By Glen Wunderlich
Outdoor Columnist
Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

The DNR has issued its annual deer hunting forecast for this season and I had to chuckle a bit when I read it. Here, in part, is the forecast for the Southern Lower Peninsula (SLP):

The deer population in southern Michigan is expected to be similar to the past few years. Deer populations generally are far above DNR goals and fawns generally come in sets of twins and triplets. High numbers of antlerless permits are available again this year with the added flexibility to use private land permits throughout most of the SLP. Hunters are encouraged to harvest antlerless deer, especially on private land to bring populations closer to goals and to help address concerns of excessive crop damage and deer-vehicle collisions. “Landowners and hunters both play a critical role in deer management,” said Sara Schaefer, Southwestern Wildlife Management Unit supervisor.

What’s so funny about the statements is the fact that hunters are encouraged to harvest antlerless deer after the fee to do so has been increased by 50 percent. As mentioned last week, it’s not likely that any noteworthy reduction in the problematic herd will be achieved through its counter productive revenue enhancement strategy. So, when we hunters get an opportunity to balance the herd, it’s imperative that we do it right.

The proper number of deer for any given area is the most important principle of Quality Deer Management (QDM) and balanced sex ratios follow in importance. Kip Adams of Pennsylvania, a certified wildlife biologist and QDMA’s Director of Education & Outreach in the North has this to say: “…Some areas still have overabundant deer herds resulting from harvesting too few antlerless deer. Given that hunter numbers have declined, the average hunter is now asked to take more antlerless animals in overabundant deer situations. Unfortunately research shows there is a limit to the number of deer an individual hunter is willing to take annually. This limit is generally less than three deer, and given that one or two may be bucks, the number of antlerless deer is further reduced. One strategy to increase the impact of the antlerless harvest is to maximize harvest of adult does and minimize harvest of fawns.

Educating hunters on distinguishing fawns from adult deer and even separating buck and doe fawns in the field is a relatively simple matter. By observing head and body features and behavior, most hunters can accurately distinguish between fawns and adults and buck and doe fawns most of the time. I stress that last part because mistakes will happen. Specifically, focusing on adult does rather than buck fawns provides more meat for the table, helps balance the herd more quickly, and allows additional buck fawns to survive. More buck fawns means more yearling bucks the following year, which is good for balancing the adult sex ratio and for hunter satisfaction.”

Being able to distinguish does from button bucks is not always easy, but several thoughts come to mind: 1) Single antlerless deer are often button bucks (fawns) so take a close look for those little nubs on top of the head, and 2) Get the best binoculars you can afford. If you are after a mature doe, it’s best size them up when a group is together. Button bucks are typically larger than their sisters but are always smaller than their mothers. There is also good information in the DNR’s hunting guide that can aid hunters in the identification process.

In any case, if you are not sure, wait until you are.

By Glen Wunderlich
Outdoor Columnist
Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

It’s no secret that Michigan’s deer herd has been managed for quantity rather than quality for far too long. Anyone who has spent any time at all in the wild searching for that elusive wall hanger understands how much the herd is out of balance with does outnumbering bucks by huge margins. As part of the picture, a vast majority of bucks harvested annually are yearlings (1.5 years old).

As stewards of the land, we hunters can have an impact on the ratio by simply passing on these adolescent bucks in hope they will grow to adulthood. We are not obligated by law to do so, but common sense dictates older bucks only get that way by getting through the most critical, formative time of their young and less experienced lives.

Obviously, such management strategy is not for everyone; youth hunters and those that have little personal time to hunt often opt for the first buck they see. Fine. It’s understandable. But agree with these tactics or not, they are part of the buck to doe equation.

Finally, however, Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission is offering its own version of stimulus and only in Michigan can we find such “problem-solving” creativeness. For a limited time only, hunters may purchase two antlerless tags for the price of three. That’s right. Last season for $30 a hunter could purchase three antlerless tags; now he’ll receive two for the same money. Hurry, hurry, hurry! Supply is limited.

