blake
Life Member
Deer numbers require balance
By JEFF VONK
March 15, 2005
In 1933, world-famous conservationist and author Aldo Leopold made a bold yet disturbing prediction.
The whitetail deer, Leopold predicted, would never again be abundant enough to sustain a hunting season. Sanctuaries should be developed to prevent them from disappearing from the state altogether, he said.
As director of the Department of Natural Resources, I can safely say that, 72 years later, the deer population in Iowa is showing signs of recovery.
I make that statement tongue-in-cheek, of course. Deer have gone from being a rare sight to what some view as a problem. The title of a book published by this department summarizes the deer issue fairly well: "Whitetail - Treasure, Trophy or Trouble?" The answer, as people in the DNR well know, lies in the eyes of the beholder.
An important factor about the deer herd needs to be understood: This is not just an issue of population. It's also an issue of distribution. Management of the herd centers as much on where deer are located as on how many exist.
In some areas of the state, deer numbers are considered low. We are also hearing concerns from sportsmen who say they encountered far fewer deer while hunting this past season. Many sportsmen have expressed concern that we are going too far in reducing the overall deer population.
One of the reasons deer have become much more visible in our state is that more of us live in areas inhabited by lots of deer only a few short years ago. Our highest rates of deer/vehicle collisions occur in urban areas with populations of 4,000 or more. The growth of many of our cities has been outward into areas where deer have been living. Non-farmers now outnumber farmers in rural parts of Iowa.
The DNR does have a deer-management plan, and that plan is starting to produce results. The DNR issued 346,000 deer permits to hunters and landowners for the 2004-05 deer season. The DNR has increased the number of antlerless-deer-only permits, added special antlerless-deer hunts in nontraditional places where numbers are high and worked with landowners to get hunters to farms to reduce the resident deer herd.
Iowa deer hunters typically harvest about 25 to 30 percent of the deer herd each year. The DNR has a goal to increase the doe harvest by an additional 25 percent, bringing the harvest closer to 50 percent. That will be the harvest goal each year until the deer numbers are reduced to more acceptable levels.
Hunters are succeeding at harvesting more does than bucks. In 2003, a record 183,000 deer were harvested. We expect the 2004 harvest to be closer to 200,000.
We have worked with cities and counties to offer 28 special deer hunts to address population issues. In Polk and Linn counties, hunters removed 464 deer in 2003-04. We also worked closely with more than 150 private landowners last year, issuing nearly 3,000 deer-depredation licenses to landowners who sustained excessive crop damage.
So several strategies are being undertaken and are working: the increased availability of antlerless licenses, growing harvest rates, the special hunts and the fact that hunters have stepped up to the plate to harvest more does. Recent aerial surveys are already showing a 10 percent decrease in the population over last year.
Unfortunately, many Iowans have not yet learned to value wildlife and the economic stimulus it creates, the way Colorado does with elk or South Dakota does with pheasants. A big part of managing success is helping the public understand that a perceived liability such as abundant wildlife can be an attractive asset for the state both economically and aesthetically.
The non-hunting public often fails to understand the economic benefits derived from successful wildlife programs and sustainable wildlife populations. Hunting, fishing and wildlife watching generate $1.5 billion every year for the Iowa economy, and much of that activity occurs in rural areas.
The challenge to the DNR is to find proactive approaches to wildlife management to balance acceptable numbers for sportsmen with the concerns of society as a whole.
If Iowans want to have only a few animals to view and enjoy, then major populations aren't needed. However, to draw and maintain the interest of large numbers of Iowans and to reap the resulting economic benefits, then wildlife populations must be significant, sustainable and appreciated by our citizens.
JEFF VONK is director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
By JEFF VONK
March 15, 2005
In 1933, world-famous conservationist and author Aldo Leopold made a bold yet disturbing prediction.
The whitetail deer, Leopold predicted, would never again be abundant enough to sustain a hunting season. Sanctuaries should be developed to prevent them from disappearing from the state altogether, he said.
As director of the Department of Natural Resources, I can safely say that, 72 years later, the deer population in Iowa is showing signs of recovery.
I make that statement tongue-in-cheek, of course. Deer have gone from being a rare sight to what some view as a problem. The title of a book published by this department summarizes the deer issue fairly well: "Whitetail - Treasure, Trophy or Trouble?" The answer, as people in the DNR well know, lies in the eyes of the beholder.
An important factor about the deer herd needs to be understood: This is not just an issue of population. It's also an issue of distribution. Management of the herd centers as much on where deer are located as on how many exist.
In some areas of the state, deer numbers are considered low. We are also hearing concerns from sportsmen who say they encountered far fewer deer while hunting this past season. Many sportsmen have expressed concern that we are going too far in reducing the overall deer population.
One of the reasons deer have become much more visible in our state is that more of us live in areas inhabited by lots of deer only a few short years ago. Our highest rates of deer/vehicle collisions occur in urban areas with populations of 4,000 or more. The growth of many of our cities has been outward into areas where deer have been living. Non-farmers now outnumber farmers in rural parts of Iowa.
The DNR does have a deer-management plan, and that plan is starting to produce results. The DNR issued 346,000 deer permits to hunters and landowners for the 2004-05 deer season. The DNR has increased the number of antlerless-deer-only permits, added special antlerless-deer hunts in nontraditional places where numbers are high and worked with landowners to get hunters to farms to reduce the resident deer herd.
Iowa deer hunters typically harvest about 25 to 30 percent of the deer herd each year. The DNR has a goal to increase the doe harvest by an additional 25 percent, bringing the harvest closer to 50 percent. That will be the harvest goal each year until the deer numbers are reduced to more acceptable levels.
Hunters are succeeding at harvesting more does than bucks. In 2003, a record 183,000 deer were harvested. We expect the 2004 harvest to be closer to 200,000.
We have worked with cities and counties to offer 28 special deer hunts to address population issues. In Polk and Linn counties, hunters removed 464 deer in 2003-04. We also worked closely with more than 150 private landowners last year, issuing nearly 3,000 deer-depredation licenses to landowners who sustained excessive crop damage.
So several strategies are being undertaken and are working: the increased availability of antlerless licenses, growing harvest rates, the special hunts and the fact that hunters have stepped up to the plate to harvest more does. Recent aerial surveys are already showing a 10 percent decrease in the population over last year.
Unfortunately, many Iowans have not yet learned to value wildlife and the economic stimulus it creates, the way Colorado does with elk or South Dakota does with pheasants. A big part of managing success is helping the public understand that a perceived liability such as abundant wildlife can be an attractive asset for the state both economically and aesthetically.
The non-hunting public often fails to understand the economic benefits derived from successful wildlife programs and sustainable wildlife populations. Hunting, fishing and wildlife watching generate $1.5 billion every year for the Iowa economy, and much of that activity occurs in rural areas.
The challenge to the DNR is to find proactive approaches to wildlife management to balance acceptable numbers for sportsmen with the concerns of society as a whole.
If Iowans want to have only a few animals to view and enjoy, then major populations aren't needed. However, to draw and maintain the interest of large numbers of Iowans and to reap the resulting economic benefits, then wildlife populations must be significant, sustainable and appreciated by our citizens.
JEFF VONK is director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
