Daily Herald: gated community allowed to bow hunt deer

This story is so confused that it illustrates what a nether-world private communities are in. The reporter doesn't understand who is permitting whom to do what. The point is that public officials gave a private government permission to bowhunt deer at a time and place that would otherwise have been illegal. Why? Well, it's a Goldilocks kind of thing--apparently the gated community BOD (but not all its members) think 40 deer living in the community are too many, and 0 wouldn't be enough, but 20 would be just right.

Now, there are generally applicable laws that govern deer hunting here in Illinois, and they are very specific and restrictive. I'm not against deer hunting--in fact, I'm all for it, and I have Browning hunting bow and a 12 gauge Remington 870 with an 18" barrel to prove it. And I thoroughly approve of Ted Nugent (see the article), unlike the anti-hunters in the article who think he's just awful because he visibly enjoys killing and eating animals.

But why should a gated community get this exception from laws that govern the rest of us? There are deer all over the place where we live. They get hit by cars, they eat in people's cornfields, and so forth. I'd love to shoot a deer off my patio some morning, and fill the freezer. It would be easy to do. But nooooooooooo...I have to obey some of the most restrictive hunting laws on Planet Earth. Is this a case of a gated community getting special privileges? Or is there something special about the number 40? Expiring minds want to know.