Deer Cull

sibeer · Sep 27, 2011

When I was a teen living here there were no deer living in town, now there's a hundred. And that's in only twenty years. Ok, forty.
I'm in favour of the cull.

Anyone else live with wildlife?

augiedoggie · Sep 27, 2011

We used to have deer and moose but the place has been built up quite a bit in the last 25 years. I'm not sure about culling but I guess there's no wolves anymore over there to control the population so instead of them starving to death, I guess it's the best way. At least the meat won't go to waste.:drool

sibeer · Sep 27, 2011

They're all fat and healthy from eating gardens. Cougars usually control them but the deer are safe from them in town. They'va attacked dogs and threatened people when protecting their young.

bigbazza · Sep 28, 2011

Every time I see arguments over culling, I think of The Terrible Lesson of the Kaibab

A couple of links
The Terrible Lesson of the Kaibab pdf
http://ebookbrowse.com/the-terrible-lesson-of-the-kaibab-pdf-d71435397

The Kaibab Deer Incident: Myths, Lies, and Scientific Fraud
http://westinstenv.org/wibio/2010/01/20/the-kaibab-deer-incident-myths-lies-and-scientific-fraud/

A quote:

In response to those measures, the mule deer herd irrupted from around 4,000 animals in 1906 to an estimated 100,000 head in 1924. As might be expected, the growing deer population severely overgrazed both the summer and winter ranges. This lead to a number of studies and reports, as well as a dispute between the federal government and the state of Arizona. In short, the Forest Service said that the deer herd needed to be reduced to prevent further range damage but the state refused to open the area to hunting. In response, the federal government claimed that it could kill deer on the Kaibab to protect habitat without a state permit. Needless to say, Arizona objected and the ensuing legal battle made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court agreed that the Kaibab deer herd had exceeded the range’s carrying capacity and that overgrazing by mule deer had denuded public lands. The Court also sided with the federal government in ruling that the Forest Service could authorize hunting on the Kaibab without state approval. This legal precedent still stands and means that when push come to shove, the federal government can control wildlife populations on public lands. Arizona had no alternative but to capitulate, but it was too late because the plateau’s mule deer had experienced a major die-off and by 1931 fewer than 20,000 animals were left.

For years, the Kaibab deer irruption, overgrazed range, and subsequent die-off were cited in wildlife textbooks as a classic example of what happens when predators are controlled and hunting eliminated. “The Terrible Lesson of the Kaibab” became a cornerstone of modern game management and an example of why hunters were needed to harvest surplus animals.
Click to expand...

Read the full article, at the link, for the Pro's and Con's, the politics and passions involved. Make up your own minds.

I used to be a keen hunter many years ago.
Too old, and too many people against firearms/hunting, now.

Search using The Terrible Lesson of the Kaibab will provide many more links.

Bazza

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Deer Cull

sibeer MajorGeek

augiedoggie The Canadian Loon - LocoAugie (R.I.P. 2012)

sibeer MajorGeek

bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek