When will Hunter take responsibility for too many Deer?

[No More Deer]

When will hunters be responsible for too many deer? Deer-auto crashes cost the American tax payer millions of dollars a year; Thousands of people are hurt and some die by hitting deer.

I hear deer hunters say all the time that there are no deer. Drive down my road or hundreds of roads like mine- You'll see deer. But watch out, especially around dawn or dusk, you may have 2 or 3 at a time jump out in front of your car.

I also hear many hunters say we got to control the predators to help the deer herd. Now that is pretty lame. Predators kill the weak, the old and the stupid. Hunters kill the strong and healthy. Hunters are just as much responsible for lower fawn rates as predators by taking out the mature bucks that will sire the fawns.

Many hunters say we need to have legislation to protect deer habitat and hunting rights. I say we need legislation to protect the woods and people from the deer.

A few studies have come out lately about "biotic impoverishment"- the sterilizing of the woods by over browsing and grazing by - you guessed it- Deer.

I live in a state that has high auto insurance. One of the reasons that I have to pay high insurance is the high likelihood that I will hit a deer. Not that I want to hit a deer, but its a role of the dice every time I hit the road.

So the next time you think there aren't enough deer and you think you should do somthing about it- why don't you take some of ours, we got plenty to spare, while yer at it, pay my insurance bill.

[Wolf killer]

I am a hunter & I agree with 99% of what you are saying. Many years ago hunter almost killed off all of the deer. Hunters joined together to protect the few deer that they had left. You are seeing the end result of that problem. We became too good at protecting deer.
I also live in a area where there are WAY too many deer. There are too many people in my area that do not allow hunting
We also have several places that have too many people living in the area to safely hunt the deer.
I feel your pain because my insurance rates are high also. There are cattle & sheep ranchers in my area so large predators do not work here. Ranchers have a hard enough time making ends meet without large predators eating up there profits.

[Sylvan]

I hear deer hunters say all the time that there are no deer. Drive down my road or hundreds of roads like mine- You'll see deer. But watch out, especially around dawn or dusk, you may have 2 or 3 at a time jump out in front of your car.

There are too many deer in some areas and too few in others. Jut depends on who you talk to.

[Californiadoctor]

No more deer, you wrote a lot about the problems caused by deer overpopulation but did not offer any evidence that hunters play a role in this situation. I would argue that the reason there are too many deer in some places is because people who are against hunting make emotional appeals to uninformed members of the public to support their anti-hunting agenda. The results are that hunters have fewer opportunities to take deer and the deer population then exceeds the carrying capacity of the land. Do not blame hunters for the surfiet of deer in some areas, blame the people who anthropormophize deer in order to restrict hunting.

Californiadoctor

[vc1111]

I also hear many hunters say we got to control the predators to help the deer herd. Now that is pretty lame. Predators kill the weak, the old and the stupid. Hunters kill the strong and healthy. Hunters are just as much responsible for lower fawn rates as predators by taking out the mature bucks that will sire the fawns.

Very confusing post and as such it causes me to question your motives for posting it.

On one hand you complain that there are "too many" deer. On the other you point the finger at hunters for lowering fawn rates by killing mature animals.

[driftrider]

We are hunters...hunters kill deer...dead deer don't overgraze, damage crops or reproduce...so how was it that hunters are responsible for there being too many deer? Seems to me that it is the deer's fault that there are too many deer. They have this pesky tendency to breed every year, and we just can't shoot them fast enough to control that.

If you want to place blame anywhere, it should not be with hunters who, sucessful or not, attempt to actively cull the herd, but rather with urban and suburban encroachment that provides the perfect, protected area for deer to flourish without risk of being hunted by anything other than someones Beemer.

The question I'd ask you is this...have you even hunted deer? If so, you'll know that it's not as easy as you make it out to be. Sometimes you can head out into the woods and practically trip over them, other times, you can spend a week in the woods freezing your butt off any never get a shot at one.

You also mentioned the lack of predators to control the herd, and while this is true, you also fail to consider the reprocussions of reintroducing natural deer predators into the really deer infested areas. Would you like to walk out onto your back porch to find a wolf, bear or even a coyote standing 10 feet from your kid? Don't think that this is a real possibility? Go here to read about several coyote attacks on humans... http://www.varmintal.com/attac.htm Why would this be a problem? Well, because once you reintroduce a predator species into the "wild," the predators will go wherever the prey goes, and in many cases the largest deer herds live in suburbia, which, coincidentially, is where a lot of people, including children, live. And when predators and humans live in close proximity, attacks are inevitable.

Mike

[hillbillyhunter1]

ORIGINAL: vc1111

Very confusing post and as such it causes me to question your motives for posting it.

On one hand you complain that there are "too many" deer. On the other you point the finger at hunters for lowering fawn rates by killing mature animals.

Amen,

I also question the motives of and am confused by your post and the fact that not many hunters would have the "handle"---"no more deer" unless this was going to be the sole point that you would ever want to make to this forum

I also agree with CA-Doc that it's probably the lack of hunting caused by outside forces that contributes more to the problem

do you hunt? sell insurance? both? neither?

[Cougar Mag]

Although some hunters do not take enough does, overpopulation is caused by too few hunting opportunities in many cases. There are some landowners who refuse permission to hunters. I can name two women with land right on the edge of town with lots of deer on their land but who will not allow any form of hunting whatsoever. Typically, they feed the deer and think they are protecting them.

Although your idea has some merit, your post lacks much substance and is confusing.

[Moose75]

I see that this is your first post welcome to the forums. Where is it that you are having this problem? If its a must I guess I can come make your road safer for you just tell me when and where.

For real though like Caldoc said people who are against hunting in your state prolly have the laws to where hunters can only take a low number of deer like 2 a year. and about the reintroducing of predators, thats a bad thing I have had yotes in my yard in the middle of the day with babies(3 years) playin out there and they eat my chickens too!!

[Californiadoctor]

No More Deer, I think that a much strong case can be made that Global Warming is more responsible for the increased number of deer than hunters. Warmer winters mean less "winter kill" and higher fawn survival. It also results in longer growing seasons to feed more deer. In addition, while we know that the amount of green house gasses in the aptmosphere is increasing and global temperatures have been rising for decades. Meanwhile, as pointed out on another post in this forum, the number of hunters is declining in the United States. Statistically, the argument could be made that the decrease in the number of hunters is responsible for the increase in the number of deer. Now, No More Deer, let's hear your rationale for hunters being responsible for the depredations of oversized deer herds.


Californiadoctor