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I want you guys to think outside the box with me a little here...
As some of you know, I was quick to get all over the DOW for what I was seeing in Fayette County regarding deer numbers. I was the first person to ever point out coyote predation to Tonk as a real issue affecting fawn recruitment. I screamed at the top of my damn lungs about that, shamelessly, when he admitted to me that coyotes were not even factored into their models. I pointed out that we were seeing serious declines in agricultural areas that at the time they were not apparently seeing in more forested locations. I've raised hell with Tonkovich for 9 years now... I'm not new to the "sky is falling crowd". My sky fell long before most of the State even knew there was an issue.
Keep in mind how this all started. Ohio, like all of the Midwest, had an abundant deer population. Each year we killed more and more, yet the next year there were plenty more to kill. I even recall telling people that I thought deer were a lot like bluegill... a lot HAD to be harvested to make room for the next generation that was sure to come the following spring. A lot of people were actually concerned that we would not be able to slow the herd's growth rate!
We continued to add seasons, better tools for killing, more liberal seasons, etc. Then, almost overnight, it seemed we had a grip on the growing deer herd. The DoW's models still showed that we would have to continue killing at an ever increasing rate to get a grip on the expanding population. They were surprised, blindsided I would even say, that we started a downward trend in harvest. They have blamed all sorts of things. I blamed the DOW for not accounting for coyote predation.
Im not done here... be back shortly.
As some of you know, I was quick to get all over the DOW for what I was seeing in Fayette County regarding deer numbers. I was the first person to ever point out coyote predation to Tonk as a real issue affecting fawn recruitment. I screamed at the top of my damn lungs about that, shamelessly, when he admitted to me that coyotes were not even factored into their models. I pointed out that we were seeing serious declines in agricultural areas that at the time they were not apparently seeing in more forested locations. I've raised hell with Tonkovich for 9 years now... I'm not new to the "sky is falling crowd". My sky fell long before most of the State even knew there was an issue.
Keep in mind how this all started. Ohio, like all of the Midwest, had an abundant deer population. Each year we killed more and more, yet the next year there were plenty more to kill. I even recall telling people that I thought deer were a lot like bluegill... a lot HAD to be harvested to make room for the next generation that was sure to come the following spring. A lot of people were actually concerned that we would not be able to slow the herd's growth rate!
We continued to add seasons, better tools for killing, more liberal seasons, etc. Then, almost overnight, it seemed we had a grip on the growing deer herd. The DoW's models still showed that we would have to continue killing at an ever increasing rate to get a grip on the expanding population. They were surprised, blindsided I would even say, that we started a downward trend in harvest. They have blamed all sorts of things. I blamed the DOW for not accounting for coyote predation.
Im not done here... be back shortly.