Have you ever wondered why highly educated biologists are at a loss to figure out how many deer are really in your area?
The New York Times reported recently it took several biologists five months to find a rat, collared with a radio locator, they had released in a study to see how long it would take to find this, the only rat on a small island.
Razza, as the rat was called, eluded them by paddling over to the next island about 400 yards away and set a documented record for rat distance swimming.
He was finally trapped there after local people ratted on the rat.
The moral of the story is that local information proves critical to biologists, not anecdotal.
It sounds like New York biologists are totally beheading harvested deer in our suspect area around Oneida County to test for Chronic Wasting Disease.
In western states, the biologists simply carry a handheld PDA computer and a scanner to get the same information.
With this, they scan the hunter's license and make two incisions in the deer's neck to remove only the Lymph nodes.
These glands are placed in a bar-coded baggie, which they also swipe to match with the hunter and ID the harvest location by GPS coordinates.
The whole process takes only a couple of minutes and leaves no headless deer mess to take care of.
The CWD test lab results are then posted on the Internet as they are completed. They do the same thing to manage game in one of the poorest continents in the world: Africa.
Why our DEC persists on doing things the hard way like beheading deer and then wonder why license sales and public opinion for hunting are eroding is troubling.
Without science-based decisions and using open and reliable information, we are doomed to continue to flounder with public game management and push our state toward European-type estate hunting.
This also plays directly to groups like those that are advocating reintroduction of large carnivores to “manage” wildlife.
Another example is the implementation of new unique harvest criteria in Region 7.
We need to get the facts distributed about programs like this to every hunter and the general public.
The proven benefits of programs like these are lost when portions are spun out of context to fit people, not deer herds.
For instance, trophy quality deer are not a goal; they are just one barometer of a healthy deer herd.
Check out the facts at http://www.cnywhitetails.com/.
This should be a no-brainer at least among deer hunters, and yet we are our own worst enemy. In 15,000 years we have evolved from hunter-gatherers to farmers in major part because we have run out of wildlife off which to live.
Just in the last 40 years have hunters almost singlehandly supported and funded modern game management and returned whitetail deer to the landscape in good numbers.
We need to take the next logical step and balance these deer herds at a more precise level to keep them and us healthy.
Have fun and be careful out there.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco
Watershed Lake Association, is
The Citizen's outdoors columnist.
He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
Razza, as the rat was called, eluded them by paddling over to the next island about 400 yards away and set a documented record for rat distance swimming.
He was finally trapped there after local people ratted on the rat.
The moral of the story is that local information proves critical to biologists, not anecdotal.
It sounds like New York biologists are totally beheading harvested deer in our suspect area around Oneida County to test for Chronic Wasting Disease.
In western states, the biologists simply carry a handheld PDA computer and a scanner to get the same information.
With this, they scan the hunter's license and make two incisions in the deer's neck to remove only the Lymph nodes.
These glands are placed in a bar-coded baggie, which they also swipe to match with the hunter and ID the harvest location by GPS coordinates.
The whole process takes only a couple of minutes and leaves no headless deer mess to take care of.
The CWD test lab results are then posted on the Internet as they are completed. They do the same thing to manage game in one of the poorest continents in the world: Africa.
Why our DEC persists on doing things the hard way like beheading deer and then wonder why license sales and public opinion for hunting are eroding is troubling.
Without science-based decisions and using open and reliable information, we are doomed to continue to flounder with public game management and push our state toward European-type estate hunting.
This also plays directly to groups like those that are advocating reintroduction of large carnivores to “manage” wildlife.
Another example is the implementation of new unique harvest criteria in Region 7.
We need to get the facts distributed about programs like this to every hunter and the general public.
The proven benefits of programs like these are lost when portions are spun out of context to fit people, not deer herds.
For instance, trophy quality deer are not a goal; they are just one barometer of a healthy deer herd.
Check out the facts at http://www.cnywhitetails.com/.
This should be a no-brainer at least among deer hunters, and yet we are our own worst enemy. In 15,000 years we have evolved from hunter-gatherers to farmers in major part because we have run out of wildlife off which to live.
Just in the last 40 years have hunters almost singlehandly supported and funded modern game management and returned whitetail deer to the landscape in good numbers.
We need to take the next logical step and balance these deer herds at a more precise level to keep them and us healthy.
Have fun and be careful out there.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco
Watershed Lake Association, is
The Citizen's outdoors columnist.
He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are No comments posted.