PETA, and other organizations like them, think that hunting is a cruel and inhumane, and a non-effective way of controlling the whitetail deer population. Hunting is the primary source of conservation and income for the national fish and wildlife service. Let’s look at a couple ways that hunting provides an effective wildlife management tool. To begin, at the beginning of the 20th century there were an estimated 500,000 deer left in the US, because of conservation efforts led by hunters, there are more than 44 million in America today. Furthermore, hunting helps highway safety. Deer cause over 200 deaths a year and cost around 4 billion a year in auto accidents. Finally, if hunters did not hunt, deer would over populate and be a nuisance animal. …show more content…
In 1949 there were a total of one hundred and thirteen deer killed in Tennessee. (Gibbs, 1) The whitetail deer is the most popular species of wildlife in the state of Tennessee. The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) estimates that there are 950000 whitetail deer in the state of Tennessee as of 2015. (Deer Friendly) This number increasing dramatically due to conservation efforts since the early 1900s. The TWRA closed hunting season in the early 1900s and then reopened the season up in late 1940’s-1950. (Deer friendly) Hunting in the state of Tennessee is the not only the best way to maintain the whitetail deer population but also it is the cheapest for the government. The cost of an annual sportsman hunting license in the state of Tennessee is one hundred and sixty-six dollars. One hundred percent of this money goes to wildlife management efforts which allows the government to not have to spend as much on wildlife conservation. All total Hunters raise around 796 million a year for conservation and management efforts. (25 …show more content…
(Deer friendly) as of 2015 there was an estimated thirty million deer in nationwide. With some places in the country registering up to one hundred deer per square mile. (How Many Deer) Each year hunters kill approximately six million deer. (How Many Deer) Some say that this diminishes the deer population. What these certain people don’t know is that every year a couple months after hunting season is over more than twelve million new deer are born to replenish and even grow the population of deer. (How Many
Imagine driving through Madison on back roads, when a big group of deer run across the road. Then we just barely make it through without hitting a deer. Shorter hunting seasons can cause more deer to be hit by cars. That’s why hunting seasons should be longer.
amount of game allowed to kill. Today we have an abundance of deer in Kentucky,
A point has to be made about hunting and outdoor life in Illinois, which is a common interest throughout Illinois. Though it may not interest everyone, the livelihood and a portion of income is g...
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.
The deer population has increased so much that in many areas, they suffer from chronic starvation. “Bucks only” laws passed years ago to help in re-establishing the dwindling deer herds now work against the deer by resulting in an overabundance of does. Even with the overabundance of does many hunters refuse to shoot a doe. They believe in the old saying, “It takes a doe to yield a buck.” This is entirely true but it ignores the basic law of nature that any piece of land, and the food and cover in it, can support only so much game. If the excess game is not harvested by hunters or killed by predators, nature will take over and exterminate enough animals as needed or more through disease and starvation. That’s why hunting is a much more humane means for a deer ...
White tailed deer are the largest game animal in North America. This is due to their over abundance and annoyance to farmers. An average of 300000 deer are hunted down each year. A tragedy has been another 3000 are hit by cars every year. Many human efforts have been made to prevent these accidents, such as fencing and deer repellents near freeways, but many seem to think that hunting and controlling the population is the best way.
In 1989, there were 12,152 deer-vehicle accidents in the USA in which four people died and over 450 people were injured (7). What humans do not realize is the damage deer are causing to their environment, the human population, and themselves. Until a decision is reached regarding deer population control, the present state of overpopulation will continue to affect humans and the environment alike.
Since the beginning of time man has been hunting animals for food. Even before fire, man needed to hunt, because hunting was the only way to eat. At first man used things such as spears and rocks to kill its prey. As man evolved, they started using bows and arrows. Next came an early model of what we use today, the firearm. It is powerful yet easy to carry around. It puts the animal through less suffering and is a lot more efficient than previous techniques. Hunting was once a necessity, but now it is a tradition, passed on from father to son as a way to spend time together, enjoy the outdoors, and experience what our ancestors went through in hunting their dinner. Since it is considered a sport some think we are killing off the deer population, when in actuality, “While most other big-game species have declined with the spread of urbanization, the whitetail has been able to adapt to its ever-changing environment. Through the efforts of state agencies and conservation groups like Whitetails Unlimited, wildlife officials estimate today’s whitetail population to exceed 30 million” (www.whitetailsunlimited.org).
