Whop, whop, whop, whop. Bang!
Where are we? Hunkered down in some Third World hellhole? Nope, we’re exterminating deer in northwestern Minnesota. The Minnesota DNR recently called in the troops, so to speak, using airborne sharpshooters to wipe out whitetails in an area where bovine tuberculosis was found in cattle and deer.
Granted, this is a situation calling for extraordinary measures (not to mention extraordinary expense). Still, there is something apocalyptic about having helicopters armed with sharpshooters hovering over the countryside. If hunting is the preferred tool of whitetail management, then sharp-shooting from helicopters is the final solution.
I can’t help but think we need a bold, new approach to deer management, one that addresses land use and habitat, hunter attitudes, and public perceptions of deer. Instead of managing deer by killing more of them, we need public and private land management to be less conducive to deer, to stop all forms of artificial deer feeding, and to get a vocal portion of the hunting community to move beyond “the only good deer is a trophy” mentality.
In order for this to happen, we need leaders—wildlife officials and hunting advocates—who are willing to think outside the box and begin moving deer management in new directions. Instead, deer management settles to the lowest common denominator—killing more deer. Minnesota deer and deer hunting are not better for it.