Deer Management Threatened in Indiana Bill Sets Arbitrary Increase for Deer Harvests 2/6/09
A new Indiana bill increasing the bag limit for deer in thirty counties has substituted politics for scientific wildlife management.
House Bill 1585 was introduced by Representative Bill Friend (R- Macy). The bill politicizes wildlife management by permitting the legislature, not the state wildlife management agency, to have jurisdiction over setting seasons and bag limits.
According to the bill, the Director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife is mandated to double the seasonal bag limit for deer in each of the thirty counties that experienced the highest number of deer-vehicle collisions as reported by the state police department. The new limits would begin in the 2009 hunting season and continue through the end of the 2011 season.
According to Rick Story, senior vice president of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, “It’s a slippery slope whenever politicians get involved in wildlife management. It is a highly scientific process that should be handled by the responsible agency and not be made a political football.”
