Mismanagement of odocoileus Virginianus

By:

Annie Garrett and Kristian Lewis

Problem:

In Texas, after a series of misfortune and mismanagement, the population of odocoileus Virginianus (white-tail deer/ the other meat) was extremely low and unhealthy.

Origination of Problem

In the 1930’s the great depression caused many Americans to lose their jobs and many markets to close down leading to a shortage of food. The result was killing white-tail in order to feed themselves. This wouldn’t have been a problem with 1-2 people, but with millions of people doing this, Texas deer took a hit.

Second Contributor

The withering population was then attacked by another predator, a virus similar to epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD).

This virus transmitted by insects caused death in affected animals rapidly.

Mismanagement

After recovering from these complications, farmers who thought they were helping stepped in over ruling wildlife biologists.

Farmers were used to cattle who had long periods of fertility where deer have a much smaller window of opportunity.

Farmers proposed only killing bucks and saving does for breeding purposes only.

Mismanagement Contd.

However with a short window of fertility, the bucks were unable to mate with does during the rut before they were killed by hunters.

This resulted in a decrease in bucks as they were killed, a decrease in doe as they died from old age, and a decrease in both genders from inability to reproduce in such a short time frame.

Initiative

After farmers realized their uneducated methods had failed they allowed the wildlife biologists to reclaim authority.

Biologists began with the requirement to purchase hunting licensure to better document the number of hunters in the state.

Next they set bag limits of 2 bucks and 2 does in our part of Texas.

Initiative

For taking a buck, the rack (antlers) must have at least a 13” spread (distance from antler to antler or roughly coming out past the deer’s ear) or have one unbranched antler.

Wildlife biologists keep a close watch on the deer population through scientific sampling in processing facilities to see what restrictions need to occur based on the health of the heard.

How This Works

This works basically through preventing over killing, assessing how the heard currently is surviving, and predicting how capable the heard will be of surviving later.

So far this has been wondrously successful as it is estimated there are more deer in Texas currently than there were in the United States when the pilgrims first landed.

Funding

These programs are funded through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, also known as the “Pittman-Robertson Act”

This is basically an 11% excise tax on all firearms and ammunitions.

It was also ASKED for by sportsmen who then voted it into effect on September 2, 1937 (interesting to note that citizens asked for a tax)

Importance

These management procedures are extremely important to the species as it has led to a great return in the population and also an overall healthier population with the goal of sustainability for the future.

Importance

As a culture the management practice is vital because how else would we spend weekends during deer season? Even though the number of hunters has been reduced, the impact that organizations such as “Hunters for the Hungry” has is amazing. This non-profit program provides venison to families that could otherwise not afford to buy foods.

Importance

As a country management is important because of sportsmen that hunt and for the general practice of responsibly managing our resources.

Sources

Texas Parks and Wildlife http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/p

dfs/bluetongue.pdfStan Garrett CEO Garrett’s Outdoor

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