Washington Hunter
Well-known member
NHY, have you seen this one?
Two cents for the bucks
09:09 PM CST on Saturday, December 3, 2005
Texas deer hunting has changed enormously since I became involved in 1973. Based on calls, letters and e-mails from readers, the changes are not all perceived as positive. I'm as guilty as anyone of emphasizing big bucks, including deer hunted behind high fences and a few that were genetically engineered.
As I talk with deer hunters and landowners across the state, it's obvious everyone has different levels of acceptance for modern whitetail hunting and management trends. What one hunter views as a great development, another considers unacceptable.
Here are six things causing public-relations problems for Texas deer hunting in the 21st century:
6. High fences which restrict the movement of deer from one property to the next. Under Texas law, the game belongs to the people of the state. Why is it legal for a landowner to construct a fence that traps a natural resource owned by every citizen?
If the landowner has a fence that keeps deer from leaving his property and the landowner has the ultimate authority over who hunts the deer there, why not just admit that the landowner also owns the deer? After all, the landowner can charge money for you to hunt on his property.
Texas has huge high-fenced ranches where deer live and die without seeing a fence. Deer in this state are also being hunted on high-fenced properties smaller than 100 acres, and that doesn't help the sportsman's image.
The authority of a Texas landowner to build any fence he wants will never change. High fences are terrific deer management tools to keep unwanted deer out and allow hunters inside the fence to let bucks reach their potential.
I fully understand why landowners build high fences. If I owned a big ranch, I might build a high fence, myself. As surely as they fragment the habitat, game-proof fences fragment the hunting public. That's not good for the future of deer hunting.
5. Genetic engineering of herds by selectively breeding captive deer, then releasing the offspring for hunting. Deer breeders say that deer released from pens quickly revert to a wild state, but Texas A&M professor Bob Brown likens the practice of hunting these animals to hunting skittish cows.
All hunters have a fascination for big-antlered bucks. The bigger the antlers, the greater the fascination. The inarguable success of breeding programs has devalued truly wild deer. A self-made buck that grows antlers scoring 150 B&C points is a terrific trophy. On some ranches these days, a buck that size is considered a cull.
Breeding programs and high fences are transforming our finest game animal into a form of glorified livestock.
4. A state wildlife agency working to give select landowners added authority over native game. The ultimate example is Texas Parks and Wildlife's managed lands deer permits. The MLDP program can be useful to deer managers, but it can also be misused. MLDP gives landowners longer seasons, and the top-level MLDP erases any semblance of an individual bag limit.
The MLDP sets a harvest quota for the entire ranch. If the quota is 100 deer per season, it doesn't matter if 100 hunters each kill one deer or one hunter kills them all. Rather than expanding recreational hunting opportunity, which TP&W claims as a goal, the MLDP program allows hired guns to "cull" deer by the thousands.
Shooting white-tailed deer as if they were coyotes or skunks is not in deer hunting's best interest. It is a measure sanctioned by TP&W.
There is no application fee for an MLDP, and hunters are not required to tag the deer through their hunting license. MLDP tags are provided by TP&W, ostensibly funded by license sales to the general public.
In exchange for the extraordinary benefits of MLDP tags, ranches must perform basic management measures that many would be doing anyway. Now TP&W is attempting to extend the managed-lands program to include quail, turkey, pheasant, prairie chickens and chachalacas.
3. Baiting deer with corn, which has always been legal in Texas. It's hard to argue against baiting as the most productive hunting tactic in a state overrun by deer, but using it has created generations of hunters who don't know much about their favorite game animal.
Texas hunters are adept at setting up an automatic feeder. They know how to position a blind in relation to a feeder so the wind and sun are favorable. They don't know how to scout for deer sign or pattern deer movements. They are largely unfamiliar with deer habits.
Baiting deer is illegal in many states. In Texas, baiting is almost mandatory. A large percentage of hunters hunt on a property small enough that they can only set up one or two blinds. If the neighbors use feeders to attract deer, the only way to be successful is to compete with the neighbors.
2. Too much emphasis on big-antlered bucks. Every town in whitetail country has at least one big-buck contest. There are entire magazines devoted to monster bucks. Deer-hunting success should be more about the experience and less about antler size. Any mature buck taken by fair chase is a good buck.
1. The almighty dollar. The great thing about whitetail hunting 30 years ago was that nobody could buy a B&C-quality buck, no matter how much money they were willing to spend. That was before billionaires discovered deer hunting, and the market responded.
It's not uncommon for a hunter to pay $10,000 to $20,000 to shoot a huge buck genetically engineered and fed a customized diet for six or seven years. Texas bucks have sold for as much as $30,000, probably more. Of course, it's not really legal to sell a wild deer. At least, that's what they say.
Texas deer hunting is a classic case of supply-side economics. Habitat will be preserved for whitetails as long as they are valuable. It's bad news for the hunter who cannot justify the escalating expense.
The bottom line on deer hunting is the fiscal one. The dollar bill became known as a buck in colonial times when a deer skin fetched a dollar. Today, the dollar is worth less – and the deer a lot more.
E-mail [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at: http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/d.../stories/120405dnspooutsassercol.23f0442.html
Two cents for the bucks
09:09 PM CST on Saturday, December 3, 2005
Texas deer hunting has changed enormously since I became involved in 1973. Based on calls, letters and e-mails from readers, the changes are not all perceived as positive. I'm as guilty as anyone of emphasizing big bucks, including deer hunted behind high fences and a few that were genetically engineered.
As I talk with deer hunters and landowners across the state, it's obvious everyone has different levels of acceptance for modern whitetail hunting and management trends. What one hunter views as a great development, another considers unacceptable.
Here are six things causing public-relations problems for Texas deer hunting in the 21st century:
6. High fences which restrict the movement of deer from one property to the next. Under Texas law, the game belongs to the people of the state. Why is it legal for a landowner to construct a fence that traps a natural resource owned by every citizen?
If the landowner has a fence that keeps deer from leaving his property and the landowner has the ultimate authority over who hunts the deer there, why not just admit that the landowner also owns the deer? After all, the landowner can charge money for you to hunt on his property.
Texas has huge high-fenced ranches where deer live and die without seeing a fence. Deer in this state are also being hunted on high-fenced properties smaller than 100 acres, and that doesn't help the sportsman's image.
The authority of a Texas landowner to build any fence he wants will never change. High fences are terrific deer management tools to keep unwanted deer out and allow hunters inside the fence to let bucks reach their potential.
I fully understand why landowners build high fences. If I owned a big ranch, I might build a high fence, myself. As surely as they fragment the habitat, game-proof fences fragment the hunting public. That's not good for the future of deer hunting.
5. Genetic engineering of herds by selectively breeding captive deer, then releasing the offspring for hunting. Deer breeders say that deer released from pens quickly revert to a wild state, but Texas A&M professor Bob Brown likens the practice of hunting these animals to hunting skittish cows.
All hunters have a fascination for big-antlered bucks. The bigger the antlers, the greater the fascination. The inarguable success of breeding programs has devalued truly wild deer. A self-made buck that grows antlers scoring 150 B&C points is a terrific trophy. On some ranches these days, a buck that size is considered a cull.
Breeding programs and high fences are transforming our finest game animal into a form of glorified livestock.
4. A state wildlife agency working to give select landowners added authority over native game. The ultimate example is Texas Parks and Wildlife's managed lands deer permits. The MLDP program can be useful to deer managers, but it can also be misused. MLDP gives landowners longer seasons, and the top-level MLDP erases any semblance of an individual bag limit.
The MLDP sets a harvest quota for the entire ranch. If the quota is 100 deer per season, it doesn't matter if 100 hunters each kill one deer or one hunter kills them all. Rather than expanding recreational hunting opportunity, which TP&W claims as a goal, the MLDP program allows hired guns to "cull" deer by the thousands.
Shooting white-tailed deer as if they were coyotes or skunks is not in deer hunting's best interest. It is a measure sanctioned by TP&W.
There is no application fee for an MLDP, and hunters are not required to tag the deer through their hunting license. MLDP tags are provided by TP&W, ostensibly funded by license sales to the general public.
In exchange for the extraordinary benefits of MLDP tags, ranches must perform basic management measures that many would be doing anyway. Now TP&W is attempting to extend the managed-lands program to include quail, turkey, pheasant, prairie chickens and chachalacas.
3. Baiting deer with corn, which has always been legal in Texas. It's hard to argue against baiting as the most productive hunting tactic in a state overrun by deer, but using it has created generations of hunters who don't know much about their favorite game animal.
Texas hunters are adept at setting up an automatic feeder. They know how to position a blind in relation to a feeder so the wind and sun are favorable. They don't know how to scout for deer sign or pattern deer movements. They are largely unfamiliar with deer habits.
Baiting deer is illegal in many states. In Texas, baiting is almost mandatory. A large percentage of hunters hunt on a property small enough that they can only set up one or two blinds. If the neighbors use feeders to attract deer, the only way to be successful is to compete with the neighbors.
2. Too much emphasis on big-antlered bucks. Every town in whitetail country has at least one big-buck contest. There are entire magazines devoted to monster bucks. Deer-hunting success should be more about the experience and less about antler size. Any mature buck taken by fair chase is a good buck.
1. The almighty dollar. The great thing about whitetail hunting 30 years ago was that nobody could buy a B&C-quality buck, no matter how much money they were willing to spend. That was before billionaires discovered deer hunting, and the market responded.
It's not uncommon for a hunter to pay $10,000 to $20,000 to shoot a huge buck genetically engineered and fed a customized diet for six or seven years. Texas bucks have sold for as much as $30,000, probably more. Of course, it's not really legal to sell a wild deer. At least, that's what they say.
Texas deer hunting is a classic case of supply-side economics. Habitat will be preserved for whitetails as long as they are valuable. It's bad news for the hunter who cannot justify the escalating expense.
The bottom line on deer hunting is the fiscal one. The dollar bill became known as a buck in colonial times when a deer skin fetched a dollar. Today, the dollar is worth less – and the deer a lot more.
E-mail [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at: http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/d.../stories/120405dnspooutsassercol.23f0442.html
