Rut, hunting, harvest have deer on the move
Naturalist educates public on hunting, urges cautious drivingBy Lindsey Mutchler, Messenger staff writer
Article Photos
WEBSTER CITY - If you haven't seen any deer on the roads yet, consider yourself lucky.
As fields are stripped of grain and hunting and rut season begin, the deer are moving.
"Right now they're running all over the place," said John Laird with the Hamilton County Conservation Board. "With rut and harvest you just don't know where they'll be, and they'll jump right out in front of a car. I see quite a few deer on the side of the road during the late fall and early winter just between Webster City and Stanhope that have been hita."
Saturday evening Laird offered an informational workshop on white tail deer at the conservation headquarters in Briggs Woods Park.
"Each year, deer related accidents cause nearly $1.1 billion in damages," Laird said. "Last year there were 1.5 million car accidents involving deer."
The number of car/deer collisions is one reason Laird hopes more people will begin hunting. Plus, it's a way to bond with children and the outdoors.
"It's important to get young people involved in hunting because the kids of today are the adults of tomorrow," Laird said. "Kids nowadays spend so much time on the Internet, texting, gaming, and not spending enough time outdoors."
While kids may be absorbing educational material through these electronic mediums, Laird worries they're not connecting with Mother Nature.
One book Laird cited - "Last Child in the Woods" - argues children are suffering from nature-deficit disorder.
Laird said by not physically spending time outside exploring, children lose their connection and appreciation for nature.
One way to get kids outside is to take them to Olson Park to see the albino deer, Laird said.
Albino deer are one of five types of deer in North America. The others are white tail, mule, black tail and Florida key deer.
"Caring for the earth is something that's passed on from generation to generation," Laird said.
Hunting is a way to care for the environment, he said. In fact, deer hunting is a family tradition Laird has passed on to his sons.
"As a hunter you want to drop the animal as quickly as possible," Laird said. "Aim for the kill zone - the heart, lungs, liver - so you don't maim it."
The Lairds take a sled when they hunt, so they can drag their kill back more easily. Sharp knives are also a must.
"I use a pocket knife to field dress the deer," Laird said, "and a filet knife when I'm butchering it in the garage."
That's right. The Lairds process all their own meat in their garage.
"I hang the carcass in the garage for a few days before butchering it," Laird said.
He cuts out the loin, and the rest of the meat is ground by hand with a $10 grinder.
"My two sons and I grind a lot of meat," Laird said. "We like to mix the deer meat with beef. It makes great hambugers."
Hunters can also can the meat in a pressure cooker.
"One of the guys who works here cans his own deer meat and he loves it," Laird said. "You can also make jerky with kits, seasonings and dehydrators."
In 2008, Laird said 142,194 deer were harvested, 53 percent were bucks and 47 percent were does.
The discrepancy between the sexes may not seem like much, but to Laird and other hunters it's an important distinction.
"Hunters typically target bucks," Laird said, "and it's a mind set we're trying to change with Quality Deer Management."
The management program was started because far more bucks than does are killed in an average season, which means more offspring.
"Typically, a doe will have one to two - normally two - fawns," Laird said. "We want hunters to focus on does rather than young bucks."
Not only can the management program diminish the number of offspring, it also allows young bucks to grow and mature into better quality trophy bucks, Laird said.
Another emerging issue Laird addressed was lead bullets.
Apparently, the lead residue from bullets that shatter when they hit bone are poisoning Bald Eagles which eat the remains hunters leave after field dressing a deer.
"The problem is the lead chunks in the meat," Laird said. "An amount of lead as big as a baby aspirin can kill an eagle."
So the state of Iowa is trying to replace lead slugs with copper.
"I'm not sure why the didn't start doing this earlier," Laird said. "We don't have lead in our paint or gasoline anymore, why should we have lead in our slugs?"
While copper slugs are more expensive than lead - by a dollar a bullet - Laird believes the investment is worth it.
"It's something we need to be aware of," he said. "Things change as we realize how our actions affect other animals."
