Specific to EHD and this discussion, it comes down to the allocation issue as there is no actual management plan nor treatment - so about the only thing you can do is cut tags at the moment. For R1, I think it comes down to preparedness for the eventuality, even if it never happens, while R2 it would seem that continued monitoring and being ready to eliminate licenses to allow for repopulation.
In the greater scheme of things, if there is a reduction in tags in R1 & R2, how does FWP plan on ensuring spreading hunter pressure out in the other regions that will soak up the hunters, and what does that look like in terms of overall tag allocation if more regions move to either limited entry, or there is a choose your weapon/season option. What is the latest on research on disease and how can FWP help improve that body of science; and are there steps that FWP can take to help ensure homeowners w/water features, etc are not contributing to the problem.
Whether or not it's a major piece of any plan, disease mgt has to be a part of the overall calculation. It ties in to your habitat conditions, forage nutrition, etc. Disease is a big factor in allocation for a number of years post-infection and it can be a big point of controversy when the cuts have to happen, as we've seen.
They'll fall back on the hunters will "self regulate" and just move to other places if they can't find a deer to kill if numbers tank. Exactly what they did when they absolutely hammered them with B-tags in 2005-2008. Why would you expect anything different with a disease outbreak?
Tag reductions happen at glacial speed at best, so don't expect any relief there. Plus, if you have no clue how many you're killing or even how many you have to start with, how is it possible to come to a scientific approach to reduce tags in the face of a localized outbreak? You know, like what happened in the R2 river bottom in question? How do you address the issue with the FWP's "macro-management" strategy?
The FWP hasn't a clue how many whitetail there were in that case, how many died from the disease, or how many they had killed via hunting the past decade.
How does the FWP insulate itself, even if they actually had some real data, to prevent what happened with the MBA when they did try to reduce tags?
It's sounding like changes are going to happen, great, good, happy, yada. But really, without very GOOD baseline data on populations, harvest data, etc., IMO/E, your starting off by shooting yourself right square in the foot.
No, they don't have any real good data on either over-all whitetail populations or harvest data for region 2.
I firmly believe the Department prefers when numbers are suppressed so they don't have to field complaints. It's easier to say there's nothing they can do about it.
Like a good friend of mine heard an R2 biologist say at a public meeting, "we know exactly what to do if we have too many, we don't know what to do when we have too few."
Comforting.
