Posted on 12/08/2005 9:01:58 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
Unchecked by predators, deer populations are exploding in a way that is profoundly unnatural and that is destroying the ecosystem in many parts of the country. According to Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times, we should bring back hunting and reestablish a balance in the natural world.
In a wilderness area, there might be 10 deer per square mile, but in parts of New Jersey, there are up to 200 per square mile. The exploding deer populations are harming humans, says Kristof:
More Americans are killed by deer each year than by any other large American mammal, including bears, cougars and wolves. A study for the insurance industry estimated that deer kill 150 people a year in car crashes nationwide and cause $1 billion in damages. Ticks and Lyme disease, a more indirect effect from deer, also kill humans. Agreeing on a solution for controlling deer populations and protecting humans has proven difficult. These days, among the university-educated crowd in the cities, hunting is viewed as barbaric. Towns in New York and New Jersey are talking about using birth control to keep deer populations down, although deer contraception has not been very successful. Meanwhile, some towns are paying big bucks, taking out contracts on deer through discreet private companies.
Kristof says this is ridiculous. We have an environmental imbalance caused in part by the decline of hunting, he says. Humans first wiped out certain predators -- like wolves and cougars -- but then expected their own role as predators to sustain a rough ecological balance.
The humane and green solution, says Kristof, is to encourage hunting, and many environmentalists agree. Deer are not pets, and many find hunting them is preferable to letting deer die of hunger and disease. Furthermore, hunting connects people with the outdoors and creates a broader constituency for wilderness preservation.
For text: Nicholas D. Kristof, "For Environmental Balance, Pick Up a Rifle," New York Times, December 4, 2005.
For text (subscription required):
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/opinion/04kristof.html?hp&oref=login
For more on Environment:
http://eteam.ncpa.org/issues/?c=wildlife-issues
If we only slaughtered male cattle and hogs the nation would be overrun by those animals.
I heard several years ago that a sizable amount of Chesnut logs had been found submerged in a stream in West Virignia.
I'll reply to that comment later -- right now I've committed the next three or so hours to cartoons.
Square Don squishy pants ain't really that bad, although kid's act like I'm crazy when I call him that:)
I am johnny chestnut seed in East Tennessee. I have recruited volunteers to plant All American Chestnut seedlings here abouts.
I work with the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation that operates out of Va Tech in Blacksburg.
There website is http://ipm.ppws.vt.edu/griffin/accf.html.
(Much of the web work is mine. I set up the original site years ago. Looks like it needs some work)
As in all things there is disagreement. The ACF is the work of one of Dr Griffins students. Dr Griffin and his wife and many other academics and volunteers are at ACCF in Blacksburg.
ACF believes the solution to reestablishing American Chestnuts is to cross breed with blight resistant asian trees. This is also the method of some at UT Knoxville.
Dr Griffin and ACCF are purists. They have taken seeds from a few blight resistant trees and produced new trees that are again crossed to produce other generations. The goal is to produce a blight resistant variety with all American genes. To accomplish the goal they rely on volunteers like me to plant trees and out of the thousands find the individuals with the best resistance. This strain will be "All American"
So far out of hundreds there are only 50 still growing in my area. Of those, 1 seems to have pretty good resistance.
I would be interested in your report with some more specifics, mountains, ridge, flatland, elevation, size approximate number, do they bloom, have nuts, largest tree diameter at brest height.
Freep mail me if interested.
In my home town (north east NJ), Bow hunters are allowed to hunt deer in the burough. The deer population has denuded nearly every piece of shrubery and cause a serious driving hazard. The last time I went to visit my Pop and Sibs I couldn't believe the ammount of deer, IN TOWN! My early 3 mile stagger (I'm 50) turned into a 3 mile dodge.
Bert,
I think you'll be interested in the old tree stumps and sprouts (small, producing trees too). After finding these burrs and nuts I did some research on the net, and am convinced I have a few American chestnuts here.
However, I am babysitting right now and this four year old is screaming at me to get off here and watch cartoons.
I got your message and will be back to you shortly. I am on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, in the Cumberland mountains near the Tennessee/Kentucky border. I bookmarked your page, and want to say there is a lot of material on the net about chestnuts, but not enough pics for ID purposes.
I have a cup on my desk now, with burrs, shells, and nuts I gathered. I also have an email message in my mailbox from a researcher at (I thought Tenn. Tech, responding to my inquiry about chestnuts).
Gotta go, Sponge Bob is calling.
Me too. I took a doe. With an expensive bullet. My Explorer. It's a funny thing to see the airbags inflated longer than I saw the deer. I didn't even know it was a doe. The ladies that pulled over behind me saw the whole thing told me what it was.
OUCH.... I hope you were okay. I've hit a few deer in the last few years but thank God that I was driving what has been described as a tank...
I prefer to take my bounty with a .308... not a late model 4x4.
LOL...
Mike
Old growth forests are not very productive. Successive growth is good for most wildlife, game and non-game. That's why species such as grouse, quail, and others are in trouble today.
And the DON'T CUT TREES crowd have no clue, they mostly save wildlife from their cozy little suburban homes, but -- by gosh, send a check to an organization that saves old growth forests, and feel better about yourself, you've saved something.
And I would say, "You're absolutely right!"
Sounds like one of those 'kid with a bb gun' stories... True?
You had good reason to be thankful to Jesus. I can relate. When driving to and from one of our daughter's homes, I am in deer-alert mode.
Earlier this year on the way to dinner there, our car and hundreds of others came to a quick halt. At first, no one knew the cause, but as the time went on, we left our cars and interacted with those who were also stuck.
Emergency vehicles made their way past us as we pulled as far to the right as possible.
Eventually, way up the road ahead of us, a helicopter landed in the middle of the street.
The cause? A deer had run in front of a motorcycle. The driver was airlifted away. Til this day I don't know how he fared; all I could do was pray for him.
All of us spent at least an hour on that road, but in conscience, who could complain when someone else was injured?
Is it possible for you to move away from where "the deer and the antelopes play"? Then, maybe the pluses outweigh the minuses. One of my daughters lives in deer country in Pennsylvania. So far, so good. None have run into her on the road, though they do bound through their yard at times.
As you are from Marin County, I'd like to ask you a question.
"Is Marin County, for the most part, known to be a liberal area?" From anything I've read, that is how it is described.
While I know very well that human beings (at least most of us) rank above the lower animal species, we have displaced so many animals with our housing projects, for example. Then we freak out if we see them on OUR property. Do you know what I mean?
This may have nothing to do with the growth of the deer population, but they do cross busy highways to get from one "forest" area to another.
Killing them for the fun of it bothers me; I get no joy from killing anything, even a plant.
Oops. I confess. My position regarding insects is that they have no rights to live in my house. I will exterminate them, just as I will smack a mosquito dead when it lands on my skin.
Zapping a mosquito, a yellow jacket, or a wasp occurs without second thougts. Killing SOME insects causes momentary sorrow.
"Killing them for the fun of it bothers me; I get no joy from killing anything, even a plant."
OK, Ingrid, don't walk on the grass.
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