by Jim Beers
The following article is from today’s St. Paul (MN) newspaper. The purposely confusing obfuscations and the illusion of solving the decline in the deer harvest is worth examining. Both the DNR and the Deer Hunter Organizations feed a compliant media with disinformation that pleases the anti-hunting radicals, anesthetizes the hunters, and creates the illusion of a need for more state revenues to increase deer harvests and more money from hunters for their organizations.
In fact, the same thing that wiped out Minnesota moose hunting is now switching from a moose diet to venison. Those expecting a different result for Minnesota deer and Minnesota deer hunters should ask themselves what do thousands of wolves need to eat to exist, and how many other animals they actually eat AND KILL over a year; and where did the Northern Yellowstone elk herd and Montana and the Lolo elk herd in Idaho go in the last decade? As the wolves in these states increased, they drastically reduced the elk and moose populations. This has and is eliminating big game hunting as intended by the state DNR/F&G’s and their anti-hunting “partners” and employees. When the elk/moose food supply for wolves dwindles they either find new food sources or die. The wolves aren’t dying: they are shifting to venison from winter deer, pregnant does and fawns. Just as they learned how, when and where to kill vulnerable moose; so too are they learning to and killing wintering deer, pregnant does and fawns with the same effect.
I have numbered five sections of the article and my comments follow the article.
Minnesota firearms season deer harvest down
By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press
POSTED: 12/09/2013 01:45:42 PM CST | UPDATED: A DAY AGO
MINNEAPOLIS—Minnesota's firearms deer hunters haven't been as lucky as last year, according to preliminary figures released Monday.
Firearms hunters killed about 148,400 deer from when the season opened Nov. 9 until a late season closed in southeastern Minnesota on Dec. 1, the Department of Natural Resources said.
(I.)Excluding the late season, hunters killed about 144,000 deer during the main season, down 6 percent from 153,000 in 2012. Southeastern hunters took 4,400 deer in the late season, down 600 from the 5,000 last year.
Overall, Minnesota's firearms, muzzleloader and archery hunters have registered 164,500 deer as of last Wednesday. Before the season, the DNR had expected hunter success would be similar to 2012, when they killed about 185,000 deer.
(II.)Steve Merchant, the DNR's wildlife population and regulations manager, said a lower deer population is likely the main reason hunters haven't fared so well, though the weather was a factor, too.
The season opener was windy, while it was rainy and windy the next weekend. Bad weather can limit deer movement, as well as discourage hunters from spending as much time in their stands. And the deer population was already down because of the harsh winter of 2012-13, which led the agency to reduce the number of does hunters could kill in northern Minnesota.
"We were quite conservative in the number of antlerless permits we gave out in the north," Merchant said.
The muzzleloader season remains open through Sunday, while the archery season closes Dec. 31.
What's left of those seasons isn't likely to change the numbers much given the wintry weather that's settled in across the state, Merchant said.
"There's a few people out there and they'll take a few deer, but our numbers aren't going to jump up or anything," he said.
(III,)Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, concurred that the lower deer population is the main factor in the lower harvest. He said success also had a lot to do with the particular area of the state. There have been fewer signs of deer in areas where harvest limits had been set high to bring local populations down, he said. And he said he believes the wolf population is also a factor in northeastern Minnesota.
(IV.)Johnson said he's hearing from hunters that they want the state to produce more deer. He said the DNR is likely to respond to that by reducing the antlerless harvest.
"I think that's where we're going to see it going: a much more conservative harvest until we get the deer population built back up a bit," he said.
Minnesota's late wolf hunting-and-trapping season remains open, too. Hunters and trappers had registered 23 wolves in the northwest zone as of Monday, 16 in the northeast zone and none in the east-central zone, compared with late-season targets of 89, 33 and 10 respectively. The DNR will close each zone individually if the targets are close to being met before the season ends Jan. 31.
"We're not taking a lot of wolves on a daily basis so I think the wolf season will stay open a while yet," Merchant said, but added that hunters and trappers still need to check the DNR's website to make sure.
(V.)This is Minnesota's second wolf season since the animals came off the endangered list. The DNR lowered the overall target to 220 wolves this time for the two-part season. Hunters killed 88 in the early season. Last year's overall target was 400, and the final count of wolves killed was 413.
COMMENTS:
(I.)Excluding the late season, hunters killed about 144,000 deer during the main season, down 6 percent from 153,000 in 2012. Overall, Minnesota's firearms, muzzleloader and archery hunters have registered 164,500 deer as of last Wednesday. Before the season, the DNR had expected hunter success would be similar to 2012, when they killed about 185,000 deer.
