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News: Ohio Plans to Reduce Deer Herd
Ohio Aims At Major Deer-Herd Reduction
From The Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio's deer herd swelled to an estimated 675,000 last summer, and state officials say that's enough.
"No later than two years from now, we plan on effectively stopping the growth of the deer population," said Dave Risley, executive administrator of wildlife management and research for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
In fact, the goal is to reduce the herd considerably.
"We're going to come up with a new (population) target level," Risley said. "It probably isn't going to be 250,000. That's not realistic. But it definitely won't be 700,000."
Their primary management tool will be increased doe permits.
More Headlines:
Utah Begins Emergency Feeding For Snowed-In Deer (with pics)
North Dakota Remains CWD-Free
Sharpshooters Take Aim at Minnesota Deer
Wisconsin Boasts Record Bow Kill
Herd reduction should be multi-faceted. I believe urban bowhunting would be a big help in herd reduction.
A neighboring municipality annexed 1600 acres of woodland and field many years ago as part of an economic development strategy. Hunting on this land has not been permitted since the annexation and the land remains largely undeveloped. Nearly 10 years later, folks in town wonder why they have an urban deer problem.
Legislation to allow limited bowhunting within certain zones has been suggested. The city leaders (about 2 dozen politicians and administrators) won't hear of it. Not a single one of them hunts - only one (a retired cop) owns a firearm.
While they seem incapable of understanding the nexus between land that hasn't been hunted in 10 years and the abundant deer population in town, I suspect it has more to do with an irrational fear or misunderstanding of hunters and hunting.
Ohio DNR could do wonders with hunter education for urban elected officials.
Posted by: jack | February 08, 2008 at 09:56 AM
PA started the same plan a while back. We've watched the urban deer populations stay relatively untouched, while the mountains and farmlands were raped and pillaged. Moderation is the key. If you try to cut your deer population significantly in a short window, you will definitely fu#k it up.
Posted by: John D | February 08, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Ohio has a one buck rule and a very short gun season. Perhaps opening the gun season for a longer period and selling doe permits cheaply would help to get the deer number in check.
I agree that the urban population of deer need to be culled as well since they are normally very overpopulated due to lack of natural predators and small landowners not allowing hunting of any type.
It wouldn't surprise me to see "sharpshooters" brought into these areas for a fee instead of allowing bowhunters to pay for the privlege of culling the excess deer.
Jim
Posted by: jstreet | February 08, 2008 at 03:48 PM
look at montgomery county md we do that sharpshooters thing and it still isnt working that good
Posted by: joeg | February 08, 2008 at 09:28 PM
This, to me, seems to be a pretty drastic number. If the herd needs to be thinned that drastically, shouldn't something have already been done? Why was the herd allowed to get into this predicament?
I'm seeing the same thing beginning to develope in my state. They finally cut the buck limit by one and added another doe, but our gun season is still only "2 weeks"!
C'mon, don't they realize that a longer rifle season gives that many more people the opportunity to get out and hunt!
This last season, ('07) due to circumstances beyond my control, I was only able to hunt 1 or 2 days. By the time I had an opportunity to hunt, the season was nearly over. Had the season been at least a month, who knows?
Let the hunters control the deer numbers before high dollar "sharp shooters" have to be called in!
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | February 09, 2008 at 08:55 AM
There seems to be a growing deer population over many states. I hunt in Texas and have noticed more deer where I hunt in East Texas, more deer where I live in Central Texas, and reports of more deer over all parts of Texas. This in a state where the deer season is measured in months rather than days. Worst still is that the wildlife biologists and/or game managers of the state may not understand or recognize the growing problem with the deer population. For example, where I hunt in East Texas (public land on National Forests) I have drawn several doe permits over the past few years, but this year, the Forest Service only gave out doe permits in certain managed areas. Did I see larger doe herds--yes! I've hunted the same areas for years, and this season I saw for the first time doe groups of 10 and 12 animals. My thoughts on the stand--"Why didn't the Forest Service issue permits this year?" I love to see lots of deer while I am spending hours on the stands, but, my gut feeling is that we now have too many deer for the environment, and greater harvests need to occur.
Posted by: Jon R | February 10, 2008 at 08:28 PM
Please send them to Pennsylvania we need them.
Posted by: Big Mike | April 06, 2008 at 05:25 PM
i am a wildlife control officer on the east side of Cleveland. Never have i seen a deer in the wild that could compare with the monster bucks i see routinely in the city that i mainly work in. This entire area doesnt allow hunting of any sort and i unfortunatly have a barn wall full of beautifull european mounts.
Posted by: john | May 14, 2008 at 08:15 PM