Deer, Part 3
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
If the Indiana Department of Natural Resources does not start to manage our deer herd more responsibly, we will not be able to enjoy hunting in our future.
In the 1950s and as late as the 1970s, deer herds were decimated due to the same type of mismanagement as we have today. To save the deer population, the IDNR stepped in and through strict harvest quotas, our deer were brought back in large numbers. Indiana enjoyed several years of excellent deer hunting. Sadly, it now looks like after this season runs its course, the herd will be back to the 1950s and ’60s numbers.
Every serious deer hunter should strive to be a serious conservationist, for we hunters are the people most responsible for the care taking of the wildlife we have left. Through license, ammunition and firearm sales, we help fund wildlife restoration projects, purchase public hunting land and other related projects. Just because the IDNR sets the doe quotas as such unreasonably high levels, does not mean that we have to satisfy them (the IDNR), by killing all these deer. I urge people not to buy into the IDNR’s reasons for putting forth all these ridiculous changes.
They have said that harvest records over the past three years have been at record levels, therefore justifying the need for liberal rules, especially the new antlerless quotas. In the Indiana Hunting and Trapping Guide, Chad Stewart, a DNR biologist spearheading all these changes, compared the recent deer harvest to that of 10 years ago. Of course, there were more deer harvested the last two years ago compared to 10 years ago! Ten years ago, the herds were more strictly and responsibly managed than today. Ten years ago our doe quotas were set at a much lower number than it is today. Some counties were not allowed to harvest extra does at all. Some counties, if wanting to take a doe with a firearm, could only do so the last four days of firearms season.
There is also the issue of a disease that our deer herd suffered from this year, claiming the lives of numerous deer. The disease is called EHD, and is transmitted to deer from a type of fly that they came in contact with while drinking from water sources. A lot of Indiana counties were negatively affected by this disease, losing a high percentage of deer. Other states, such a Michigan also suffered this disease, but unlike Indiana, Michigan actually closed hunting season in some of the highly impacted disease areas. They did this in part to save what deer they had left, in hopes of a timely recovery. Indiana did not follow suit. Instead, they did nothing to relax the hunting pressure in these counties experiencing high deer loses. When asked about concerns over a drop in the deer herd due to this disease, the DNR stated that they doubted it had affected our herd in a negative way.
How can that be?
Final part to follow.
Josh Leffel
North Manchester, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
If the Indiana Department of Natural Resources does not start to manage our deer herd more responsibly, we will not be able to enjoy hunting in our future.
In the 1950s and as late as the 1970s, deer herds were decimated due to the same type of mismanagement as we have today. To save the deer population, the IDNR stepped in and through strict harvest quotas, our deer were brought back in large numbers. Indiana enjoyed several years of excellent deer hunting. Sadly, it now looks like after this season runs its course, the herd will be back to the 1950s and ’60s numbers.
Every serious deer hunter should strive to be a serious conservationist, for we hunters are the people most responsible for the care taking of the wildlife we have left. Through license, ammunition and firearm sales, we help fund wildlife restoration projects, purchase public hunting land and other related projects. Just because the IDNR sets the doe quotas as such unreasonably high levels, does not mean that we have to satisfy them (the IDNR), by killing all these deer. I urge people not to buy into the IDNR’s reasons for putting forth all these ridiculous changes.
They have said that harvest records over the past three years have been at record levels, therefore justifying the need for liberal rules, especially the new antlerless quotas. In the Indiana Hunting and Trapping Guide, Chad Stewart, a DNR biologist spearheading all these changes, compared the recent deer harvest to that of 10 years ago. Of course, there were more deer harvested the last two years ago compared to 10 years ago! Ten years ago, the herds were more strictly and responsibly managed than today. Ten years ago our doe quotas were set at a much lower number than it is today. Some counties were not allowed to harvest extra does at all. Some counties, if wanting to take a doe with a firearm, could only do so the last four days of firearms season.
There is also the issue of a disease that our deer herd suffered from this year, claiming the lives of numerous deer. The disease is called EHD, and is transmitted to deer from a type of fly that they came in contact with while drinking from water sources. A lot of Indiana counties were negatively affected by this disease, losing a high percentage of deer. Other states, such a Michigan also suffered this disease, but unlike Indiana, Michigan actually closed hunting season in some of the highly impacted disease areas. They did this in part to save what deer they had left, in hopes of a timely recovery. Indiana did not follow suit. Instead, they did nothing to relax the hunting pressure in these counties experiencing high deer loses. When asked about concerns over a drop in the deer herd due to this disease, the DNR stated that they doubted it had affected our herd in a negative way.
How can that be?
Final part to follow.
Josh Leffel
North Manchester, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092