The Herd Size Is Too Large
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 4 months ago
Across the United States, the deer population has ballooned in recent years to an estimated 30 million. Once a rare sight, deer have become something of a pest, spreading disease and causing fatal car accidents at an increasing rate. But for people like Arnow, who has a background in environmental science, the biggest issue is the impact of too many deer on the forest. With fewer bears and mountain lions around to keep their numbers in check, deer can reproduce with abandon and decimate the young trees and native plants that live beneath forest canopies.
“[If] we have a beautiful overstory of mature oak trees [but] zero oak saplings in the woods, there’s no future for the forest,” said Arnow, whose concern has turned into an obsession with herd management.
To protect these crucial habitats and carbon sinks in order to help keep climate change from spiraling further out of control, scientists say deer population density in much of the country must be drastically reduced. “For this thing to work, you have to drive the deer numbers down to a very low level,” said William McShea, a wildlife ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Ecology Center. “You can’t just have casual hunting.”
I don’t know if I agree with the superlative “very low level.” But the point is that the proliferation of hunting regulations on bag limits, allowable antlered and antlerless take, time, season duration, etc., etc., has overdone it.
I agree with that. It’s time to pull back on the overbearing regulations.
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On August 21, 2022 at 9:36 pm, Fred said:
Well, these things will work themselves out when bugs is all they sell in the grocery stores.
On August 21, 2022 at 10:18 pm, roadgeek said:
I suspect, given what’s coming, that the herd will be dramatically reduced.
On August 21, 2022 at 11:34 pm, Dan said:
Part of the reason for the increase in deer is the decrease in hunters. The old generation is dying off and with them the tradition of hunting. Far fewer young people these days consider hunting something to be embraced.
On August 22, 2022 at 9:35 am, Frank Clarke said:
In Florida, feral pig is a serious problem for farmers. Even “no bag limit, no closed season” isn’t enough to keep them in check, but it does provide lots of protein for food banks and homeless shelters.
I recommend the policy highly, and not just for pig.
On August 22, 2022 at 5:04 pm, Redman said:
Until I started working for the DEC (Dept. of Environmental Conservation) in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the mid ’80’s at deer check stations during hunting season, I had no knowledge of the science behind bag limits. Spending time with the biologists proved to be very educational. The data they collected from the voluntary checks was invaluable to determine the health and age of the herd. The program was nothing but beneficial to the hunters. It was not a law enforcement check at all! Yet the ignorance of the hunters of the purpose of the check stations was self defeating for them. Many saw it as gov’t intrusion. Perhaps I felt the same way prior, due to the old timers I hunted and fished with’s attitudes . The article associates pie in the sky bullshit with the deer herd, therefore there is ZERO science. Hence ZERO worth in the words printed in the article.
On August 22, 2022 at 5:46 pm, Fred said:
If the hunters have a bad attitude about it, perhaps the requirement for a liscence is self defeating to the government.
On August 23, 2022 at 6:46 pm, Latigo Morgan said:
Some places it is. Some places it isn’t. Also, look up “Chronic Wasting Disease” and the impact on the deer and elk population. Not promising for the future.
In my state, if you draw a deer tag, you get 5 days to fill it. That’s it – no month long deer season to fill multiple tags like some states have. If you drew a hunt during a full moon? So sorry, Charlie, try again next year.