One Less

[10 bore]

Originally Posted by Stan Hillis

I will offer another perspective, and not in the least to try to persuade those of a different opinion. I am a row crop farmer, have been my whole adult life. i grow corn, cotton, peanuts and occasionally soybeans. I do this to make a living, not for entertainment or sport. I own a good deal of the land I farm, but lease many other farms. The deer population in this part of GA is unbelievable to those who have never seen deer per acre this high. Much of the reason it is so high is the high quality food they have ......... my crops, and those of my neighbors.

I hunted deer as a sport for many years, but quit about 20 years ago. The numbers were such that it was not hunting anymore, but just shooting. Near the end it gave me as much pleasure as stepping on a cockroach. I ate what I killed, and enjoyed it, but no longer do (hunt for sport or eat them). Why? The sheer numbers of them have turned me against them in almost every way. They destroy many, many acres of crops of mine every year, costing me tens of thousands of dollars in income. Replanting is not an option. They will eat the replanted crop as fast, or faster, than the first. They are NOT a game animal anymore, IMO, but a nuisance. Vermin. No different from a rat that slips into the barn and eats the cow's feed. No different.

I can, and do, obtain depredation permits to kill them while they are about the business of eating my crops, during the growing season. I can't stop them all. But, I do my best. Coyotes do a better job of killing them than I ever can. A turkey hunter here found an occupied coyote den one spring and put a trail camera on it. The female 'yote brought 8 fawns in to her young to feed them that one spring. So ..........coyotes are my allies, and are protected on any land I have control over. Deer eat my crops and cost me thousands upon thousands every year, coyotes eat deer, so....... coyotes are my "friends".

I don't expect those of you who think you are doing the world a service by killing coyotes to understand. You shouldn't be expected to. You perceive that they are doing you a disservice by killing the deer you love to hunt. I don't expect a cattleman to change his mind either. I have seen, firsthand, what coyotes do to newborn calves. I'm just offering a different perspective. One man's meat is another man's poison.

SRH

I understand about the loss of income, Is the land posted ? Here in NH the F&G dept. wont give out permits to thin out the deer if the land is posted. They want the hunters to help control the deer problem, up here xmas tree farms take a pounding when bucks rub up the trees. You should have hunters come in to help thin out the heard.
scott

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by scott kittredge

I understand about the loss of income, Is the land posted ? Here in NH the F&G dept. wont give out permits to thin out the deer if the land is posted. They want the hunters to help control the deer problem, up here xmas tree farms take a pounding when bucks rub up the trees. You should have hunters come in to help thin out the heard.
scott

The crop damage permits in NY, at least in the years we got them, were issued to the land owner to do with as he pleases. By law, we had to turn in each deer to the game wardens. I stopped doing that as I mentioned in another post.

Allowing hunting on the property might work and, then again, it may not. We considered it years ago but decided against it. The concern was damage to standing crops but the biggest issue was strangers on the land. The owner of the land and I both agreed that there was too much potential risk to opening the property. We have airplanes and farm equipment up there and turning strangers loose on the property to see all that was there wasn’t a good idea. We have had thefts over the years even though you have to enter the property on a long private dirt road and the airstrip and hangers are well back on the property. I lost my .243 field gun to theft.

We watch the property carefully, most days I am in the shop on the airstrip but people still sneak in. A few years ago I chased three guys who were deer hunting on the lower end of the property. They walked back to their car and then emptied their guns into the trees over my head. I could hear the slugs whistling. They were screaming F bombs at me. I had no idea who they were.

Permitting hunting might help solve the deer problem, but it could potentially open up other problems.