Deer season
A doe watches warily in the morning fog. With firearms season in full swing in Floyd and nearby counties through Dec. 12, deer of both sexes are falling prey to hunters.
But you still see as many deer dead alongside roads. I counted four along U.S. 221 between Floyd and Copper Hill the other day and two became victims of collisions with vehicles between Harvestwood and Poor Farm roads.
Let’s be careful out there.
I like mine with just salt and pepper…..
Well I don’t join this discussion with lots of data collected from official sources, but just some common sense observations by someone paying close attention to the natural world of our plateau community.The largest lanscape condition is forested and that is where we work daily – in the forests.
Deer are seriously overpoplated in our county and surrounding areas. This over population is leading to equally serious impact on the environment. Deer are constantly browsing new growth in the forest and eating not only the buds of new seedlings, but the very seeds themselves. There doesn’t seem to be much research or official opinions on the impact this “wildlife” is having on our forest but we see it as tremendous, much greater that understood commonly. We are of the opinion that deer reduce the capacity of certain species of trees to regenerate themselves, in particular white oak. The acorns are choice food for all “wildlife” and are consumed as soon as they hit the ground. I have read that many sprouts and seedlings of baby trees are many years old as they continously are eaten off at the tips by deer and that certainly reduces if not eliminates to regeneration of the forest by those desireable species of native trees.
When the word “wildlife” is used it usually means the revenue generating (hunting license fees) species of deer, turkey, grouse and maybe bear. I am often amused by conventional forestry thinking that proports to manage forestland for “wildlife” habitat. If they wish to take credit for the current over population of these wildlife species good for them, but they also would have to take some resposnibility for the current degradation of the natural resources that result from that same wildlife over population. I don’t think it is responsible at this point in time to manage any forest for “wildlife” or any singular purpose – but man could age the forests for the good of the whole. Wildlife species are obviously doing just fine in the current conditions and if anything we need greater reduction of their numbers. Since we have no natural predators of most of these wildlife species it seems that human predation may be the most reliable way to reduce numbers to a level that is not only more healthy for the wildlife but better for the overall environment, particularly the forests.
It seems that there may be other negatives associated with the over poplation of deer. The presence of “deer ticks” for example, particularly the ones that may carry Lymes disease that is very harmful to human health. Anyone that works in the natural resource world knows how easy it is to pick up these tiny ticks and most of us know someone that is battling the effects of this disease that seems to never go away once one is infected.
I had heard that auto insurance companies are responsible for lobbying for changes in the hunting laws to allow the taking of more deer of both sexes to reduce the number of deer accident claims in our area. Those numbers may speak to this issue as deer related to human health and safety. The number of folks that have been injuried or killed on the Blue Ridge Parkway, particularly motorcycle riders can probably be found by our head muser on this site. They are dangerous to motor vehicle traffic for sure.
So, all of this common sense observation leads me to support more hunting and in fact more human consumption of deer meat, venison, the ultimate organic protein source from right in your back yard. With much attention being gained for grass fed beef and organic food, this seems a wonderful addition to the plates of many and was surly on the menu of the original thanksgiving when the native Americans helped feed the invaders and eventual dominant occupants of this country. So eat more venison America, it is good for all of us in many ways.
Willis Village Mart will cut, freeze and wrap your deer carcess for about $50.00 bucks,or a little doe, to use a slight play on words. You just have to kill it, gut it and skin it, maybe the best food is of your own making or in this case taking. So next time you see a lovely photo of a deer, just envision the cross hairs on the right spot and squeeze the trigger slowly…
Disclaimer: take hunting seriously, take hunter safety classes and enjoy a sport that can feed your family.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone – from your organic logger, a Biological Woodsman from Floyd County’s oldest sustainable forestry group, Healing Harvest Forest Foundation.
http://healingharvestforestfoundation.org
Jason Rutledge
Couldn’t agree with you more, Jason. When I first moved to Floyd about 30 years ago, you hardly saw a deer, and I was adamently against hunting them. Local folks tell me before that, you actually had to hunt for deer. Now it’s just about harvesting the ones standing right in front of you.
The deer are becoming an ecological disaster for Floyd as well as it’s environs. We’ve lost a whole generation of forest due to deer browse and horning. It’s almost impossible to raise a garden without building a deer fence. Clearly, something needs to be done to restore the ecological balance…
Here are some eye popping statistics regarding deer reproduction. First, let me say that this information was provided to me in 2003 by an employee of VA Game and Inland Fisheries. For does on their 2nd and up fawn (that is their second and up breeding season) 94% of all does are twinning. Another 3% are tripleting. This means that 97% of all does in their second or up breeding season are having at least twins. That is not linear growth, but exponential growth and goes a long way in explaining why we have such a mess with the deer population. They are worse than groundhogs anymore. I finally broke down 3 years ago and put up a 7 ft electric fence around my garden. Haven’t had the first deer problem since, but it is a pain to have to work around throughout the summer. Why on earth VGIF doesn’t change the hunting laws and require hunters to take at least one doe before they can take the first buck is beyond me. Personlly, I hunt for the food and refuse to shoot bucks – they are too gamey to me. In last year’s hunting guide for Virginia, an article was written claiming that for every buck taken in 10 years it eliminates 30 deer. For every doe taken, in 10 years it eliminates 200 dear. Seems pretty logical to me why the hunting rules need to be changed. On another matter, this employee worked in the black bear program for VGIF. In 2003 he told me that in 10 years (2013) we in Floyd County would see black bear as frequently as we have been seeing deer. The reason? VGIF have been aggressively releasing black bear in the county for several years to bring the population up to a level that can sustain hunting them. I was rather irate, asking why it had to be Floyd County?!?! The answer? Because we were/are sparsely populated relative to Montgomery Co, Pulaski Co, Roanoke Co and that hunters were really squawking about wanting bear season in the area. I guess these are educated bears and have been taught to know where the county lines are and won’t cross them, heading down to Roanoke to easy pickings – or over to the Cburg, Bburg complex. We already have one of the devils in the rear of our property and it causes great distress when heading back there, especially in the spring when their may be cubs around the sows.