This article hit pretty close to home with me as I used to be an avid deer hunter. I agree with this article that "people" and I take that as meaning the Game and Wildlife Departments and politicians need to stop managing the deer. I think that it is very arrogant to think that politicians can "manage" wildlife. In my home state of South Dakota, I cannot get a license to hunt deer on my parent's property. I went toe to toe with some politicians and the Game Fish and Parks to try to make it legal for someone that lives out of state to hunt deer in South Dakota and their response was that it is not fair to "city hunters" that don't own property. So is managing deer about wildlife at all? Or is it about making sure the hunters that spend the most money have an opportunity to get a deer license? In my opinion it is all about the money. I would be curious to see if the Bill Gates Foundation happened to take an interest in warblers. I would also be curious if some corporations started to think that warblers were important and some money was sent the politicians way on what would happen with the deer problem.
I think the article was well written, but I also think the writer left out some important things like I mentioned above. One of the number ones rules when it comes to an argument like this is to ask "where is the money at?". I don't see a great deal of people spending money on warblers. I do think a good solution would be to add $5.00 to the cost of every deer license and put that money into the purchase and care of new warbler habitat.
I agree with you fully, Jay. But the only problem therein is that there are less and less hunters because of the economy. Nobody can afford to go hunting for fun anymore other than the wealthy or those who set aside for it. I have a friend who is an avid bow-hunter, and he does it regularly I believe. I myself find sport hunting... distasteful, but to each his own. I agree with you on that the government, who can't even manage themselves, should not be trying to "manage" nature. That's exactly how situations like this happen in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAs an animal sciences major I can assure you it's all about the money. If it were truly about preserving nature then nature could handle itself. The problems are fear and greed. Fear of the natural predators that keep the deer population in-check and greed of the politicians who demand to have everything their way. They say they're "managing" wildlife but they can't even manage the economy, which should be their first priority. Nature has adapted and grown to be able to handle itself without human interferance, so we as humans need to just back off and let nature take it's course. In cases such as these where there is massive over-population of one species causing problems for a large area then measures should be taken, but then once the issue is resolved people need to make sure not to unbalance it again. So all-in-all I agree whole-heartedly Jay.
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