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Saturday, June 22. 2019

Human hazards of conservation

Our post about White Sharks got me thinking about the human hazards of conservation. Balanced conservation requires habitat, predators, and prey.


Some of those predators do not always play nice with people and human activities. I am thinking about sharks, Grizzlies, Black Bears, wolves, Cougars, Tigers, etc.


I think most people are more comfortable with conservation of a benign, pastoral Nature, but that is a pipe dream. Nature kills stuff. The natural imbalance where I live is mainly an infestation of White Tailed Deer. We have no wolves to control their population, and the hunters can not get to enough of them. Deer hunting is not easy, especially in semi-rural areas. 



Posted by The Barrister at 14:09 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (3)

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Hunters can be much more effective at controlling deer than wolves ever can be.

Some suggestions:

1) Increase the number of deer each hunter is allowed to take and allow them to shoot females.

2) Lengthen the season.

3) Don't require permits/licenses.

4) Put a bounty on deer.

There are too many deer because the bureaucracy wants it that way. They need a "problem" to "manage". That's why the introduction of wolves intrigues them. It would become another "problem" to "manage".
#1 feeblemind on 2019-06-22 15:14 (Reply)
Agreed. See feral pig problem.

Bureaucracy has its budget slashed if "solved".
#1.1 Fjord on 2019-06-22 19:24 (Reply)
Pigs start breeding at 6 months or so. They have as many as 10-12 piglets every 4 months. Those piglets will start having more in less than a year. On and on. Wild pigs are very hardy animals. Do the math and tell me how we could reduce their numbers.
#1.1.1 FRP on 2019-06-22 19:51 (Reply)
Check out VA's rule of engagement for the feral pig hunting.
Guaranteed failure. I'm sure its just a coincidence though.
#1.1.1.1 Fjord on 2019-06-23 16:23 (Reply)
Okay, I checked and it seems like you are encouraged to kill them any hour of the day or night with any gun you want. Obviously without trespassing. Here's a cut from their website.

' Since feral hogs are considered a nuisance species, there is a continuous open season with no bag limit. Feral hogs can be killed at night and over bait, although extreme caution should be exercised when doing so to ensure compliance with other laws, regulations and local ordinances.'
#1.1.1.1.1 FRP on 2019-06-23 21:04 (Reply)
I'll bet bees kill more people every year than all those animals you listed combined.
#2 FRP on 2019-06-22 15:57 (Reply)
Where I live is a forest about 1000 miles long and 50-100 miles wide. We walk in it almost everyday. We see bear and mountain lion tracks, coyote, deer and elk and of course small animals. I usually carry a gun. I don't expect an attack but it is always possible. There are wolves out here too but I haven't seen any yet.
#3 Anon on 2019-06-22 17:09 (Reply)
If you plant tulips and other things the deer like to eat, you can just sit on your porch and shoot them when they come to munch your flowers.
#4 SteveS on 2019-06-22 18:38 (Reply)
Deer hunting is expensive.
Much easier to spend food stamps at the grocery.
Less labor too.
#5 Fjord on 2019-06-22 19:23 (Reply)
Feeblemind

Come to Florida- our season starts in mid August and runs through Feb for deer. Believe the limit is 5 a day. Kill all the pigs you can on private land. If you have a couple hundred acres you can get doe permits.
#6 Frp on 2019-06-22 19:43 (Reply)
The modern environmentalist's idea of nature was largely formed at summer camp.
#7 Assistant Village Idiot on 2019-06-22 23:17 (Reply)
I have a category (Wild Animal Encounters) that discusses some of these, though all of the Florida insanity around gators gets stuck there.

This is the most recent post I on the subject.
[url]https://wheelgun.wordpress.com/2019/05/29/throwing-rocks-or-throwing-lead-which-would-you-want-to-do/[/ulr]
#8 Zendo Deb (Link) on 2019-06-23 17:48 (Reply)
So you figure a 4 year old boy should be carrying? The number of people killed by cougars every year isn't big enough to be a rounding error.
#8.1 FRP on 2019-06-23 20:58 (Reply)
Lions and tigers and Sharks, Oh MY!

These are why I never go into an environment where humans are not the top of the food chain. And rarely am unarmed outdoors.
#9 Bill (Link) on 2019-06-24 16:10 (Reply)

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