County seeks to reduce deer population

[Bonny]

Not enough hunters around to hunt them anymore. The hunters that are hunting are going after trophy bucks for the racks. This year they can only shoot 10 point bucks & up as far a bucks go. There is bow, muzzle, & shot gun season besides. Our state is second in deer population with all the corn & bean fields for them to feast on. The coyotes kill a lot of the fawns in the spring around here but there are still a lot of deer.

[lizbud]

The yearly deer hunt has already started in Indiana. They close all of
the State Parks for a few days & start shooting. No markmanship test is
required, only a hunting licence. I wonder how many are just wounded and
left to bleed out somewhere in the brush?

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/25682723/detail.html

[aTailOf2Kitties]

I wonder how many are just wounded and
left to bleed out somewhere in the brush?

Do you mean totally abandoned? Or just not killed instantly?

As far as total abandonment..Why would someone sit in a tree in the freezing cold for hours and finally shoot a deer just to let it get away? Animals generally aren't attracted to loud banging noises, so one you've fired your gun, it's not like you've got anything else to do for a little while. Follow the blood trail find your deer and take it home.

Keep in mind the goal of every hunter is to kill an animal as quickly as possible. So yeah some do bleed out in the bushes, but hunters try to avoid having to go track down a wounded deer, and it's still less traumatic than being mauled by predators.

[cassiesmom]

Thank you, fellow PTers for answering my questions.

Driving home from my mom and dad's last night I stopped for a doe crossing Wolf Road. They blend in well with the grass and trees, especially at night. I wish the street lights were either closer together, or brighter. She was walking across the street, not in a hurry, and I was going slowly enough that I could slow down. Sometimes they dash out from someone's yard into the street and keep going. I just don't want to hit one.

[Puckstop31]

Do you mean totally abandoned? Or just not killed instantly?

As far as total abandonment..Why would someone sit in a tree in the freezing cold for hours and finally shoot a deer just to let it get away? Animals generally aren't attracted to loud banging noises, so one you've fired your gun, it's not like you've got anything else to do for a little while. Follow the blood trail find your deer and take it home.

Keep in mind the goal of every hunter is to kill an animal as quickly as possible. So yeah some do bleed out in the bushes, but hunters try to avoid having to go track down a wounded deer, and it's still less traumatic than being mauled by predators.

Trust me... For EVERY hunter I know, not finding a deer they shoot is a VERY bad thing. For instance, I had several "makeable" shot opportunties this year during archery season. But I passed the shot on all of them, because it was not a "for sure" shot. Are there "hunters" who shoot deer and not recover them? Maybe. But they are a EXTREME minority.

The question about sitting in the freeze... If ya gotta ask... You'll never get it. LOL

"Banging" noises.... It all depends on the environment. I watched a group of does this year, browsing at the edge of a corn field, just watch a combine pass not 10 feet away.

"Follow the blood." Not always as easy as it sounds. Depending on the shot angle and the weapon used, there may be very little or no blood from a mortal shot.


What I am getting at... For the non hunters here.... 99% of the sterotypes about us, are wrong. They just are.

[Puckstop31]

The yearly deer hunt has already started in Indiana. They close all of
the State Parks for a few days & start shooting. No markmanship test is
required, only a hunting licence. I wonder how many are just wounded and
left to bleed out somewhere in the brush?

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/25682723/detail.html

There is a LOT more to a humane kill than simple marksmanship. Even an perfect "double lung" shot does not guarantee recovery. Its a sad aspect of hunting. ANY hunter who does not feel horrible for not finding an animal they shoot, is not a true hunter who does it out of respect for the wild.

FWIW, any broadside shot in the torso, using modern hunting rifle ammo, should result in a relativley humane kill.

I don't know about IN, but in PA... When they do these "cull" hunts, they require a marksmanship test. Also, FWIW, I personally would not participate in such a hunt. Yes, it is required to be done. This kind of control is better than starvation or CWD... But its not a "hunt". Big difference between a "cull" and hunting.

[Karen]

Not enough hunters around to hunt them anymore. The hunters that are hunting are going after trophy bucks for the racks. This year they can only shoot 10 point bucks & up as far a bucks go. There is bow, muzzle, & shot gun season besides. Our state is second in deer population with all the corn & bean fields for them to feast on. The coyotes kill a lot of the fawns in the spring around here but there are still a lot of deer.

