Cooperation is name of game
Deer hunters, IDNR must do better job of working together
Deer hunters and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources need each other.
But the relationship is tricky, in part because deer hunters themselves have divergent aims: It’s the loudest group ( the mature- bucktargeting bowhunters) against the largest group ( shotgun hunters looking to put venison in the freezer).
The relationship between the IDNR and deer hunters has been extra- strained for more than a decade. First, the IDNR has used intensive methods ( particularly culling) to contain the spread of chronic wasting disease. Second, shortly after the harvest peak in 2005- 06, the IDNR developed a statewide plan to reduce the herd. Harvest has gone down.
Overall harvest numbers for Illinois’ deer seasons in 2016- 17 came out last week ( 144,150). It was the lowest total since the peak ( 201,209) in 2005- 06 and was down 7 percent from the 2015- 16 total ( 155,229).
The usual storm of comments/ complaints came with the low harvest. Some were valid. Some were B. S. from hunters thinking the deer herd should be managed only for them.
Deer have an impact on Illinois’ entire population, hunters and non- hunters. Yes, insurance companies have a voice in deer management, just as agribusiness and the Farm Bureau do. And the IDNR absolutely has to manage it that way.
Still, there’s something galling when the primary data- based measure of deer management seems related to insurance companies: deer/ vehicle accidents per vehicle mile.
What I would suggest is a 20- mile observation route in all 102 counties in Illinois. This would be similar to the annual assessments of populations of pheasants, rabbits and quail.
I would suggest a latesummer ( Wednesday before Labor Day) and a pre- rut ( third Wednesday in October) route to begin establishing ameasure other than hunter harvest and deer/ vehicle accidents.
In an ideal world, there would be money for the Illinois Natural History Survey to conduct aerial deer surveys annually, similar to the waterfowl counts during fall migration. But the funding is not there.
Even with the low staffing at the IDNR, I think this is important enough that some combination of biologists and conservation police officers could drive 102 county routes.
At the same time, we hunters have an ethical responsibility of our own. Pulling the trigger or releasing the arrow is an individual decision. If you saw only a dozen deer during the shotgun seasons and still shot three, you lost the right to complain about management of Illinois’ deer herd. The IDNR and deer hunters are in a long- term relationship.
In memory
Mike Zielinski, who contributed reports on Geneva Lake, drowned while ice- fishing Jan. 24 on Geneva. Donations in his name can be made to FellowMortals, a wildlife rehabilitation organization in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Stray cast
A child dabbles by the water’s edge, throwing one stone in and pulling two out until the stones are gone, the shiners are scattered and the water is muddied.