New York: Panel proposes more hunting on public land to combat deer populations
The region's record high deer population is damaging forests and hurting the health of the animals themselves, according to a new Westchester County study. So, what's the best way to bring the deer population under control? More hunting on public land to reduce their numbers, the three year analysis concludes.
They're not kidding, either. Two statistics the article didn't mention will tell the hunters here all they need to know about the problem.
1. Given the ecology and human population density, the average area required to support one healthy deer is 15 acres. We have an average of 10 to 12 deer per acre.
2. The average weight of mature bucks taken by hunters in my county is 150 pounds. In rural western New York State, tha average weight of yearlings taken by hunters is 180 pounds.
If we are both going to save the local ecology and insure healthy deer, what's needed in this county is serious culling of the deer herd. Decimation in the literal sense would not make a serious dent in the problem. We need what amounts to deer extermination. No "one buck and two does" tags. We need "no bag limit," and we need it for several years. And ideally, what we need is an expanded season, and firearms as well as bows allowed for hunting on public lands.
Trouble is, even with the recommendations of that panel on record, the Bambi-lovers are going to stop the county from doing what has to be done to save the environment and make sure we have a healthy deer herd that is not starving to death. And starving they are; when you have deer that gain 30 pounds in a month once the acorns fall out of the oaks, you know you have a serious problem. But of course these same Bambi-lovers are the ones who become most vocal in demanding something be done when Bambi eats up all their expensive landscaping. They just don't find the only practical solution politically correct.
