Posted on 11/26/2006 11:05:49 AM PST by SJackson
Back in 2002 when chronic wasting disease was discovered among deer in Wisconsin, a deafening clatter arose. It was the public wailing and blubbering by grown men over the tragedy of deer hunting being endangered.
I remember thinking at the time that being wiped out by a deadly brain disease couldn't be any picnic in the woods for the deer either.
Besides, there was something twisted about expressing concern for the health of Wisconsin's deer population out of a fear there might not be enough around for hunters to blow away at Thanksgiving time. Well, the good news is the deer herd this year is estimated to be among the largest in modern history, nearly 1.7 million animals.
So you may wonder why hunters aren't tossing their blaze-orange caps into the air, firing off their guns and shouting: "We won! We won! Hunting is saved!"
AP Photo/Daily Herald, Butch McCartney Hunters register their deer at the Sunset Country Store in Easton, Wis., on Nov. 18. Because, clearly, the deer are the ones who are winning.
The deer are surviving their health crisis and thriving. Deer hunters, not so much.
To the state Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin's ever-growing deer population turns out to be very bad news indeed.
That's because the DNR spent more than $32 million on a scorched-earth policy to attempt to eliminate every living deer in areas where chronic wasting disease was found.
And, guess what? The number of deer in those areas has actually increased from 26.4 deer per square mile to 38.3 deer.
Golly, when we entrust wildlife management in this state to a pack of yahoos who go up north to drink beer, play poker and talk about women's body parts, how could we possibly go wrong?
The truth is the herds in the woods that have been thinning recently are those once thundering herds of hunters.
Not very long ago, outdoor writers would routinely refer to more than 750,000 hunters taking to the woods every year. This season, right up until opening day there was a real question of whether licenses would even crack 600,000.
That was what was behind the spectacularly dumb idea in the Legislature earlier this year to attempt to lower the hunting age in the state from 12 to 8 years old.
As hunters saw their ranks and potentially their political power diminishing in the state, they were desperate to do anything to try to swell their numbers. That included sending 8-year-olds scampering into the woods with high-powered, deadly weapons as big as they were.
Such idiotic ideas, which also included the vote by hunters in favor of a hunting season for shooting kitty cats, have only further estranged those in Wisconsin who are a little further evolved from their more embarrassing cousins.
What hunters never appear to realize is that their real opponents in this state aren't radical, tree-hugging PETA members. They are conservative, suburban and exurban families who don't want to have to paint "KID" on their children before sending them outside.
As farmland and other vast, open areas of the state are sold off to real estate developers, it doesn't just reduce the old hunting grounds. The human tolerance for free-fire zones is also greatly reduced.
The caricature of a blaze-orange-clad galoot crashing through the brush firing away at anything that moves is funny until he ends up in somebody's kitchen.
The handwriting has been on the wall for some time. Back in 2004, a study by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and other pro-hunting groups found that for every 100 hunters who stopped hunting because they stopped breathing, developed crippling arthritis of the trigger finger, etc. only 53 new hunters replaced them.
These kids today! All they want to do is sit around playing video games where they pretend to blow away their little friends. But can you get one of them to get up off that couch to go out to really kill something? No way.
At the rate we are losing hunters, it's just a matter of time before we have to worry about extinction. And do you hear anybody expressing concern over the loss of this valuable species?
Who is going to keep alive the rich cultural traditions of deer hunters? It's hard enough to remember the rules of some of those drinking games the next day.
It's obvious the DNR can no longer count on deer hunters to lay waste to deer in the blood bath numbers of old. State officials are already talking about alternative measures.
If you thought deer hunting stirred controversy around the state, wait until the DNR starts strafing Wisconsin from helicopters or hiring professional killers who look like Jack Palance.
It might even be enough to make us miss guys named Clem swarming through the woods hell-bent on practicing recreational animal decimation. But maybe not.
If you'd like to be on or off this outdoors list, largely rural midwestern issues, please FR mail me. And ping me is you see articles of interest.
This is the most limp-wristed article on the subject of hunting I've ever seen.
No kidding, Capital times, Madison's lefty paper.
Oh and Joel McNally is a flaming liberal.
Can someone hand Mr. McNally the Midol, please?
Perhaps they are focused on the Hmong deer hunter population instead? /snicker
Joel McNally simply engaged in a string of ad hominem attacks against people who also like to hunt deer. His technique is pathetic and sophomoric.
~ Blue Jays ~
One of his best
Wis.DNR and Local Govt. are major reasons why people dont
enjoy hunting here:
Regulations are written to ensnare hunters with costly fines for minor infractions.
DNR Wardens are unfriendly and overpaid,the DNR can actually enter private property without a warrant, technically they could kick your door down for 1 too many bluegills in your cooler.
Having a major nut for a govenor who continually raises fees
for liscenses doesnt help either.
I have quit deer hunting. I don't enjoy the experience as much as I used to. I get much colder much quicker anymore. I also have grown tired of eating venison. I don't take any game I don't intent to eat.
Wild Turkeys on the other hand. The weather is warm and the meat is better than what I had on Thursday. They are also much more challenging to hunt. I get a little concerned occasionally about sitting on the ground in full camo and making sounds like a turkey. :)
Nor to my knowledge do they need probably cause. I've had the experience.
LOL! Do you think he knows how cozy the DNR is with the Doyle Administration? Oh, let's just leave that FACT out of the equasion because as we all know, the Dimowits in this state have everything under control. No worries!
How long do you think it'll take the new 'Rat leadership in our Assembly to introduce gun ban legislation come January?
5...4...3...2...
The anti gun nuts have accomplished more by attrition than by any legislation.
Another generation or two and the PETA @$$holes will do a 180 and form an anti animal coalition ... the friggin' world is just plain nuts.
We had about ten wild turkeys in our front yard, last time we were at our cabin. Not to hard to hunt, under the right circumstances.
Anyone who has ever hit a deer in a car would tell you the same thing.
Madison hasn't had a RIGHT newspaper since they started printing them in the same building. The Wisconsin State Journal has been circling the bowl since the 70s.
Bingo.
Make it hard enough to hunt and pretty soon people quit fighting the battle.
How right you are. ;)
As for shooting feral cats, It wasn't a special hunting season that was proposed either, it was simply a matter of having these disease carrying nuisances being placed on the rodent list so they could be legally shot at any time of the year.
As for his thoughts on why the number of hunters are diminishing, it isn't because of rural conservatives being ticked off at hunters, it's simply because fewer and fewer youth are taking up the sport, possibly due to the anti-hunting brainwashing they get from activist teachers in school.
In fact, rural conservatives are buying these properties simply because they want to ensure they have a place to hunt for themselves, due to more and more public lands being closed to hunting because of pressure from animal rights and anti- hunting activists.
One way or another, the deer population problem will have to be dealt with. All sorts of measures, from speed limit reductions to keep dumb anti- hunting activists from killing themselves when they hit them, to increased insurance rates for those who can't seem to avoid hitting them every year, to deer fences, deer repelling devices and other control methods will be used, and the cost will come out of their pockets.
Hunters used to control these populations for free. As taxes continue to climb, they'll be begging for hunters. Already, a single hunter can harvest 6 deer in some states. That's how desperate they are to control the population, which is only going to double in the next year or two.
Personally, I don't care how high the deer population gets, I don't care how much they become, especially to these anti- hunting vegan nerds, who will be complaining every time a herd of deer come and eat their entire organic garden they worked so hard on. It will just make hunting all the easier. I'll just sit on my deck and wait till they come in the yard.
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