Contact Lindsey Mutchler at (515) 573-2141 or lindsey@messengernews.net.
|
CommonSense
|
|
|---|---|
|
11-16-09 7:57 PM
|
Deer move into bedding areas in the morning and they move into feeding areas in the evening. That's why you see more of them along the roads and in the fields in the evening. Right now is about the peak of their mating season which is why they are so oblivious to everything else going on. Also, right now is bow season, which also means hunters are sitting high in a tree. Most deer don't spook this way. Shotgun season doesn't start til December, which is when the deer get really spooking from being shot at. Random, it's obvious you know quite little about the subject. Feel free to educate yourself. Most hunters have as much appreciation for conservation and habitat as they do the actual hunting. If it wasn't for the money hunters spend, there wouldn't really be much habitat at all. Groups like pheasants forever buy lots of property and turn it into habitat. The deer problem around here is a drop in the bucket. Drive down to southern Iowa, walk a cornfield next to some timber.
|
|
suzeeque
|
|
|
11-16-09 10:00 AM
|
I have seen deer running at different times of the day or night, so hunting season has little to do with them running!
|
|
Anderson
|
|
|
11-16-09 9:56 AM
|
We baited and shot 50 deer in my SC community one year, 50 the next, 25 the next and 16 the next; are taking 25 more this after a three year break. This netted thousands of pounds of processed venison given to state institutions. With 13,000 car/deer collisions in Iowa last year and millions in crop and flora losses, why not give the police a bit of target practice and the institutionalized some good eating?
|
|
FDTROOPER
|
|
|
11-16-09 9:36 AM
|
Oh my Bambe is being slaughtered by the gun so it is better to run her over with a 2000 pound car. LOL The only natural method of harvesting the white tail is starvation and disease.
|
|
Spanky4704
|
|
|
11-16-09 9:31 AM
|
Cruel and barbarous pratice? This is their mating season, people have little to do with them running right now. My husband and I are both hunters, that feeds our family for most of the winter along with the goose, phesant and turkey we also hunt.
|
|
digger07
|
|
|
11-16-09 9:30 AM
|
"Such agencies often destroy or limit natural (non-human) predators of deer for this purpose" Natural predators of deer are animals like bears, mountain lions & coyotes... I would personally like see more herbivores in the area eating grass & plants than seeing more mountain lions and coyotes who would pick off one of my children. Wouldn't you feel safer camping, hiking, visiting Dolliver, etc.. knowing your chances of finding a predator less likely? I'm not a fan of hunting and letting the corpse rot, but you'll find that 99% of the hunters process the carcass and use it for food. I haven't yet seen a deer in the morning, seen about 30+ at dusk or later though this year.
|
|
Random
|
|
|
11-16-09 9:10 AM
|
Most of these accidents are happening in the early morning, when deer are being hunted. I admit that the issue is complicated and there are many reasons for deer running into the road. I attempted to do some research on the issue last night and found that a big reason for such large deer populations is the fact that state and local wildlife management agencies purposively work to artificially preserve deer for hunting seasons. Such agencies often destroy or limit natural (non-human) predators of deer for this purpose. I don't favor a ban on deer hunting; but the practice is not the panacea for deer overpopulation that hunting propagandists would have us believe. Of course, urban sprawl and human intrusion into deer natural habitats is a contributing factor to deer/car accidents too. Personally, I abhor hunting and believe that there many other outdoor activities for young people that do not involve blood-lust rituals such as described in the article
|
|
musiclover
|
|
|
11-16-09 9:03 AM
|
Whoops, I meant to say deer, not dear.
|
|
musiclover
|
|
|
11-16-09 7:36 AM
|
Random, I've never heard of hunters being out at midnight, and yet, the dear are!
|
|
kaleidoscope
|
|
|
11-16-09 2:14 AM
|
Random: While your viewpoint is understandable, it is false. Deer in rut are the primsry reason deer are so visible this time of year, not due to hunting as you assert. The mating process is uncontrollable, and hunting deer for food is but one way to control the over-population of deer in Iowa. When the population is better controlled, there will be fewer deer in danger of being hit by automobiles.
|
|
Random
|
|
|
11-16-09 1:14 AM
|
This story is ridiculous. The main reason why deer are running in front of cars is because they are trying to get away from hunters this time of year. These deer "are running all over the place" because they are spooked by hunters. If you really want to have fewer car/deer accidents, then don't hunt the animals. This is a cruel and barbarous practice that needs to end.
|