Deer Management Threatened in Indiana

[FinsnFur]

Bill Sets Arbitrary Increase for Deer Harvests
2/6/09



A new Indiana bill increasing the bag limit for deer in thirty counties has substituted politics for scientific wildlife management.

House Bill 1585 was introduced by Representative Bill Friend (R- Macy). The bill politicizes wildlife management by permitting the legislature, not the state wildlife management agency, to have jurisdiction over setting seasons and bag limits.

According to the bill, the Director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife is mandated to double the seasonal bag limit for deer in each of the thirty counties that experienced the highest number of deer-vehicle collisions as reported by the state police department. The new limits would begin in the 2009 hunting season and continue through the end of the 2011 season.

According to Rick Story, senior vice president of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, "It's a slippery slope whenever politicians get involved in wildlife management. It is a highly scientific process that should be handled by the responsible agency and not be made a political football."

US Sportsmen's Alliance

[cathryn]

other than the fact govt had a hand in implementing the iproposed ncreased bag limits, why do you think raisnis the bag limits in those counties is a bad thing?

[HaMeR]

It's not being done scientifically. Which is the way things in nature should be done. Our government has a tendency to eradicate the good things in life.

[cathryn]

 if population control of wildlife should be done scientifically and left to nature, wouldnt that mean that there shouldnt be any season on animals? that their populations should be left up to mother nature to determine and control?

[pitw]

if population control of wildlife should be done scientifically and left to nature, wouldnt that mean that there shouldnt be any season on animals? that their populations should be left up to mother nature to determine and control?

That system would only work if you were to take out the human element and we are working on that.

[cathryn]

whats the current bag limit in Indiana?

wasnt suggesting that pitw, it just seems like sometimes bag limits need to be increased. they have increased our doe seson here dramatically to try and curb the population of deer.

i guess its just the aspect of direct govt mandate about the imits?

here in WV our DNR is all but in bed with the politicians. theyre pretty much one in the same,imo.

[HaMeR]

The problem with upping the doe limits where I live is that nobody cares about being able to shoot 1-2-3-6-20. All they seem to want for the most part are the big bucks. Now I could care less what a person harvests legally with the tag they bought but it seems that a healthier population could be had & even bigger bucks if they were to cull out some of the does. Nature can only control it's populations thru disease. Predators flourish until they overpopulate the area then disease kills them off. Prey animals flourish during the reduced predator number years until they too overpopulate the area then they die off from starvatio0n in a long winter & the predators once again flourish on the easy meals. I believe wildlife needs some human intervention to succeed in a healthy manner every year & not have highs & lows. Wildlife does not know gubment exists & I do envy them at times for that.