DNR Banning Mineral

[Critter]

For the conspiracy guys........your ARE right! This is all about money for the IDNR. They are protecting themselves from lower tag sales due to sick animals and defensive spending to combat the disease.


Any way you look at it, I just don't see how the negatives outweigh the positives. So your next buck is short a few inches of antler and you don't have a photo book to show your buddies? Is that really it?
It's not hard to reason that feed and minerals bring deer together that may have not normally been exposed to each other. Even if nature spreads the disease, why spread it faster than needed?

After seeing some replies, I can't wait for this to pass.

Geez man.......guns kill innocent people every day and it isn't hard to reason that taking away the right to purchase and sell them would probably decrease the amount of accidental shootings and murders, but I'm not up for that one either.
As I stated before, if this were to pass I wouldn't have a problem accepting it, but banning the use of any mineral site ISN'T going to prevent it or slow it for that matter. Deer are social creatures, they don't hide in a hole away from each other only to step out and eat a single acorn on the ground. If you've got a deer on your property that has the "ick", he's or she is going to spread it with or without visiting a mineral site.
This post has somehow turned into a "if you use trailcams or the modern wheel your killing our herd" kind of thing, and it's a little bothersome to me. This site is made up of more photos, videos, SINGLE buck life stories and a wealth of knowledge which is gained primarily by individuals studying and identifying deer they hunt. If cataloging deer on my ground makes me less of a hunter, so be it, but in my opinion it makes me more involved with whats going on in the areas I hunt. I'd be willing to bet I stand a better chance at detecting any sort of disease around my ground from the use of trailcams than someone else who only visits their ground during any open season.
And yes, I am definitly one of the "conspiracy guys" when it comes to the DNR............they reassure me of it every year is some sort of fashion.

 

[flugge]

Im with you Critter :way:

 

[BrewCrew]

So when would be the right time to ban mineral licks? After CWD has a strong foothold? CWD is not the only concern, there is also TB, plus if we have an outbreak of EHD, congregations of deer is not a good thing.

Honestly, EHD??? There have been outbreaks of EHD in Iowa since I can remember. The disease is NOTHING like CWD or bovine TB where they will eliminate herds, or are they even close to the same type of disease with their characeteristics in transmission. They run a short course and are transmitted through infected insect bites, not infected saliva or soil.

Obviously, I can see where prevention is always a good idea when it comes to trying to stop a disease and keep a healthier herd. Also, I am not a mineral site maker and have never thought it was a good idea for hunting purposes on any properties. I have created them for our livestock and that is it. Therefore, I could care less where this idea ends at.

But....

come to the spring banquet and have a talk with some of the DNR people. willie suchy made some interesting points on it.

Willy Suchy also told me last year at the IDC that over the counter non resident tags would make the Iowa deer herd healthier.

Also...

I am sure that there will be dissenting opinions but maybe this will help put all this in perspective a little.

What if you have tickets for an Iowa State basket ball game and when you get there you find out that everyone must enter through the same door and lick a mineral block before you can get in. Probably every person is feeling ok, or else why would they be going to a basketball game? Since colds and flu are going to occur any way why worry about it? How comfortable would you be considering all the other disease risks such as herpes, AIDS, HIV, hepatitis, TB, measles, and so on? Would you enter? Now suppose that you could use those same tickets next week for a Hawkeye basketball game and not be able to lick any thing. Which would you do?

With our rapidly declining deer herd it just doesn't make much sense to me to take any risk of even possibly helping to spread diseases that could pretty easily eliminate 30 or 40 or even 50 percent of the few deer we have left. Yes there will still be salt and mineral stations for cattle and other livestock, but these kind of sites have multiplied 100 fold with the commercialization of deer hunting in Iowa. How many such stations were in use before trail cams and easy scouting, and cataloging bucks came into vogue? I can easily answer that, only those set up by poachers to hunt illegally!!

I have agreed with almost all of your posts in the past but this ones seems a little off to me (as part of ISU as well as a deer hunter).

If I had to lick a salt block that half of the school had to lick as well, I would do what deer would do and scrape off a nice clean piece of salt and take a huge bite out of it (except do it with my pocket knife instead of my hoof).

Thats what Whitetails do.. Am I wrong??

Its like my mother told me when I was little.. Don't eat yellow snow. The amount of saliva transmitted can't be as much as everyone thinks or all of the cattle herds in Iowa would commonly share the same sickness with their ruminant deer brothers.

If they want to ban mineral licks, fine by me.. But bashing other hunters for using such sites as valuable deer inventory methods is one step too far.

Ban it or don't ban it?!?! Does anyone on here truly feel so adimant that stopping mineral licks will prevent disease transmission?? I do not.

But then again,

I grew up under powerlines as a kid.

 

[Thinkin Rut]

Willy Suchy also told me last year at the IDC that over the counter non resident tags would make the Iowa deer herd healthier.

Comments like these from the DNR is why they have lost their creditability. On one hand they are destroying the herd and on the other they are saving it. Obama tactics.

