Controlling the deer population

Besides cougar, the other major predator of deer was wolf. The reintroduction of wolves does not pose a threat to humans. And even in California, there are a few cougar attacks but there are 35 million people in the state. In the East, population density may make the cougar a bigger problem. But wolves, no.

Lacking the natural predator, it would be logical to increase human predation on deer to manage herds. The sad thing is that in many areas in fact there are not more deer as it seems, but simply less habitat, the humans having continued to spread and spread...

Much of the Plains could be returned to bison. These would also have to be harvested by humans, as well as by wolves. All of our ancestors hunted these and other species, but they had respect for the prey. The animal and its spirit and the Creator were thanked for the give-away which enabled human survival.

While there are many aspects of hunting these days which are objectionable on ecological and moral grounds, when the object is meat, can this be seen as any worse than the feedlot-and-slaughterhouse industry which provides most of the meat in the USA?

 

Yeah thats why im vegan

 

You see this is what happens when you start playing around with the food chain. You hunt away all the predators, then you have an overpopulation of prey. You hunt the prey to near extinction and then place a moratorium on hunting, then you have overpopulation, starvation, crop destruction, etc. You reintroduce predators into the environment and then you have cougars attacking old people, grizzlies migrating south and snacking on campers, wolves carrying off domestic pets because they're easier than hunting the overpopulated deer.

And they say we've fucked the earth with climate changes...

I long for the days when you just went out and clubbed something and brought it home for dinner.

 

Yes and this points to our current dilemma...now that it's been thoroughly thrown off balance, how do we address it? As you point out, any attempt to manipulate the environment risks even worse effects. Yet if leave things as they are, we're on a path to destruction. For many areas, where possible, I think perhaps the best plan for environmental management would be to leave it alone. Watch what happens when nature is left alone.

Of course, if there is no base population from which to rebuild each species, the thing will remain off balance. Evolution corrects these imbalances, but evolution acts slowly from our perspective.

I would still support a plan to have all of the now unfarmed land of the Plains turned back to bison habitat. Reintroduce wolves and humans as the predators. Leave the prairie dogs alone. This would have to result in better conditions in the Plains than exist currently.

 

Have at it. Although it violates every state's hunting laws that I'm aware of.

Not to mention that I don't think you'd be very successful if you tried to club a deer. I hear that baby seals are pretty easy to club. And tasty.

 

Why bother killing off the deer? Just stop driving your stinking car and problem solved!
Deer population is no more out of control, then the human population is out of control.

 

I'm not biting on that one...

 

I'm troubled by the thought of acres and acres devoted to growing corn solely
to produce eathonol to burn in cars. Feed the hungry or let it revert to nature.

 

I read this week that so much corn is being used to produce ethanol that the price of table corn is so high that the average family in Mexico can't afford tortillas or masa (corn flour).

I know, it sounds like a bad joke but it's true.