Have you explored what happens to the deer population if they are not harvested? Starvation, disease and not to mention how many will die/injured by being hit by automobiles.

 

I am aware of that, but you pose this as a one-factor formula, when in fact this is a global issue with multiple balancing factors:

 

Factors leading to crop depredation by ungulates as shown in

these studies are mainly three-fold. Local overabundance of

species, seasonal dips in forage quality within protected areas

and the lure of better forage on the margins, changes in land

use patterns, encroachments and species habitat loss.

 

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/ungulate.pdf

 

A nice read about the problem from the other side of the globe.

 

I have stated before, although I don't like hunting, and I can't do it, I fully support the rights of others to hunt in a responsible and humane way. However, I will always be the advocate for the "balanced approach" of wildlife and farm management. And I will make a statement, this is evidence of a continuing growing human population, and one of the conflicts that arises. If one doesn't care about the natural earth that we inherited, then there is no conflict in one's mind. If one does care, then one will take the steps necessary before it is too late to avoid the impending tragedy and our destruction of this planet we were given.

A few makes sense. However, I see right out my door the farmer mentality that all gone would be great. I don't respect that mentality whatsover. Yes, I understand the crop loss, but it comes with the "turf".

When he bought that farm, there were no deer in Pendleton County. They were reintroduced in the mid 1960's. So actually, the deer came after the turf. To his credit, he doesn't just go out and kill them when he see's them, which he could legally do. He depends on guys like me that are going to take a couple deer, and use the meat. So in reality, hunting keeps deer from being killed and discarded, due to their crop damage. On any given night, there will be 30 does eating in his soybeans. if half of them have a fawn that survives, that's 45 next year, and so on. He has about 400 acres of beans in river bottoms, so he can hold a lot of deer, but go broke farming if they are not controlled.

When he bought that farm, there were no deer in Pendleton County. They were reintroduced in the mid 1960's. So actually, the deer came after the turf. To his credit, he doesn't just go out and kill them when he see's them, which he could legally do. He depends on guys like me that are going to take a couple deer, and use the meat. So in reality, hunting keeps deer from being killed and discarded, due to their crop damage. On any given night, there will be 30 does eating in his soybeans. if half of them have a fawn that survives, that's 45 next year, and so on. He has about 400 acres of beans in river bottoms, so he can hold a lot of deer, but go broke farming if they are not controlled.

 

Agreed....better than eradicated. And by your statement, it was acknowledged that previously the deer population WAS eradicated most likely due to a lack of a cooperative effort in zoning, wildlife conservation and farming.

Hunting controls deer overpopulation (Chatham Journal)

 

Deer Hunting: An Effective Management Tool - Wildlife and Heritage Service - Maryland Department of Natural Resources

 

Populations

Agreed....better than eradicated. And by your statement, it was acknowledged that previously the deer population WAS eradicated most likely due to a lack of a cooperative effort in zoning, wildlife conservation and farming.

I can tell you from farming experience, I can't imagine the sheer difficulty in eradicating the deer population with conventional firearms. The second year we owned our largest farm, we harvested 31 does. And we didn't remotely dent the population. We put 2 in the freezer, gave roughly 10 away, and that was when you could donate to hunters for the hungry without limit, which is where the rest went.

 

Somebody needs to do something about these guys!

I can tell you from farming experience, I can't imagine the sheer difficulty in eradicating the deer population with conventional firearms. The second year we owned our largest farm, we harvested 31 does. And we didn't remotely dent the population. We put 2 in the freezer, gave roughly 10 away, and that was when you could donate to hunters for the hungry without limit, which is where the rest went.

 

As long as it is managed and their is a cooperative between farming and natural resource management it is a necessary tool. Business naturally motivates many if not all farmers, and to too many, this driving force would and has before lead to eradication of populations and even species.

As long as it is managed and their is a cooperative between farming and natural resource management it is a necessary tool. Business naturally motivates many if not all farmers, and to too many, this driving force would and has before lead to eradication of populations and even species.

I don't disagree. But has there been species that have been taken out by farmers because of the issues with crop/livestock depletion? I ask out of ignorance.

Fort Wright allows deer hunting

 

 

So anyone want to set up right there between snappy tomato and walmart?

I don't disagree. But has there been species that have been taken out by farmers because of the issues with crop/livestock depletion? I ask out of ignorance.

Crop depletion is one of the huge reasons the Carolina Parakeet was wiped out.

Crop depletion is one of the huge reasons the Carolina Parakeet was wiped out.

 

I've never heard of that bird. Beautiful. But the leading authority on all things internet, wikipedia (LOL) says otherwise about it's extinction. Forgive me for chuckling when I read that they were poisonous to eat and some cats croaked trying. (mean, I know)

 

[h=3]Reasons for extinction[edit][/h]

Specimen in Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

 

 

The evidence is rather conclusive that extinction of the Carolina parakeet was by anthropogenic activity, through a variety of means. Chief among them is deforestation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hunting played a significant role, both for their colorful feathers used to adorn women's hats and to reduce predation on southern crops. This was partially offset by recognition of their value in controlling invasive cockleburs. Minor roles were played by capture for the pet trade and, it was hypothesized, by the introduction for crop pollination of European honeybees that competed for nest sites.

A factor that exacerbated their decline to extinction was the unfortunate flocking behavior that led them to return to the vicinity of dead and dying birds (e.g., birds downed by hunting), enabling wholesale slaughter.

The final extinction of the species in the early years of the 20th century is somewhat of a mystery, as it happened so rapidly. Vigorous flocks with many juveniles and reproducing pairs were noted as late as 1896, and the birds were long-lived in captivity, but they had virtually disappeared by 1904. Sufficient nest sites remained intact, so deforestation was not the final cause. American ornithologist Noel F. Snyder ^[3] speculates that the most likely cause seems to be that the birds succumbed to poultry disease, this in spite of the fact that no recent or historical records exist of New World parrot populations being afflicted by domestic poultry diseases. The modern poultry scourge Newcastle disease was not detected until 1926 in Indonesia, and only a subacute form of it was reported in the United States in 1938.

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - I know it's not as accurate as Wiki, but...

 

Outside of the breeding season the parakeet formed large, noisy flocks that fed on cultivated fruit, tore apart apples to get at the seeds, and ate corn and other grain crops. It was therefore considered a serious agricultural pest and was slaughtered in huge numbers by wrathful farmers. This killing, combined with forest destruction throughout the bird's range, and hunting for its bright feathers to be used in the millinery trade, caused the Carolina Parakeet to begin declining in the 1800s. The bird was rarely reported outside Florida after 1860, and was considered extinct by the 1920s.

 

All About Birds : Carolina Parakeet

It sounds like the big hats the chicks wore contributed to it's demise also. Really a pretty bird.

It sounds like the big hats the chicks wore contributed to it's demise also. Really a pretty bird.

Don't disagree at all. It was definitely hunted for other reasons, but it's perceived threat to crops was a big one.

It sounds like the big hats the chicks wore contributed to it's demise also. Really a pretty bird.

Agree, it would have been super cool to have wild parrots here in KY.

 

I have read that KY does have a species of non-native parrot that has established breeding populations -- the name escapes me. I have never saw one though.