Every year wildlife, including deer, bear, wild boar, beavers and many more, destroy thousands of acres of farmer’s crops. In 2010 it is reported that in North Carolina, wildlife damaged $29.4 million in crops. Wildlife damage hurts farmer’s yields and also hurts the plants health. They affect almost all crops; while mainly affecting corn, soybeans and peanuts, and can cost the farmer hundreds even thousands of dollars in lost yield. Wildlife damage also hurts the crops health. This could lead to diseases being spread through the crops and even in rare cases to humans. Identifying which animal did the damage is an important part in stopping the damage. Each animal leaves signs that help farmers identify the type of animal doing the damage. The next step after identifying the animal, is stopping the animal from damaging the crops. There are many ways farmers can do so, traps, special permits, and noise deterrence. Each farmer must decide how they are going to deal with the wildlife causing damage.
Identifying an animal that is causing damage to crops can be fairly easy if you know what to look for. Tracks, type of damage, and scat are three big identifiers. Each animal leaves distinct signs that can help farmers identify that animal.
Deer are probably the most widely known animal in the United States. They damage thousands of farm acres each year. Identifying a deer is fairly simple. Deer have hooves instead of feet. They are two toed and their toes make a “V” when they step. They can weigh anywhere from 50 to 400 pounds depending on the deer’s habitat and diet. Most deer are brown with white chests and a white underbelly. Male deer have antlers which some farmers may see signs of antler rubbing in their crops. White-tailed dee...
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...ly deter animals from entering. A woven fence is usually the best option of fencing. They require little maintenance but can be a little costly if used for a big field. Fencing can be used to keep wildlife such as deer, bear, wild hogs, beavers and many other wildlife out of the enclosed area. Since fencing is so expensive, farmers must decide if there is enough damage that a fence needs to be put into place and also the value of the crop being fenced in.
Farmers can also use noise deterrence to keep animals from causing damage to crops. Noise deterrence involves farmers using loud noises to scare off animals. This is usually done while the animals are in the field committing damage. Propane canons are usually used for this because they can deliver a loud bang and do not shoot a projectile. Using blanks in a gun can also work but is not as loud as a propane canon.
There are many issues regarding the raising and producing of various livestock animals, and the use of pesticides on various types of crops. The movie Food.Inc does a good job explaining these issues, but in a very biased way. It makes agriculturists look like terrible people, when this is not the case.
When people talk about deer, they are commonly talking about the North American Whitetail. That is because they are so prevalent in this country. They can be found in every state in the US. The only place where you will not find any whitetails is in parts of Arizona and California. In most states the whitetail is very prevalent, especially in the northeast. They are one of the most hunted animals in this area, particularly in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Despite the amount they are hunted, both in and out of season, you can not drive more than a few miles out of the towns without seeing one that was hit by a car. The deer population in this area just keeps growing. It is unclear what should be done to stop the over population of this beautiful creature. Perhaps different hunting seasons or longer seasons are the answer. Possibly we should focus more on the development of birth control for the female deer, or maybe repopulating wolves into the areas where the deer population is too great. Something has to be done.
Like most nonnative, invasive species, feral swine (Sus scrofa) in the United States has an increasingly negative impact on native plants. If left unchecked, feral swine will become responsible for the permanent destruction of many plant communities as well as endangering native plant populations.
Sometime the buck will be running the doe out of the woods. We have trees that buck had hit when they run through the woods they will be big deer. We got a two point on camera and dad seen it but didn’t shoot it he let it walk.When I go hunting I go to wal-mart first and get some stuff in a can for deer to come out and it works.Last year we killed an eight point out there it's horns from one side to the other side was nineteen inches
Curtis, Paul D., and Kristi L. Sullivan. "White-Tailed Deer." Ccontario.org. Cornell University, 2001. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
White-tailed deer, also known as the whitetail, is native to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. What are the things called antlers and what are they made of? Deer antlers are made of bone. They grow from pedicles, bony bumps found on the heads of all deer, and they drop off after the mating season ends.