Question – How many deer did Minnesota hunters kill in 2012? Was it 153,000 or 185,000? If it is 185,000 and if the most recent count of deer taken is 164,500, the kill is down 12% and not 6%. Since the “general public” doesn’t catch this stuff, the radicals are happy hunting is “on the way out” and the hunters shrug that maybe it really was only bad weather responsible for the decrease. Like moose hunters, deer hunters are headed to the museum thinking it is a field trip and not their final resting place.
(II.)Steve Merchant, the DNR's wildlife population and regulations manager, said a lower deer population is likely the main reason hunters haven't fared so well, though the weather was a factor, too.
The season opener was windy, while it was rainy and windy the next weekend. Bad weather can limit deer movement, as well as discourage hunters from spending as much time in their stands. And the deer population was already down because of the harsh winter of 2012-13, which led the agency to reduce the number of does hunters could kill in northern Minnesota.
Question – The DNR “expert” tells us only “a lower deer population is likely the main reason hunters haven't fared so well”. Not a peep about predation. How does he “know” it wasn’t increasing predation since the DNR “had expected hunter success would be similar to 2012, when they killed about 185,000 deer”? If it was only the tired and worn excuses (minus global warming and ticks) spewed out by the DNR as moose disappeared, ask yourself why the DNR expected “hunter success similar to 2012” even after reducing “the number of does hunters could kill in northern Minnesota.”? This smoke and mirrors gives White House “transparency” a run for its money.
(III,)Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, concurred that the lower deer population is the main factor in the lower harvest. He said success also had a lot to do with the particular area of the state. There have been fewer signs of deer in areas where harvest limits had been set high to bring local populations down, he said. And he said he believes the wolf population is also a factor in northeastern Minnesota.
NOTE: This is an example of a hunter organization (there are many, many more such examples every year) running interference for DNR buddies. Notice that the DNR never mentions wolf predation but this “executive director” does so hunters relax, they have been heard. The DNR stays solid with the radicals and the “director” is buddies with both his deer hunters and his DNR pals. But what does it mean to say he believes “the wolf population is also a factor in northeastern Minnesota.”? What must be done? Who will do it? What does this mean for deer?
(IV.)Johnson said he's hearing from hunters that they want the state to produce more deer. He said the DNR is likely to respond to that by reducing the antlerless harvest.
NOTE: Wow, his hunters want “more deer” and “the DNR is likely to respond to that by reducing the antlerless harvest”. Why didn’t they try that with moose? I think I will write a thank you letter to Governor Dayton for such responsive government. Future deer success can be expected to mirror recent moose success if wolves are not figured into the equation and dealt with forthrightly – if we are to really have “more deer”.
(V.)This is Minnesota's second wolf season since the animals came off the endangered list. The DNR lowered the overall target to 220 wolves this time for the two-part season. Hunters killed 88 in the early season. Last year's overall target was 400, and the final count of wolves killed was 413.
NOTE: Minnesota’s most recent wolf count is 2, 211 (I just love those odd numbers as if the all-but-impossible-to-count wolves were sandhill cranes roosting as a flock on a Platte River sandbar when an aerial photograph is taken and some apprentice biologist sat down with a pin and counted every last one of them in the photo right down to the 211th one!)
For a long list of political reasons, MN, WI, MI, MT, ID, OR, WA et al undercount wolves. This has been true ever since they got into the sack with federal bureaucrats as allies in the wolf wars.
Truth be told, Minnesota has at least 3,000 or more wolves. Last year, Minnesota killed 413 or 13% of their wolves. This year they will kill only 220 or 7 % of their wolves. You can kill 20- 25% of your furbearers, small game or big game every year (as many states do) and you merely stimulate the population by guaranteeing more survive the winter and more reproduction takes place because of less competition and more available food. If you wanted to have “more” deer or moose and you admitted the obvious impact of wolves on deer and moose; you would kill 50-75% of your wolves for 4-6 years and then maintain a harvest of 35-45% of your wolves annually ever after – or you would exterminate the wolves as was done throughout history in Europe and North America.
That is the real reason deer hunting success is down but nobody is going to look into it, much less try to do anything about it. Why don’t we try a government hunter-recruitment program in addition to “reducing the antlerless harvest”? Maybe the reason there isn’t any moose hunting anymore is that the government didn’t recruit moose hunters. I think I’ll put that suggestion in my thank-you letter to the Governor. It is as sensible as the rest of this stuff.
Jim Beers
11 December 2013
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Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net