It’s always a delicate balancing act with government: Its goal appears to be to squeeze as much as possible from any group (in this case hunters) without making fees, taxes, licenses – call them what you will – so exorbitant that revenues will actually decrease rather than increase, as intended. With this antlerless-license maneuver, some will be motivated to drop out of the market; some among the dropouts will be encouraged to bag a doe or two without paying for any license at all. These are givens.

But who among the hunting fraternity will purchase more tags at the increased rate to make up for those mentioned above? I’m going to go out on a limb here and venture a guess: Nobody!

It’s no wonder that the hunting population has decreased an average of 2 percent annually in Michigan with “government think” at the helm. If upper management really wants to properly manage the burgeoning deer population in high-density areas, lower license costs or even bounties could be implemented.

Auto insurance companies could subsidize any potential revenue decreases with the money they’d save on car/deer collisions (at over $2000 average per crash) and I’m guessing there would still be enough income reserves to give all Michigan drivers reductions in auto insurance premiums.

Call me crazy, but I find it impossible to understand, how in our depressed Michigan economy, Michigan’s hunting “revenue enhancement” strategy will have the desired effect of doing anything but perpetuating the conditions that have us where we are now. Yes, it’s time for change, and this ain’t it.

By Glen Wunderlich
Outdoor Columnist
Member Professional Outdoor Media Association

Time has come for state and federal lawmakers to become reacquainted with the clear meaning of the Second Amendment. With the recent announcement that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of McDonald v. City of Chicago, the right of all law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms shall be decided. At issue is whether state and local governments can limit liberty.

A 27-year-old Chicago law banning handguns, requiring the annual taxation of firearms, and otherwise interfering with the right of law-abiding individuals to keep guns at home for self-defense is on the line. The case was brought on behalf of four Chicago residents, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Illinois State Rifle Association.

In last year’s Heller challenge, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. However, that case addressed only the actions of the District of Columbia government, a federal entity; the Supreme Court did not decide whether the right bound states and local governments. Over the years, almost the entire Bill of Rights has been held to apply to state and local governments by operation of the Fourteenth Amendment, with the relevant portion reading as follows: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…”

It really doesn’t seem that complicated, but here we go again. Anyone who has studied history understands that the Bill of Rights protects individuals from overreaching government actions. But, just as sure as you are reading this, the spin will commence, as it did during the Heller case. It will be another example of politics at its worst. And, nothing could be more dreadful, when one considers what is at stake: The very freedom, which has made this country the greatest on earth.

Otis McDonald, a Chicago resident since 1952 and a plaintiff in the case said, “I am grateful the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case. I now pray that the Court secures me and all other law-abiding citizens the right to defend ourselves and our families.”

It’s an outrage that any governmental entity would think to deny its citizens the right to self defense in their own homes with the means equal to those that would do harm but, once again, for the past 27 years, that’s exactly the case in Chicago.

There remains an eternal truth handed down to us by one Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), who put it this way: “There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law, which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right. When weapons reduce them to silence, the laws no longer expect one to await their pronouncements.” For people who decide to wait for these will have to wait for justice, too – and meanwhile they must suffer injustice first.”

Deer-Vehicle Collision Frequency Jumps 18 Percent In Five Years
West Virginia Continues to Lead Collision Likelihood List

Bloomington, Ill., Sept. 28, 2009 – The number of vehicles on U.S. roadways has grown by 7 percent over the last five years. But the number of times those vehicles have collided with deer has swelled by much more than that.

Using its claims data, State Farm®, the nation’s leading auto insurer estimates 2.4 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the U.S. during the two-year period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009 (100,000 per month). That’s 18.3 percent more than five years earlier. To put it another way, one of these unfortunate encounters occurs every 26 seconds (although they are much more likely during the last three months of the year and in the early evening).

