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McKenna project







Bambi Isn’t As Harmless As You Think He Is

Imagine that you are driving home in your brand-new car that you had just gotten that day. You are comfortably cruising down the highway at 65 miles per hour, when all of the sudden a white-tailed deer pops out of nowhere. It appears so suddenly, that you don’t have time to hit the brakes, or even swerve. The deer gets stuck in the middle of the road, and your brand-new Mustang rams into the deer. The front bumper is scraping on the ground, and the front tire is sagging. That accident is probably worth $4,000, and you still have to call a tow truck. Not to mention, that your shiny red Mustang is no longer drivable. If hunting had been allowed, that accident would have never happened. White-tailed deer need to be hunted in Iowa.

Hunting has been a part of mankind since the cavemen lived in their stone caves. White-tailed deer are a very big part of hunting in Iowa. Deer are harvested (shot) with either bows, crossbows, shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns, and rifles in some counties in Iowa. Adult bucks (males), and does (females) are the main types of deer that are harvested, as the young fawns need to grow up to repopulate. The reason that the white-tailed deer do so well in Iowa is because there is a reliable and abundant food source. However, if no one hunts the deer, the abundant food source will very quickly become depleted. The whole species will soon suffer from starvation. Deer need to be hunted to keep the natural balance in order.

If deer are not hunted, the deer population will explode. To keep the population at the ideal number, does need to be hunted. If there are less females, the less chances a male has to mate. A good doe harvest is essential to the management of the deer. There will be an overwhelming amount of deer. If that happens, the deer will not be able to get the nutrition that they need. Their habitat will also be destroyed, because there will not be enough room for all the deer. Another problem with over population of deer is that diseases can spread through close contact with other deer. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a neurological disease. CWD literally eats holes in the brain of the animal, and is not good news. It has not been reported in Iowa, however, it is getting very close. CWD is spread by being in close contact with other deer that have this disease. By hunting, it thins out the deer, so they are not constantly rubbing against each other. The deer population can not get too big, or else there will be deer in the city, and a lot of deer getting hit by cars. As a result of that, deer need to be hunted.

White-tailed deer are hunted every year, which is a excellent thing. They are hunted during the fall and winter, hunting during this time is the best time to hunt. The white-tailed deer season is very controlled, the Iowa DNR (Department of Natural Resources) keeps close tabs on how many deer are shot, and how many need to be shot. The deer hunting keeps the right amount of deer for each area. Every year the DNR says how many deer need to be killed, which is called the quota. If there was no quota, deer would overrun the town, constantly getting hit by cars, and appearing in people’s backyards, they would be considered a nuisance. The quota is based on the amount of deer shot last year, and the deer population. Each county has a quota on antler-less, and antlered deer. For example, in 2011 Tama county allowed 650 antler less deer to be harvested. For that year, 650 was the “magic number” that year. If 650 females were killed, the deer population would have been at the perfect amount. The DNR uses the Iowa Deer and Turkey Tag, which is very convenient way of reporting a deer. However, to report a deer, you need to harvest it first. The top part of the tag is called the Harvest Report Tag is put on after you report the deer to the DNR. You put on the bottom part of the tag, the Transportation Tag, is put on after you shoot the deer, and before you move it. The tags encourage people to go hunt, because if you buy one, you want to use it. The tags are used to make sure deer are taken legally, and there are only enough tags to fill the quota. Deer need to be taken, or else our world will become deer infested.

The harvested deer also go to a very good cause. The HUSH (Help Us Stop Hunger) program provides red meat of high quality to the needy of Iowa. The HUSH program only accepts legally taken deer that is field dressed. The deer can’t be skinned or boned when you give it to the locker to prevent any disease that could get into the deer when the hunter does it. The meat lockers process the deer into venison of two-pound packages. Then the food banks and the DNR distribute it to the needy of Iowa. During the 2010-2011 hunting season 6,300 deer from all over Iowa created 1.1 million meals through the HUSH program. Each deer can make roughly 174 meals. That is enough to feed one person three meals a day, for 58 days!

Many people believe that hunting is not right, however they don’t know all about hunting. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) strongly opposes hunting, however many other people including myself believe that hunting needs to occur. They believe that does should be given birth-control, or that bucks should be neutered. However, that is a very unrealistic way of controlling the population. It would be extremely costly. To give birth control to deer, they have to first be captured, then they have to be injected with a shot. The bucks have to be taken into the vet in order to be neutered, and our vet in Toledo is too small to neuter deer quickly enough to have any effect on the population. Hunting is an easier way to control how many deer are in an area, and it is more cost efficient.

To help keep the horrible disease, CWD from spreading, and keeping our other deer healthy, come join the hunt! After you hunt your deer, go help feed the hungry of Iowa. You can look online at the Iowa DNR website for information on hunting. Another great thing to do is to take the Hunter Safety Course, which allows you to become a certified hunter. The natural balance of Iowa depends on the hunting of the white-tailed deer.