This problem is too big and complex to be put into a couple of posts on a thread. But I’ll try.
There is no disputing the fact that between 1985 and 2000 the deer heard in Iowa doubled. The human population has remained roughly constant. It only stands to reason then, that deer/human conflicts have increased. The time this conversation should have taken place was about 1995. Yes, deer hunters wanted a larger herd and by God we got it. Unfortunately we as deer hunters didn’t take the long view of the increased herd size. Everything was marmalade on English muffins; we didn’t see the down side that included an increase in car/deer collisions and over browsing. Both situations quickly caught the eye of the insurance companies, both car and crop. Now we are in a “knee jerk” mode by the insurance companies. They want all deer dead. We hope the people of Iowa will never allow that, so we have to do what we can to try and ease the pressure.
Unfortunately we have gotten used to the high deer numbers because we allowed the herd size to grow. This was a time before QDM was in vogue and most hunters only killed bucks of any size allowing for the uncontrolled upward spiral of the herd. Now its time to pay the piper. Neither the residents of Iowa, nor the insurance companies will allow this to continue and it is foolish to think other wise. Therefore, I feel it is incumbent upon us as deer hunters to do all we can to get the deer herd back in reasonable control. We can not accomplish this by saying “I’m done buying all of these doe tags and slaughtering does.” Or maybe I’m giving people more credit for influence they don’t really have.
To answer your question how many deer are too many? I can’t put a number on that. What I would like to see is a return to a similar car/deer accident ratio, and therefore herd size, the state had in the mid to late 90’s. Along with that I would like to see a similar drop in crop damage claims to the same as the mid to late ‘90s. Both of these figures would need to be adjusted for the number of drivers as well as crop acreage in the state today compared to the mid to late 90’s
As a driver in Iowa, I have the right to a reasonable expectation that I can drive down the road and not have a collision with a deer. As a hunter in Iowa, do I have the right to a reasonable expectation that I will kill a deer every year? It is that balance that the DNR is now trying to find. With input from hunters, insurance companies and residents they will hopefully find the magic number we can all live with.
I will also say the insurance companies would be better off working with sportsmen and sportsmen’s groups rather than fighting them. I’ve covered this topic before, but if the Farm Bureau would offer incentives to their policy holders for killing deer or letting people hunt their land to kill deer they would come out way ahead in the end.
Let’s say the FB will give a land owner/farmer a 100 dollar discount on their crop or farm insurance if a hunter legally tags and registers a doe on his property. If that doe had run in front of a car the average damage from the collision is 2K. They just saved themselves 1900 bucks. These figures are, of course, arbitrary.
OK, I’m almost done. While we as sportsmen like to see large number of pheasants, ducks, geese, deer and turkeys there is a point of diminishing returns. If any population is allowed to grow virtually unchecked, we as sportsmen will pay the price. That is what is happening now with the deer herd. Next in line is the turkey population. Anybody got any numbers on turkey/car collisions or turkey induced crop damage?
OK, I’m spent. Time to open a 40.
The ‘Bonker