“The animals are reducing the number of trees and seedlings and affecting which species will survive, forestry experts say” (NBC news). A wildlife professor estimated that deer cause at least $750 million in damage to the timber industry. This becomes a big impact on the economy. “We view it as problem of our own making,” said Laura Simon, field director of urban wildlife and sanctuaries program for the Humane Society of the United States. “We have created an ideal landscape for deer.” (NBC news). Deer are said to eat anything and everything, this is especially proven when farms have their crops
The U.S. Department of Interior’s, Bureau of Land Management, (BLM) was appointed to carry out the Act and given the task of managing the herds of wild horses and burros. Consequently, BLM’s management of wild horse herds has been highly criticized by animal rights activists, horse advocates, news media, as well as members of Congress. There have been numerous lawsuits filed against BLM regarding their management practices and their appalling wild horse round-ups. However, unimpeded BLM continues with the controversial issue of wild horse round-ups, resulting in the death and injury of many wild horses and burros. The vast majority of these round...
Years ago, killing animals for food was part of the average man’s everyday life. While, now a days, hunting is questioned by many across the world because it is commonly viewed as a recreational activity. Many residents have a problem with the dangers that come with hunting. Not to mention, as time goes on, society seems to feel differently about animals and how they should be treated. One of the biggest debates is the harvest of white tailed deer. All over the United States, white tailed deer thrive because of the few predators that feast upon them and the large forests and habitats that these deer can flourish in. However, as buildings and subdivisions pop up left and right decreasing the white tailed deer natural habitat, the debate grows stronger. The heart of the debate is centered around ethical issues, human and deer conflicts, safety, and the benefits hunting has on the economy.
The author provides information describing the deer population in parts of New Jersey; yet, he does not include any data regarding the population in the rest of the United States, nor does he include any sources of where this information was obtained. A reader may be more
Many of the sources documented in her piece are unreliable. These “cases” were accidents, resulting from careless acts of one or more persons involved. In other cases, the damage to local wildlife was the failure of those who used the pesticide without the consideration of the effects it might have. The way the piece is written evokes a certain response from the reader and her approach has resulted in a wider understanding of the simple fact that these are chemicals, poisons, we are using when spraying pesticides. More importantly, the population may understand the more careful approach and control in every step of the way these poisons must travel, from research to laboratory to government approval to being used in the field.
It was a beautiful October afternoon as I climbed to the top of my tree stand. The sun was shining, and a slight breeze was blowing from the northwest. I knew that the deer frequented the area around my stand since my step-dad had shot a nice doe two days earlier from the same stand, and signs of deer were everywhere in the area. I had been sitting for close to two hours when I decided to stand up and stretch my legs as well as smoke a cigarette.
Instead of using pesticides in farming a better alternative would be biological control. This is when a natural predator is released into the crop growing area as a result the number of pests can be reduced.
... individuals may understand and spread the word of the horrific conditions the animals are forced to be a part of on factory farms.
Everyone’s all seen those wildlife shows on tv. The shows on National Geographic and such, showing animals in beautiful environments, everything lush and growing and nothing at all wrong that could threaten these creatures and places. But, have anyone seen the other side? The side where all these beautiful creatures and plants starve, are decimated by predators that have never been there before, and sometime even become poisoned by their very own homes and habitats? Of course no one has. That doesn’t mean that its not happening. It is happening, and its happening everywhere. And guess who is to blame? People. Society. Humans as a race pollute the environment, hunt animals simply for their parts, fish way more than humans will ever need just for the sake of money, introduce new species to new places for our own gain, and even purposefully destroy entire regions just for human expansion. And its starting to take its toll. While it is true that nature is constantly in flux and certain species come and go, humans are causing more species to disappear in the past few hundred years then nature has ever caused since the age of the dinosaurs, and therefore it is up to humans to repair the damage caused, be it cleaning the environment and habitats of these creatures, or taking more direct action to protect and preserve the species that are on the brink of extinction.