MORE DEER-VEHICLE COLLISIONS
Among the 35 states where at least 7,000 deer-vehicle collisions occur per year (we are not including the percentage changes in the other 15 states plus D.C. because the lower volume of total collisions makes the percentage changes less credible), New Jersey and Nebraska have posted the largest increases, 54 percent. Kansas is next at 41 percent. Deer-vehicle collisions have jumped by 38 percent in Florida, Mississippi and Arkansas. Then come Oklahoma (34 percent) and West Virginia, North Carolina and Texas (33 percent).

LIKELIHOOD OF DEER-VEHICLE COLLISIONS
For the third year in a row, West Virginia tops the list of those states where a collision with a deer is most likely (for any one vehicle). Using its claims data in conjunction with state motor vehicle registration counts from the Federal Highway Administration, State Farm calculates the chances of a West Virginia vehicle striking a deer over the next 12 months at 1 in 39. Such an encounter is even more likely in West Virginia than it was a year ago.

Michigan remains second on that list. The likelihood of a specific vehicle striking a deer there is 1 in 78. Pennsylvania (1 in 94) and Iowa (1 in 104) remain third and fourth respectively. Montana (1 in 104) moved up three places to fifth.

Arkansas and South Dakota each dropped a spot to sixth and seventh. Wisconsin remains eighth. North Dakota and Virginia round out the top 10.
The state in which deer-vehicle collisions are least likely is still Hawaii (1 in 9,931). The odds of any one vehicle hitting a deer in Hawaii during the next year are roughly equivalent to the odds of randomly picking a piece of clover and finding it has four leaves.

The average property damage cost of these incidents was $3,050, up 3.4 percent from a year ago.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, deer-vehicle collisions in the U.S. cause more than 150 fatalities each year.

Glen Wunderlich: “We give them rifles and they sell them back to us. What a great concept!”

The Ministry of National Defense plans to sell more than 100,000 aging U.S. combat rifles to American gun enthusiasts, ministry officials said Thursday.

The plan is part of the ministry’s programs to boost its defense budget, they said.

About 86,000 M1 Garand rifles and 22,000 M1 carbine rifles will be sold to gun collectors in the United States, as the U.S. government has approved the sale. The rifles were originally given to South Korea as part of a U.S. aid program in the 1950s, according to officials.

The total value of the firearms for sale exceeds $120 million.

The rifles were used by U.S. troops in the Korean and Vietnam wars before being donated to the South Korean military.

They have been mothballed for years in military warehouses, but were occasionally used in drills by reserve soldiers.

The M1s were made first in 1926 and used in World War II and the Vietnam War.

The carbines were first produced in 1941 and used during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Great Lakes Wolves Relisted

9/23/09

States in the Great Lakes will have to wait to resume state management over their grey wolf populations as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) officially placed that population back under Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection.

The final rule from FWS concerning the “relisting” of the Great Lakes wolves was issued and made effective on September 16. This represents yet another turn in what has already been a long story of listings, de-listings, and lawsuits.

The Great Lakes wolf population was removed from protection under ESA by the FWS. This action, proposed by the outgoing Bush Administration and then reaffirmed by the new Obama Administration, initially returned the management of wolf populations to the states (in this case Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).

However, a group of antis, including the Humane Society of the United States, filed a lawsuit to block the delisting in June. While the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) was preparing to intervene in the case with its legal arm, the FWS reached a settlement with the antis that put wolves back on the Endangered Species List. The September 16 final rule is the culmination of that process.

This entire situation was the result of the Department of Interior’s not following proper procedures for delisting during the final weeks of the Bush Administration. Currently, USSA is working with the FWS on another delisting, because science has shown the populations have significantly passed the benchmarks established for recovery.

Serial poacher Gary Vorhies has been found guilty of four poaching charges in Big Horn County.

Vorhies, 47, was sentenced to four years in jail with three years suspended and $27,120 in fines and restitution.

Click on the title for the full story from the Cody Enterprise.

A recent decision by a federal judge paves the way for planned hunts of gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain region to continue.

