that was still around and save some innocent lives of those who bring such joy to park visitors.  I had no intention of being out in the park's forest after 8 PM, or 17 minutes before dusk so as to not possibly run afoul of the law, which our city leaders were unfortunately doing quite successfully on their own with multiple laws.  

Shortly after 7:30 I heard the humming of a motor coming up Plank Road (the decommissioned road that extends from the parking lot near the gazebo circling back to a gate on Rath Avenue), and took some cover behind trees, with my camera saying I took the following two pictures at 7:36 PM, 41 minutes before dusk.  The first didn't catch much of the ATV which is behind the large tree, but it does show that it was broad daylight out and sunny.  

The second one (zoomed in closer) shows the ATV better and had I known that the USDA sharpshooting biologist driving the vehicle was ready and willing to shoot at this point, I would have probably looked for full cover and not have taken the two pictures.  But I would soon find out that I was in an active fire zone:

Less than two minutes after I took this shot, I heard a shot nearby consistent with a suppressed rifle.  Thankfully, it wasn't aimed my way, but it made me rather nervous.  I would cautiously move north, away from the gunfire heard with the ultimate intention of getting to the pier before nightfall, where the thermal and infrared vision of the deer cullers would have my own limited vision at a major disadvantage.  And since our city officials had lied about these guys working during the middle of the night, I figured their claims about how these biologists belching bullets could distinguish between deer and humans might not be the truth either.

I had the very real possibility that I may have been between two different prongs of the cull as I heard several more shots ring out to the south of me, one while I was dashing between cover and had me hit the dirt and check for holes before realizing there was no pain.  With a lot of trepidation and some luck, I was to the point where I was overlooking the aforementioned gazebo looking down from the top of the hill to its south.  I had heard 8-10 gunshots at this point.

I waited a few more minutes to see if there was anyone downhill waiting for a shot on retreating deer, and moments before dusk, I made it to the gazebo and then to my ultimate objective, the end of the pier just beyond it.  I figured they would be less likely to mistake me for a deer when I was at a place where deer normally don't go, and would be easy prey if they did.  

I waited there and agonized about calling 911 in order to be able to get out of the area safely with a police escort, but I wound up calling instead Terry Grams, who lived nearby and was a confederate against the deer cull, running the Stop the Deer Cull website and many ads in the local paper.  In a short while, he was able to go to the end of Rath Avenue and alert the LPD officer there, Noah Noble, as to my plight and my desire to be able to vacate the area safely.  

Four more shots were fired while I was at the pier, I could hear them fairly clearly, but they all stopped around 8:30 PM.  I was 'rescued' around 8:50 or so and had heard nothing for at least 20 minutes before Noble was apprised of the situation.  I had also heard an ATV coming back from the forest but could not see it.  

As Officer Noble approached the pier with his spotlight on, I flashed my lit phone his way as I came off the pier.  Rather than ask whether I was alright from my traumatic, near-death experience, he asked immediately for my ID, even after I had thanked him and told him my name.  I started to tell him about Michigan law and of how he needs reasonable cause to suspect I have committed a crime, he has no power to request my ID. 

But then I remembered he was one of these poorly trained LPD officers, so rather than stay in a dangerous area any longer than I should, I gave him my driver's license, and he took it and put it on his clipboard, then, as if I was a common criminal, he patted me down for weapons and found only dried tart cherries in one of my pockets, and dried apples in the other, a wallet, keys and cell phone.  He had me sit in the back, as he looked up my LIEN information using my license.  This was just the first violations of my rights by the LPD after being first victimized by the city's hired biological killers.  

I was taken back to the end of Rath Avenue where I was met by LPD Captain Mike Haveman who started asking me questions about my night, and I told him a shorter version of what I have described here.  At the same time, Officer Noble was writing out a letter of trespass for me.  Being such a nice and understanding guy, the captain reduced my punishment by only trespassing me from Cartier Park for one month.  So even though the cull will not be taking place after March no matter what, I still can't set foot in Cartier Park until April 11th.  

The letter of trespass says that I disturbed the peace, but the only peace that was disturbed that night was my own, by the city's contracted killers acting well before darkness, threatening my life by acting against what the city told us all.  I was enjoying a city park in broad daylight, entering the park through a location where there was no barriers or signs alerting me to any danger.  I then had my ID taken from me and was considered guilty of a crime and given punishment without any due process.  That punishment was to keep me out of a public park that my taxes are used to pay for maintenance, upkeep, and this year, bloody murder of cute animals and near murder of a lesser-cute me.  

A copy of the notice of intent to file a federal lawsuit against the City of Ludington was delivered via email before midnight struck the end of that stressful day.  

[Freedom Seeker]

Almost Unbelievable, the lack of Notice by DNR while shooting on public grounds outside the time given by recorded COL Minutes. LIARS!! What's new?

I'm very concerned that you were able to enter the Park without seeing signs or better yet, huge amounts of yellow tape all the way around. Yellow tape is not that expensive.

That one sign you took a picture of NOT SPECIFICALLY DATED, BUT only "today and tomorrow" absolutely legally lacking. Were there multiple signs and various entrances?

It's certainly animal cruelty--baiting and cross shooting on ATVs--all not legal to individual hunting, but if taken to Courts, will the State get away with those tactics?

After you recoup from the fear, I think you need more than yourself to prosecute these violations (along with arbitrary tresspass warning), X.

[Freedom Seeker]

Just looking at City website (with average time a citizen has to read and keep up on dictates), I see nothing recently about the deer cull ... but Rath Ave. closure; missing man found.... Are they afraid to post or is it so far buried that the average taxpayer doesn't have time to read fine print? Like the notification on the one signposted... a lot of fine print wording.

