Politics Deer overpopulation

We have a huge overpopulation of deer in southwestern Ohio. There are a lot of hunters. Many of my husband's co-workers have freezers full of deer meat. The hunting season is pretty long.

 

How carefully we plan the building of our cities but not the mitigation of its impact.

 

That is a big part of why I have no ethical dilemma over deer hunting in IL. We have similar overpopulation problems in many areas. There are often extra efforts by the DNR made to harvest deer due to disease (Chronic Waste, Bluetongue disease, etc.), either to help check the plague, or to give them samples to further study it. The overpopulation can also lead to starvation, destruction of other habitat, property damage, and human injury/death in auto accidents as mentioned in the OP. I am absolutely for being ethical in the way I hunt (I've discussed that at length in other posts), I support and follow the DNR's guidelines for legal/ethical harvesting of deer, and I try to make full use of any animal that I take. My primary motivation to hunt is because I enjoy the venison, but I consciously consider the other positive impacts. I understand and respect that some people aren't in favor of hunting (though if they eat farm raised meat I question their reasoning ), but I think it definitely has its place in trying to conserve and protect the environment considering the current mess of things (mainly man removing most/all natural predators in the majority of areas).

 

I think McDonald's should switch to venison burgers. Problem solved.

McBambi.

LOL! Oh, me.... I'm so funny!

 

As a rule, I wear bright colors if I go hiking during hunting season.

 

"Hey, more hunting" seems like an ineffective solution to a widespread problem. I don't think that it alone will have much of an impact.

Civil planning and environmental regulations should be seriously revisited—for example, discouraging suburban sprawl and banning clear-cutting.

I also wonder if it's feasible to introduce coyote populations into the problem areas. People seem to be so anti-predator near residential areas, but then they moan about the damage and other problems caused by too many deer. There should be some kind of balance possible. Sheesh. There are coyotes in Toronto.

 

I agree fully, even though I care for animals.
I guess I think of it from a "Temple Grandin" point of view. While it may be necessary to kill them, you can do it safely, organized and without them suffering or being frightened.

The forests of Yale used to get overpopulated with deer periodically.
They'd designate a time and area, keep most of the populous out, then allow skilled hunters to go in and start clearing out designated deer.
They'd go in pairs, an ID person who'd note if a deer was "designated", (older, injured, etc...) and a shooter. (who was skilled enough to minimize pain before death)

I was a shooter, doing bow-hunting. Something I had a knack at. (for some reason I'm better at bows than rifles, go figure)
I have never hunted otherwise nor do I go out of my way for it.

For safety sake, it needs to be a controlled situation.

 

You guys probably know as well as anyone from my posting how freaking spoiled my pets are. I equally appreciate wildlife, and sometimes will go into the woods just to watch or take pics of deer, birds, squirrels, or even the occasional coyote (they usually notice me first and take a hike, lol). I don't think hunting animals in an ethical way and appreciating and loving animals and nature have to be mutually exclusive.

I'd argue the opposite. Most hunters I know actually take an active interest in the environment and trying to help manage wildlife in a responsible way.

 

Coyotes are very rarely able to take down full grown deer. It would take wolves to have a real impact.

 

Hey, I used to subscribe to Adbusters magazine.
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Coyotes tend to take out small, young deer.