Last week, Judge Donald W. Molloy of the Federal District Court for Montana ruled against a coalition of antis and environmentalists that were seeking to prevent hunts in Montana and Idaho. In the decision, Judge Molloy indicated that the management plans of both states would not harm the long-term health of the regional wolf population.

It is estimated that 1,350 wolves currently live in the region. Idaho’s wolf hunting season, which began on September 1, established a limit of 220 wolves that can be harvested. Montana’s season, which began September 15, has a harvest limit of 75.

While this fall’s hunts will continue in Idaho and Montana, Wyoming still has yet to develop a plan that meets service approval. This did not go unnoticed in the judge’s opinion on the case.

In it, Judge Malloy states that there appeared to be a violation of the Endangered Species Act when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refused to delist a portion of the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population that resides in Wyoming. According to him, “the service has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on a political line, not the best available science.” He went on to state, “that, by definition, seems arbitrary and capricious.”

Submitted by Joel Malcuit
Eaton County Quality Deer Management

Brent Rudolph, DNR Deer Research Specialist, gave a presentation to the Michigan NRC regarding a possible change of the Firearms Deer Season Opener. The major points discussed were as follows: 1) The possible reduction of conflict for hunters between work and school with a change to a Saturday opener, 2) The economic impact of a Saturday opener, 3) The impact on hunter recruitment, and 4) The biological impact of moving the opener in relation to the whitetail breeding season. These issues were discussed in the context of only three possible opening date changes that are being considered.

Saturday before Thanksgiving
Saturday closest to Nov. 15th
Saturday after Nov. 15th

He noted that positioning the opener ahead of the breeding season would have a negative effect on fawn recruitment. The presentation was well done and persuasive to these conclusions and there was no rebuttal from the commissioners or others at the meeting. A 2006 attitude survey shows that 84% of Michigan hunters prefer a Nov. 15th opener and 12% were opposed. It was also noted that any change to the opening date would require extensive rearrangement of many of the other hunting seasons because they are anchored to, or coordinated with, the deer season, e.g., early and late archery seasons and small game seasons.

At the end of the presentation Commissioner Wheatlake, who initiated the investigation into this issue, made the statement that any action by the commission would not be imminent. He recommended to the board that they continue discussion of this matter only after the DNR collects new attitude survey data for 2009-2010 and he also wanted to contact some of the captive cervid biologists in the state (Legends and Sanctuary) because they have data that may indicate that the peak of the rut is starting to occur later in November than it traditionally has. He also made the statement that if they made any changes that he would recommend moving the date back instead of forward in order to avoid any possible negative biological impact.

BELLEVUE, WA – Yesterday’s primary defeat of career anti-gunner Richard Aborn in his race to become Manhattan&rs quo;s District Attorney shows that even residents of a city with some of the strictest gun laws in the nation reject the gun control philosophy espoused by Aborn and those who supported him, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said Wednesday.

Aborn, a former president of Handgun Control Inc. – now known as The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence – ran primarily on his gun control record. He collected only 26 percent of the vote.

“Keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens m ay appeal to demagogues like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but it doesn’t play well with average citizens who are tired of being victimized, not only by criminals, but by the very laws that people of Aborn’s ilk have forced on them.

“Richard Aborn had the endorsement of the Brady Campaign, Million Mom March, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and other anti-gun-rights organizations,” he added. “We hope that his rejection sends a message to other gun control extremists that voters have had enough rhetoric and are fed up with restrictions on their gun rights.”

Gottlieb said Aborn’s last-place finish in the three-way race, which was won by attorney Cy Vance, is a repudiation of the gun prohibitionist philosophy he has represented over the past 17 years.

“Aborn’s defeat should be a signal to other politicians that an endorsement from the Brady Campaign or any other anti-gun group is a political kiss of death,” Gottlieb observed. “This de feat shows that there is no room in politics, especially in a prosecutor’s office, for anyone harboring the kind of extremist opinions about gun rights and gun ownership that Richard Aborn has wanted to enforce as public policy.”