RE: Healthy herd myth
Why is it so hard for some to believe that a healthy herd is desired by many hunters?
Why does it always fall back to "well the deer aren't skin & bones, they mustbe healthy"
How come it is ok to believe(and in some cases WANT) a male population made up of the young and immature. Yea they may still live and eat and all, but you can't possibly think that is a normal biological trend, otherwise the "natural" life span of a buck would be 1-2 years and it would die.
How is it 'bad' & untruthfulof hunters to want a decent buck to doe ratio,(2:1) and a large enough population of older bucks in the breakdown to suppress the young bucks from breeding so that they can grow and maximize thier potential? Why is that such a crime?
Why do so many want to believe that just because the deer aren't dead, means its a healthy ecosystem. Over browsing and habitat destruction happens from too many deer.
Man has forever impacteddeerand whatconditions they can 'naturally' exist under. Why not manage the herd to more closely resemble the structure of a true 'natural' condition? Bucks spread across all age classes, and a ratio approaching 1.5:1 or 2:1. And total numbers that don't damage the habitat in which they live. Butwhen hunters tryto reach these conditions, we are labeledevil, decietful trophy mongers by those without the restraint to allow it to happen.