More hunters are needed

[Lee Borgersen]

 Wanted: More hunters are needed

 
By Blane Klemek Today at 6:20 a.m.

  (Nice Editorial)
The late Aldo Leopold, considered to be the father of modern day wildlife management, wrote in his essay "Thinking Like a Mountain" about the only time he shot and killed a wolf. He wrote, "Since then I have lived to see state after state extirpate its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible bush and seedling browsed, first to anemic desuetude, and then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to the height of a saddlehorn."


In the essay, the author placed himself squarely into an ecosystem void of a very essential—but oft missing—component: that without the predator the health of the mountain, as well as the deer, suffers greatly. Leopold believed like so many others did then, and still do yet today, that a landscape without the wolf, without the predator, will be a landscape teeming with wildlife and, in turn, a veritable hunters' and viewers' paradise. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is estimated that in 1900 only 500,000 white-tailed deer inhabited America. At one time too many deer were being killed. In fact, when my grandfather was middle-aged and farming in west central Minnesota, seeing a deer track, let alone an actual deer, was a rarity. Not so today. Some 33 million whitetails populate urban centers, forests, and farms throughout all 48 contiguous states.

Minnesota is home to over a million deer. And of that figure, more than 260,000 were harvested by over 500,000 hunters just last autumn, another record harvest and the second highest ever. Still, the deer herd continues to grow despite longer hunting seasons, increased bag limits, and increased hunting opportunities through special hunts; all of which are designed to harvest even more deer.

The question of how to curb the population growth of burgeoning herds of white-tailed deer is undoubtedly what keeps research wildlife biologists and game managers awake at night. That said, the most effective wildlife management tool available in managing deer is hunting. Yet hunting, for all its known biological necessity in helping to keep deer populations healthy and in balance with habitat availability, is met with increasing controversy. In many states, fewer people, particularly youth, participate in hunting. The average age of hunters is somewhere in the mid-40s. Fewer places to hunt are available to the general public. And all of this occurring when what is needed now more than ever are more deer hunters, not less.

Resistance to hunting comes in various degrees from various factions. Extremist groups such as "Friends of Animals" are opposed to all forms of hunting. Some of its members have even gone as far as speaking out against natural predator/prey relationships and ecologically healthy wildlife populations. In his excellent article "Wanted: More Hunters" by Ted Williams, Williams wrote about a Friends of Animals organizer, Cleveland Amory, who in 1983 organized efforts to stop a scheduled public deer hunt in Massachusetts, answered when asked what he would do if he had absolute powers over the world. Amory replied, "All animals will not only not be shot, they will be protected—not only from people but as much as possible from each other. Prey will be separated from predator, and there will be no overpopulation, because all will be controlled by sterilization or implant."

While societal anti-hunting sentiments continue to spread as people become more removed from rural roots and more entrenched in urban lifestyles, agreeable and effective solutions as to how to effectively control the growth of the prolific white-tailed deer remain disputed and muddied, even among deer hunters and deer hunting groups. Indeed, opinions of how to best manage deer are as numerous as deer themselves: politicians, conservation organizations, sportsmen's groups, resource agencies, citizens groups, anti-hunting groups, farmers and ranchers, homeowners... all work to effect modern day wildlife management in a multitude of ways.

But the fact of the matter is, white-tailed deer, as beautiful and socio-economically important an animal as it is, needs to be hunted—killed—to ensure its long term health, not to mention the health of the environment. To illustrate, the 14,000-acre Letchworth State Park in New York maintains a 1,200-acre wildlife sanctuary within the park where no deer hunting is allowed. Regional park director Richard Parker says of the severely over-browsed forest, "There are no saplings, no underbrush for ground nesting birds. There will be no regeneration of the forest. In 40 to 50 years, as the current forest dies, there will be nothing to replace it."

Closer to home, a Wisconsin study concluded that in the past 50 years, species of native plants have been drastically reduced because of the oversized deer herd. Additionally, as native plants are consumed by the herbivores, exotic plants tend to replace the natives. And along with the loss of vegetation, woody included, songbirds and other ground nesting birds are decreasing in numbers.

The white-tailed deer is without a shred of doubt one of the most successful and adaptable animals in North America. Reviled by some, adored by most, and hunted by many, they're a natural component of the environment that require careful application of sound and modern wildlife management principles in order to control their numbers as we get out and enjoy the great outdoors.


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