 

[fletch921]

If I had to get into a game and lick a salt block that half of the Iowa State's STD infected cheerleaders had to lick as well, .

Wow, this sounds real professional, especially to a father of an ISU cheerleader or a guy that dates one.

 

[JNRBRONC]

Honestly, EHD??? There have been outbreaks of EHD in Iowa since I can remember. The disease is NOTHING like CWD or bovine TB where they will eliminate herds, or are they even close to the same type of disease with their characeteristics in transmission. They run a short course and are transmitted through infected insect bites, not infected saliva or soil.

You're right, EHD is transmitted by a midge (fly). Usually outbreaks occur during dry years when deer congregate around what few water sources are available. So deer hanging a round a mineral lick was my point, not that they get EHD by licking the ground.

 

[dangibbs1]

I think you all should write your congressman and have them outlaw mineral licks by non residents. I am sure if cwd ever makes it to Iowa it will be because of them. J/K
To think that not putting out mineral licks is going to prevent any natural disease from infecting a deer herd to me doesn't seem right. Most of these diseases in my opinion are natural selection at work. You get above the carrying capacity of the land and diseases take over to bring the herd in check. I know Kentucky has natural mineral licks that are tore up by deer and have been since beginning of time, yet they have had no major destruction of their deer herd.

 

[loneranger]

It is thought Mad Cow,,,similar to CWD, came about from feeding cattle animal byproducts. An unatural thing for herbivores to be consuming. I am not certain about the disease found in deer and Elk. Possibly the same begining from penned deer farms. At least the penned deer do spread the thing from the very close contact.

 

[wild80]

Maybe you guys should really read up on the diseases and the true means of controlling them. You cannot eliminate the disease. If there are no cases currently, the DNR should not worry about banning minerals (minerals = same thing cattle/dairy farmers use to boost immune levels lactation rates and quality.). All these posts and no one has mentioned getting the herd in check? Try shooting more does, this is the only way to control disease spread and transmission. The more deer there are to congregate, the weaker those animals will be due to lack of quality nutrition, and the higher the chance for those weak/sick animals to be contacting with and spreading disease to otherwise healthy animals.

Bottom line shoot more does!

 

[loneranger]

HERE we Go Again.....Believe this is on another post. Too many Deer. Not enough Deer. If you can determine there are too many deer in your area,,then by all means ,thin them. With another foot of snow coming for the north and central parts of Iowa, I think nature may thin some, espsecially fawns.

 

[dangibbs1]

I don't anyone is saying there are too many deer, I think the point is that that is when diseases start getting spread. If the carrying capacity of the land is being exceeded that is when diseases start to appear. I don't think Iowa is exceeding the capacity in most areas.

 

[Fishbonker]

There are two ways to stop an epidemic. #1, vaccinate the at risk population and #2 reduce/restrict/prohibit contact with those infected.

I don't think there is a vaccine against CWD or Tb. If there was would you buy it and put it out for the deer to consume? At what cost?

It is folly to think we can ever stop deer from being deer. They will not self restrict from infected hosts or other vectors that may spread disease. So we need to restrict the opportunities they have to spread the disease and one way is to stop putting out feed and mineral piles.

There was a reply a few pages back that a study showed over a six year time span that stopping feeding didn't curb the disease. If the prion for CWD lives in the ground for 7 or more years I don't believe there will be a decrease in the rate of infection in this short time relative to the bioavailability of the prion and the infected deer that return to that same old site year after year reinfecting/recontaminating the site for another seven plus years.

You have to ask yourself, “Am I enabling the spread of disease with my food and mineral piles?” If you believe you are not then do what you always do. If you believe it is even remotely possible that the stuff you put on the ground to attract deer could eventually lead to their demise, then stop.

I have never changed anybody’s mind on anything, ever. We believe what we believe.

Several years ago when trail cams were just getting started I went cheap and bought a camera with a slow reaction time. How did I overcome this? With a mineral pile. That made me lazy and complacent. Why should I try to set up a camera out in the woods that is only gonna give me pics of deer butts as the slow trigger speed only gets butts as the deer walk by.

I am going to self ban mineral and feeding for trail cam pics, and in so doing it will make me a better hunter because I will be self forced to go out in the woods to find the natural terrain features that make a deer stop long enough to get a slow triggered trail cam pic. I will have to experiment with angles, heights, shadows, flash range and on and on, but it will help me to determine where a better stand placement may be based on how deer move through the woods and on feeding areas.


The ‘Bonker

 

[iowaqdm]

My biggest concern or problem with this legislation is it doesn't address mineral/salt placed for livestock production. How many salt/mineral blocks are place in pastures in Iowa every year. How much timber is pastured in Iowa every year. How many partial blocks are picked up at the end of the grazing season. I have absolutely no real numbers to back my guess but I would bet there are at least 50 mineral/salt blocks placed on pastured ground for every 1 mineral site established for deer in this State. I don't think this legislation (the way it is written) will not stop deer from having access to mineral/salt licks due to deer and livestock utilizing the same habitat during the summer. If all mineral/salt licks were banned or livestock producers had to place mineral in designated feeders where deer were less likely to access it then I would have no problem supporting it. Even though I don't feel it will slow or stop the spread of cwd or TB.

