Hunting a Solution to the Bambi Boom

0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 3, 2000 | by Sean Paige

As a result of these and other statistics, state officials are beginning to take note -- and action. This spring, the rising toll was the subject of a deer-crash conference in Milwaukee, which drew participants from surrounding states and Canada and included a keynote speech by Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson.

In addition to increasing public awareness through educational outreach, conferees concluded that other options worth exploring are encouraging owners to open up more of their land to hunting and calling on state fish and game agencies to be more innovative. Consensus also was reached on another important but contentious point, according to Brent Haglund, whose Sand County Foundation cosponsored the event -- that the best near-term solution for bringing deer herds under control is increased "harvesting" by hunters.

Perhaps recognizing that reality, Wisconsin's DNR is recommending that the state sharply increase the number of so-called Zone-T hunts, which are conducted separately from, but around the same time as, the traditional nine-day rifle season on deer, each November, as a way of increasing the annual hunter's harvest.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin's white-tailed deer not only are a deadly hazard for motorists but are taking a toll on other animals and especially plants. Uncontrolled deer herds are threatening many of the state's native botanical species -- especially flowers such as orchids and lilies and eastern hemlock and white cedar trees, University of Wisconsin-Madison botanist Don Waller told the Wisconsin Conservation Congress in February. The herds need to be more aggressively managed for the good of the greater ecosystem, Waller said.

Overbrowsing by herds, which in some cases have reached population densities of 20 to 30 animals per square mile (two to four times what they were when Europeans first settled the area, he said), also has reduced vegetation required for the well-being of other creatures, Waller says, including songbirds and butterflies.

Though his solutions may not sit well with animal-rights activists, Waller told the congress that hunting remains the most effective short-term solution to the Bambi boom, which if left unchecked could result in "catastrophic disintegration" of certain biotic communities. "This is a radical notion to some people" Waller said of his advocacy for increased hunting. "But some [land] managers, particularly foresters and wildlife biologists, are starting to listen to the message."

As it turns out, motorists, hunters and animal-rights advocates aren't the only stakeholders embroiled in the debate about how to cope with the nation's burgeoning deer. Farmers also have felt the effects of the ravenous herds, as have tree growers, who say the deer prevent many of the most valuable trees in young forests from maturing.

Although it may be most acute in the Midwest and the Great Lakes region, many other states are experiencing a dramatic upsurge in the number of deer/car collisions. Record deer populations are being recorded across much of the South. In Georgia there were more than 49,000 deer/vehicle collisions in 1996, even after 396,789 had been bagged by hunters. And nearly 11 percent of registered vehicles in Georgia's Clay County had been involved in deer/car collisions in 1998.