Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 05/01/2015 1:52:38 PM PDT by SJackson
UPPER PENINSULA --
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is considering changing, or even cancelling deer hunting season this year.
DNR officials say that the winters in the Upper Peninsula have been especially harsh and have severely thinned out the deer population.
According to Deer Management Specialist Chad Stewart, the most recent deer harvest will be one of the lowest in the last thirty years.
To help preserve deer population numbers in the U.P., the DNR has prepared six options that they will present to the Natural Resources Commission at their May 7th meeting.
The most severe, and controversial, of those options involves closing the entire U.P. to any deer hunting for the upcoming season.
"I hope it doesn’t come to that and I don’t think it will come to that," said Stewart. "It’s simply an option to show the most extreme level of protection that we can provide the deer."
(Excerpt) Read more at upnorthlive.com ...
My husband stopped hunting up there about 10 years ago because the wolves had decimated the herds.
This would not be popular
That would be a shame, but I know this past winter was brutal for a lot of wild animals. Part of modern hunting is an effort to thin the herd — it’s part of good conservation. But if the herd has already been thinned, the hunting may cause problems. I’m hoping the officials make a wise, well-informed decision, and not some stupid ideological decision.
Damn Global Warming
Sounds like they ought to be able to hunt them up some wolves.
Are those the wolves that were "re-introduced" by the federal government?
Our group stopped hunting in northern Wisconsin because you couldn’t get a doe tag. Since we had difficulty finding bucks we decided to skip it this last year.
Harsh winters were hard on the deer. Wolves also took a large number. It also didn’t help that we had to hunt in -10F temperatures last year. It took a bit of the fun out of it.
Yep.
I live in Upstate New York. If Michigan would pay the freight I think we could ship about 25,000 white tails and never miss a single one.
I totally trust the DNR and their opinions here in Michigan since they are pro hunter. Any decisions regarding the wolf problem are political only and the DNR has no say-so over their actions.
Two summers ago I attended my Boyne City 45 year class reunion and had an opportunity to talk with an old friend who now works for the DNR way, way up in the U.P.about the wolf problem. He agreed, the wolves were now a major problem on the deer herds but they are hand cuffed due to the politics involved.
We’ll be glad to send you some from Pennsylvania.
Yesterday I saw four walking down a city street, less than five miles from Downtown Pittsburgh.
Sorry but the only foreign importation our state seems to be against is deer.........We're trying to figure out how to ship all the damn things from S.E. Michigan into the U.P..........
Agreed, our DNR are generally pretty good. The wolf decision came from the federal level.
There will be fewer but better deer.
Tomorrow TCM will show the 1939 movie "Ninotchka" with Greta Garbo (8 p.m. ET). It's a comedy that makes fun of the Soviet system. Ninotcha as a true believer praises Stalin's purges: "There are going to be fewer but better Russians."
I live in the UP of MI, there a plenty of deer in the area I reside in. I count 25 every dusk gorging themselves in the field. Also i am tired of the deer turds left in my yard and the damage done to to my Weeping Norway Pine.
We have up to 8 bedding down at night in the backyard of an unoccupied house. The dog sure wants to herd them in the morning.
Close to KI Sawyer? I lived there from 1960 to 1973 as a kid growing up.
Was born over in St Ignace.
Camped winter, summer and everywhere in between.
[[DNR officials say that the winters in the Upper Peninsula have been especially harsh and have severely thinned out the deer population.]]
so much for global warming- I guess we should be trying to do everything we can to warm the planet so these poor deer can survive
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