[XLFD]

For the sake of safety, APHIS actually advises municipalities to keep the cull information secret.  Of course, they would, because if protesters were to organize and come and stop the cull, they would not be getting paid.  The hypocrisy of the deer cull is that it is totally against public safety in this context, which is why when Mark Barnett says that Ludington's deer situation is a public safety issue and we need this cull, I throw up just a little in my mouth.

[Freedom Seeker]

The more I fume over this "Endangerment to Humans Deer Cull" by the City of Ludington, it seems this action is NEGLIGENT with signage and Public Notification and Marking of high-powered shooting Area for starter.

It just seems that the more pressure on the COL, the more NEGLIGENT and IGNORANT the CITY is and wilfully spiteful against the majority's wishes they become.

I'm sure it wasn't your intention to get trapped between high-power rifle gunfire, but it UNFORTUNATELY was necessary to make a real CLAIM.

I wonder how the few in the mayor's neighborhood who are offended by deer eating their hostas (and have bent his ear to decline listening to the majority) feel about killing humans in opposition to killing deer? I wonder if these "skilled professionals" came closer to killing a deer or Tom Rotta last night?

[Freedom Seeker]

Was the Deer Kill notification, dates, place printed in LDN or MCP? I couldn't find any from recent news.

While looking to see if the State of Michigan has regulations for city deer culls, I ran across the following article with an opinion on why deer culls don't work by nature's compensation:

https://www.stoptheshoot.org/why-culls-don-t-work#:~:text=Remaining...).

Another thought:  how much is the city paying for these "professional" killers?  Couldn't the city provide the deer-hating, hosta-loving Karens with yard fences all the way around their yards for less controversy and less against-science and against-nature stupidity?  Or maybe better, Karen could move to one of the many new high rise condos and not be bothered with ground-level  hostas.

[XLFD]

You know I hate to generalize by calling the people who advocated for this deer cull 'Karen', but it should be noted that the three people who publicly spoke out for the cull this last year were three unsympathetic older ladies named Angie, Judy and Mark.  

These ladies live in nice houses in the affluent neighborhoods of the First Ward.  Unlike the regular folks of the Sixth and Fourth Wards who have adapted to the challenges of coexisting with their 'nature neighbors' and even appreciate them at times, they have pursued a path of intolerance, hatred, and/or violence.  No amount of free taxpayer money can cure that level of stupidity.

[Freedom Seeker]

Who else may have been in the park? Curiosity seekers, children disobeying signs or running in an area where there were not signs?  Someone who didn't read the non-existent newspaper announcements or a visitor who wasn't up on local politics, didn't see a sign that wasn't at the cemetery entrance and strolled through Cartier Park for old times sake after visiting relatives in the cemetery?  What would COL pay for the death of a human?

[woodsman]

So where is the picture of the mayor standing over all his trophies??  Where is a picture of deer matching the number of shots these skilled killer took, these are surely FBI swat members who can neutralize at 1000 yards correct??   They do not even walk into the area with any stealth  but ride into the area on ATV's  like a bunch of cowboys ready for a battle, would assume from years of hunting the shots you heard where at running deer and most all where misses or wounding shots especially if shots where more than one shot volleys....... Raining out would of been interesting to take a stroll during open  hours to see if any blood and guts are on the paths and where are these deer ending up if they actually killed any other than on paper...

[XLFD]

APHIS can claim they killed 1 or 26 deer at Cartier Park, and there would be no way of verifying that information.  Our city leaders were foolish by not asserting that these contracted killers actually prove their head count.

The day after this cull was held, in good weather I walked out to Cartier Park before 10 PM.  I scoured the perimeter of the walking path, the length of Plank Road, some of the wider bike paths and trails, and while I saw ATV tracks, I saw no blood or fur evidence on the mat of leaves on the forest floor anywhere, with few areas being disturbed.  I must admit in my nearly two hours of park navigating the prior night, I had saw no deer.  Only one of my friends doing the same survey saw any blood/fur, another saw a deer likely to have been dead a week before, no signs of a bullet, but some signs of animals gnawing on it.  

You may ask how I was able to look around Cartier Park for a couple of hours when I had a letter of trespass in effect.  I owned it, I wore a deer costume and duct taped my letter of trespass to my chest area.  And when I saw City manager Mitch Foster inspecting his $1.4 million bathhouses at the campground (he's third from the left in the picture above), I took the picture after we had both recognized the presence of each other and I started playing deer sounds on my cell phone.  

Foster passed the challenge by not calling out the LPD to corral and arrest me, though he had notified them before he came over to talk with me.  We had a semi-productive chat and he allowed me the better part of an hour to finish my survey of the park for signs of deer violence.  He did not revoke the letter, he did not admit mistakes were made, he just warned me of being in the wrong spot if they are to do the deer cull at future dates.

[Freedom Seeker]

Very interesting response by Mitch.

[woodsman]

  Do people realize these doe they are killing are very pregnant with 1-3 fawns and ready to be born in 6 weeks+ People eating these deer are eating mama doe, probable big animal rights people killing babies. Are they butchering the unborn fawns also or maybe just tanning the little guys hide...

[XLFD]

Hmm, who was the main advocate for the deer culls this last year?  That's easy, it was Mayor Mark Barnett.

So who is responsible for the late-term abortions on all of these fawns this year?  Already answered.

I wonder if all those pastors giving invocations at the beginning of each meeting know that they have been invited to invoke by one of Mason County's most prolific abortionists?