Many of those things are going to vary by state. So you can't make generalizations on some of them, But, you should be able to get a lot of that information easily, by contacting your state deer biologist or researcher. They are the ones who should have all the numbers, answers and explanations.

If you really want to understand all of this read the book Ecology and Management of White-tailed Deer, published by Stackpole. Once you have a thorough understanding of deer biology, physiology, behavior and different management techniques you can apply what you have learned to how deer are managed in your state. Then you can present the facts to the anti's.

The problem is many anti's don't care about or understand deer management. Many of them base their anti-hunting sentiments on "thou shalt not kill" the "suffering aspect" and the Bambi syndrome, also known as "they're so cute." Most of them refuse to listen to science and logic, so it seldom works.

The best thing for hunters to do is get off their butts, band together, lobby, vote, and contact their legislators like the anti's do. It is often difficult to educate or change an anti's mind, one thing you can do is FIGHT them at the polls and in the courts. This is unfortunate, but true.

So the question is, how many people here belong to a pro-hunting organization, and support it with money, volunteer work, and have actually called or written their legislators? I'm not looking for a poll here, this is just a gut check.

T.R.