The most popular form of deer control is hunting. Hunting is a helpful management tool for keeping deer from becoming overpopulated. When European settlers arrived, the deer were hunted for meat and hide without thinking of management. After 100 years, deer were threatened with extinction in N.C. Today deer populations are 1.25 million in NC. Hunting can help regulate this population if done correctly. (Hartiganand Osbourne). Hunting helps the deer population by decreasing the likelihood of overpopulation. Without hunting, deer would overpopulate an area and they would be forced to go elsewhere for food. This could lead to them wondering into cities and highways causing car accidents. Without some type of deer control, they multiply. Since deer have lost some land areas due to cities growing, they do not have enough food and start to slowly starve. Thus hunting is a good choice for deer management.
Deer overpopulation is a controversial topic. Some believe that deer overpopulation is not a real problem. Some may also believe the high numbers that studies show, is a scheme to give hunters an excuse to hunt without reason. The truth is that deer overpopulation is a true issue. Deer, especially the eastern whitetail deer population in these modern times, is out of control. “There are an estimated 30 million whitetail deer in the United States today. Under optimal conditions, whitetail deer populations will double every two years”(Rooney). As the numbers of whitetail deer rise, the land for them to live on decreases. This may lead to deer walking on roads and causing accidents.
In the last decade, from the Rockies to New England and the Deep South, rural and suburban areas have been beset by white-tailed deer gnawing shrubbery and crops, spreading disease and causing hundreds of thousands of auto wrecks. But the deer problem has proved even more profound, biologists say. Fast-multiplying herds are altering the ecology of forests, stripping them of native vegetation and eliminating niches for other wildlife. ' 'I don 't want to paint deer as Eastern devils, ' ' said Dr. McShea, a wildlife biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, ' 'but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack. ' ' The damage is worse than anyone expected, he and other scientists say. Higher deer densities have affected growth, survival, and reproduction of many plant species which have aesthetic, economic or ecological value. In some cases, many species of trees have also been shown to have reduced growth as a result of high deer density (Environmental Benefits of Hunting, 1). Deer prefer certain plant species over others and frequently feed on economically valuable tree species. For example, they prefer oak and sugar maple seedlings, as well as acorns, over less palatable species like American Beech and striped maple. Thus, less marketable species are more likely to survive to maturity,
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
Thesis: The population of white-tail deer in Alabama has drastically increased over the past century causing significant damage to property and homeowners, caused by hunters being less active.
More than ten years after the essay in our textbook, “For Environmental Balance, Pick up a Rifle,” first appeared in the NY Times, the author, Nickolas Kristof, continues to write for the NY Times as a columnist. This long-term relationship with The Gray Lady is quite an achievement for a writer in a tough market of New York readers. The original essay needed aggressive wording to grab attention of readers who peruse the paper while crowded into buses and trains. It is engaging, humorous, and compellingly holds the readers’ attention right through to the end. Kristof is correct in his claim that the solution to the deer over-population lies in thinning out the herds through hunting. Alternate methods of deer population management do not exist in the suburbs. We certainly do not want to restore the natural predators of deer, because humans would be on these predators’ menu, too. Deer food laced with contraceptives has limited effectiveness because deer migrate regularly over an area of up to 25 square miles. Therefore, the deer who ate the contraceptive might not be the deer who winter over in that area and give birth in spring. Once the medicinally-laced food is put out, no guarantee exists that deer would be the only ones to eat it.
Immediately, as my dad and I was walking to the deer stand, my thoughts were that this hunt already felt like any other night hunt I had ever been on. My dad and I together chose which stand we would hunt from the choices on the board. We arrived at the box stand, which was fifteen feet tall, then we climbed in and got comfortable. In the meantime, we were looking around to find any sign of a deer. Meanwhile, as we were sitting quietly in the stand, we suddenly heard something. We could tell that the noise was something running through the trees extremely fast! Suddenly, there she was, a doe, creeping out from the bushes. At that moment, I was only able to see her head. I was getting so nervous, and I didn 't know what to do; however, my dad told me to stay calm and breathe. As she was walking into the field, stopping along the way to eat, I prepared my gun in order to shoot. My dad told me to take the shot whenever I was ready, so within the next couple of seconds I pulled the trigger. BOOM! She’s down! I had shot her; however, I knew I hit her, but she ran