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A comment on Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land, sparking rallies. Parent comment

Re:Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land,... by gambiting on Wednesday February 01, 2017 @07:05AM (#13540048)
At the moment, US is having a massive problem with deer. And the major reason why that is, is that we've eliminated most of their natural predators, and lobbied very aggressively against hunting. So now you have millions of deer destroying crops in US, but of course any time anyone mentions culling, people immediately get aggressive about cruelty of hunting. I mean, I get that, and I wish there was a better way, but deer are literally worse than pests at this point.

http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/08/22/too-many-deer/

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Re:Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land,... by giblaz on Wednesday February 01, 2017 @08:04AM (#13540374)
On top of them just being pests, when the deer populations are out of control like they are currently, diseases become dramatically more widespread and fatal.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20110629/NEWS/3062...

In farming areas like Missouri, without hunting, the deer populations will get out of control and dramatically affect the farmland. Most don't realize this, but the common reproductive result is always twins. Deer populations ramp up much quicker than other animals.

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Re:Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land,... by douche on Wednesday February 01, 2017 @08:10AM (#13540410)
Guess what kind of places don't have problems with deer overpopulation? Places with strong hunting cultures.

Besides, venison is delicious, lean meat. I know hundreds of people that hunt deer religiously every November, and they are not jackass trophy hunters, they are primarily hunting to fill their freezers.

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Re:Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land,... by maxerickson on Wednesday February 01, 2017 @08:18AM (#13540461)
Michigan tends to manage the deer herd in a way that keeps the population high, to make hunting better.

A couple of aggressive seasons could dramatically lower the population without impacting viability of the herd, but the state DNR won't do it because it would impact license revenue and tourism.

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