That's why the best solution - were there not human beings with pets around - would be to reintroduce the grey wolves. A wolf, especially in a pack can take down an adult deer, a coyote just cannot, so they have limited effectiveness as population control.

[Bonny]

There is a problem with the wolves though. Wolves kill to eat, wolves kill to teach their young how to hunt, wolves kill for recreation. Out West outfitters are having to deal with the wolves brought into Yellowstone. Mainly the elk & mule deer population is suffering. The wolves chase the elk kill the young for all of the above. The cows slip their calves from being chased. There are to many packs & it is out of control. It is like farmers here dealing with coyotes killing calves. I have seen sickly deer over the last couple of years so maybe that will be the thing to thin them out?

[Karen]

That's why I said "were there not human beings" ...

[Bonny]

Thats the problem. There are humans everywhere. The only place I know of where it isn't so populated would be up above the Arctic Circle, Siberia, Northwest Territories.

[Karen]

Thats the problem. There are humans everywhere. The only place I know of where it isn't so populated would be up above the Arctic Circle, Siberia, Northwest Territories.

Which is why the "deer population problem" is really a human problem. Human beings need to accept responsibility and come up with a solution. If that means permitting hunting, and forbidding people from feeding the wild deer, some people will be upset by that, but will have to learn to adjust.

[Twisterdog]

There is a problem with the wolves though. Wolves kill to eat, wolves kill to teach their young how to hunt, wolves kill for recreation. Out West outfitters are having to deal with the wolves brought into Yellowstone. Mainly the elk & mule deer population is suffering. The wolves chase the elk kill the young for all of the above. The cows slip their calves from being chased. There are to many packs & it is out of control. It is like farmers here dealing with coyotes killing calves. I have seen sickly deer over the last couple of years so maybe that will be the thing to thin them out?

With all due respect, that's not true at all. As a Wyoming resident, where 90% of release-based wolf packs reside, I could provide facts to refute every point you made, but that's not the topic of this thread, so I won't hijack. I have no idea where you got this information, but it's one-sided, exaggarated rhetoric.

[Bonny]

With all due respect, that's not true at all. As a Wyoming resident, where 90% of release-based wolf packs reside, I could provide facts to refute every point you made, but that's not the topic of this thread, so I won't hijack. I have no idea where you got this information, but it's one-sided, exaggarated rhetoric.

I know outfitters in Dubois, & Cody that will tell you differently along with Salmon, Idaho your next door neighbor. I have seen wolves in action. A huge wolf chased a young elk right through our camp & the wolf didn't bat an eye. I heard & saw the fear of the baby elk while it was being chased down. There have been documentaries about the wolfs of Yellowstone & ranchers trying to make a living while their livestock are being killed by wolves. There is a saying out in the Yellowstone area shot & shovel.

[Karen]

Bonny, you keep dragging this thread into an anti-wolf thing. That's not what the thread is about. It is about the deer overpopulation problem. If you want so badly to debate wolves, there are other places on the Internet to do that. Not here, not this thread. I only mentioned their near extinction as one of the reasons for the deer overpopulation problem.

[Twisterdog]

I know outfitters in Dubois, & Cody that will tell you differently along with Salmon, Idaho your next door neighbor. I have seen wolves in action. A huge wolf chased a young elk right through our camp & the wolf didn't bat an eye. I heard & saw the fear of the baby elk while it was being chased down. There have been documentaries about the wolfs of Yellowstone & ranchers trying to make a living while their livestock are being killed by wolves. There is a saying out in the Yellowstone area shot & shovel.

Oh, I'm sure outfitters WILL tell you that. Doesn't make it a scientific fact. And I'm sure an elk DID chase a baby elk, and that it WAS afraid. Elk are wolves natural prey, of course they kill and eat them. Elk and wolves co-existed in a natural, balanced eco system long before humans showed up here. Wolves aren't the problem, people are.

There is always more than one side to a story, any story. There are plenty of elk and deer in Wyoming, and more than enough cows ... for which ranchers are compensated NICELY for, if one is even suspected of being a wolf kill. Not proven, just suspected. Cows are not a native species, they were put on our public lands because it's a cheap way for ranchers to feed them. Wolves are a native species, in a wilderness area ... but now they are a problem, because of someone's cows? Hmmmm ..... But let's not let the facts confuse us.