As far as feeding deer/wildlife during winters like this I feel it is necessary unless you don't care about how many pheasants, turkey and deer you bring through into the next Spring. Not everyone is fortunate enough to own land and have the ability to leave standing food plots for the wildlife each year. If you thought the pheasant hunting was poor this year just wait until next season. Add the winter kill to the poor numbers we had this year. Then add the likelyhood of a late and wet nesting season this Spring because of all the snow we have gotten and I'd be willing to bet this coming Fall the numbers wont be as good as we had this last year.

 

[JNRBRONC]

From the Des Moines Register
Lawmakers carp that bill bans fishing with live bait


The bill, proposed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, would prohibit fishing with worms or other "natural food materials" both on public lakes and private ponds, said Senate Minority Whip Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, and Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton.
“The department didn't think about this one very long," Bartz said. "If it wasn't so sad, we should be rolling on the floor laughing."

Natural resources officials acknowledged a problem with the wording and said a ban on fish is not the intent of the legislation.

Disease among herds of wild animals and livestock has cost other states millions, said Dale Garner, chief of wildlife for the Department of Natural Resources.

"All we're trying to do is prevent an economic disaster here," Garner said.
"We have to do everything we can so we don't blow out the money that these surrounding states have had to spend," he said.

Wisconsin has spent $41 million to fight chronic wasting disease, a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose, Garner said. Michigan spent millions to fight bovine tuberculosis, a bacterial disease that spreads from deer to cattle. An outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease in poultry in California cost that state $176 million to clean up, he said. And a strain of avian influenza has killed millions of wild and domestic birds worldwide and infected humans, he said.
The bill says feeding and baiting wildlife would be unlawful in Iowa, except in a few specific situations. The aim is to keep animals from gathering in large numbers, which increases the likelihood that a diseased animal will infect others.

Sen. Joe Seng, D-Davenport, a veterinarian, said: "It's like kids in a day care. You take your kid in there, boom they get it. With avian influenza, if one bird has it, all of a sudden 90 have it."

The bill would allow for exceptions, such as if Iowans want to place feed within 50 yards of their home for the purpose of observing wildlife.
"In a winter like this, people feel bad for the animals," Garner said.

"We understand what's in their heart and that they love to watch the birds and feed them. But they have to realize they also may be doing harm by feeding them," he said.

Technically, Kettering and Bartz pointed out, the way the bill is worded now bans fishing.

"If you're using a fake lure, you're probably going to still be OK in the state of Iowa," Bartz said with a grin.
Dianne Ford, a lobbyist for the natural resources agency, said they can clarify the bill to exclude feeding fish.

 

[Critter]

From the Des Moines Register
Lawmakers carp that bill bans fishing with live bait

The bill would allow for exceptions, such as if Iowans want to place feed within 50 yards of their home for the purpose of observing wildlife.
"In a winter like this, people feel bad for the animals," Garner said.

"We understand what's in their heart and that they love to watch the birds and feed them. But they have to realize they also may be doing harm by feeding them," he said.

.

This makes no sense.............Put out a pile of corn for the wildlife during a time like we're experiencing now and you'll have deer from two counties away coming in to eat as soon as it hits the ground, and yes, they will rub noses and sneeze on each other. If they're really serious about this issue, why are they concerned about allowing this to remain in place?
BTW.......I was being sarcastic when I said deer from two counties will come in to feed, but once they find it, they'll draw a whole pile of other deer in along with themselves.

 

[SaskGuy]

The bill says feeding and baiting wildlife would be unlawful in Iowa, except in a few specific situations. The aim is to keep animals from gathering in large numbers, which increases the likelihood that a diseased animal will infect others.

What about all the soybeans that are left to stand for that purpose?

 

[loneranger]

That brings us back around to food plots. I have a small rye plot that the deer have hammered this winter, rubbing thier little noses all over the ground. And what about planting Sugar Beets or Turnips? Many deer will knaw on the same frozen Root. Hunting plots will be next on the agenda.

 

[bradley]

me & my cousin both have mineral sites with cameras over them & they are only 1/4 mile apart & we never had pictures of the same buck so there for the deer are not converging from miles around they are still sticking to there own small core areas with the same deer they are in contact with all summer.then when fall comes & they start traveling farther the mineral sites are no longer desirable.

 

[DWilk]

me & my cousin both have mineral sites with cameras over them & they are only 1/4 mile apart & we never had pictures of the same buck so there for the deer are not converging from miles around they are still sticking to there own small core areas with the same deer they are in contact with all summer.then when fall comes & they start traveling farther the mineral sites are no longer desirable.

We've got cameras on corn/mineral right now.... 75 yards apart... and we've got different bucks hitting both sites

probably not a huge point to make, but it is worth noting... and anyone that runs camera over minerals knows that deer pretty much ignore them once fall rolls around

 

[JNRBRONC]

and anyone that runs camera over minerals knows that deer pretty much ignore them once fall rolls around

Yeah......