This report covers:
- Ohio
- What happened?
- The question
- Woodpeckers
- Herons
- Woodchucks
- Texas
- In other words
Today we look at game and non-game species and how they are managed and mismanaged.
Ohio
When I was a kid in Ohio, the deer season was cancelled one year right as I was getting old enough to hunt by myself. For several years the Ohio Division of Wildlife specified the hunter had to shoot shotgun slugs only. No centerfire rifles were permitted. The reason for that is Ohio was a populous state. Of course today it is far more populated than in the 1960s, yet handguns and some centerfire rifle cartridges are now permitted to hunt whitetail deer.
What happened?
What happened was without hunting the deer population exploded in Ohio and in several other states where similar restrictions were imposed.
About 25 years ago my wife and I were contemplating moving to Rapid City, South Dakota. We went there to check things out and found the city overrun with whitetail deer. They were coming into town and eating people’s flowers and chasing their pets.
I spoke to a Rapid City official about shooting deer with a crossbow and was instantly met with derision! Even if they were on private property damaging plants and hurting (killing in a few instances) pet dogs, there was no allowance for doing anything. I can understand that because of safety concerns. You don’t want someone shooting a bow or crossbow in a built-up area where injuries might occur.
The question
The question is—why were there deer in town? They were there because South Dakota was not being hunted enough. Want to know another state where this happened? Virginia. It’s actually called the Commonwealth of Virginia. Years ago I was contacted by a state representative of their Department of Wildlife Resources who wanted to know whether a big bore airgun was powerful enough to kill a whitetail deer humanely. I told him airguns had been doing that for three centuries.
Why did he ask? He asked because the state was hiring special hunters to thin the whitetail population in state parks that were overrun. They wanted to do it quietly and safely and thought big bore airguns were a safer way to do it. The meat was to be donated to food pantries.
Woodpeckers
The woodpecker is a protected migratory bird all over the US. Federal law prohibits the killing of woodpeckers unless they present a problem. If they are there are special permits that can be obtained. NASA had a woodpecker problem with the styrofoam insulation on the space shuttle’s external fuel tank. Apparently the birds were damaging the insulation and I was contacted for an air rifle powerful enough and accurate enough to do the job reliably. At the time I recommended a .22-caliber Career 707 and as far as I was able to learn, NASA was pleased. Naturally, nothing about this was ever reported in the news.
Herons
Herons are another protected migratory bird. But in Hawaii they can’t migrate so they nest in one place year-round. Some were nesting in large airplane hangars and dropping their droppings on airliners. Their excrement is acidic and ate through the paint to corrode the airplane’s skin. This time I was told not by a state official but by a Honolulu cop who was a reader of mine. He was eliminating any bird that roosted inside a hangar. Apparently this operation was not officially sanctioned but he was requested by the airport to do it.
Woodchucks
The reason I chose today’s topic was an infestation of woodchucks I saw at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Since last Sunday was Groundhog Day I thought about woodchucks (same critter, different name) and this came to mind.
Many years ago Edith and I went to Aberdeen to showcase adult airguns at a firearm match. As we drove onto the post we were appalled to see hundreds of woodchucks and their burrows on the lawns of their government housing—including the house of the post commander! Now Aberdeen is a place where big guns and explosives are tested all the time, but do you think it was legal to even shoot an airgun on post without special permission? Not on your life! The result? The post was overrun with woodchucks!
Texas
My final story is about the state of Texas, though many states have the same problem—feral hogs. Wild pigs have reached the pest level in Texas and besides poisoning and ground hunting they are hunted in some areas from helicopters and fixed-wing airplanes. Even with this Texas cannot keep up with its wild pig problem.
Feral hogs travel in packs and are very destructive to certain crops.
Other states had excess pig populations but did not want to address the problem similarly. Here is a short quote from the Texas government website that deals with the pig problem, “Some states which historically did not allow recreational hunting of wild pigs have established statewide hunting programs in an effort to solicit assistance from the public in controlling wild pig populations. Even though the intentions were good, these statewide hunting programs have sometimes resulted in population increases and rapid range expansion.”
In other words
In other words, either humans manage the wildlife or the wildlife gets out of control. I am not advocating anything in this report. It’s simply a report on numerous problems that cropped up when the populations of wild animals got out of control. Some of these animals are pests and others are game animals. Some are even protected species that stepped outside their bounds under certain circumstances. With the level of technology that airguns have achieved in recent years, they can be part of a viable solution to these problems.
Tom,
Sometimes the overzealous protection of wildlife can be put aside temporarily by bureaucrats if they are given the proper knowledge and reasoning why there should be hunting seasons. Unfortunately the opportunity to get them out of their airconditioned offices and out in the field are few and far between. They won’t admit it is a problem until it becomes THEIR problem.
Siraniko
Another problem, this one worldwide, is the overzealous protection of inept, uninformed and entrenched bureaucrats. There is evidence they’re being curbed in some jurisdictions. Note: FM is not advocating nasty measures towards solving that problem. Perhaps all that is needed are CS (Common Sense) vaccinations for those critters.
Yes, some municipal regulations which are designed to protect people and property can get in the way of unique or different circumstances. Regulations to prohibit use of arms in a suburban neighborhood make sense, BUT that can get in the way of CAREFUL and WELL CALCULATED pest removal – say, protecting a garden, well-tended from marauding bunnies, squirrels, or other nocturnal critters.
The civil authorities DO have a problem here. Not everyone is necessarily a RESPONSIBLE user of arms who calculates things like over shots and such and such people can cause great harm, even death. The problem is lack of sense among a great number of people who probably should NEVER be allowed around an arm. That, in turn affects those of us who use arms for pest removal with a great deal of caution, planning and awareness of responsibility for our shots.
How an elected public official can cut through all the integers is the problem here. I may be a very cautious shooter to eliminate a neighborhood pest with no harm to others or property, but my next door neighbor might well be an idiot around arms.
I’ve cleaned up marauding squirrel populations that were even chewing through plastic attic/roof venting and ranting in people’s attics by careful and highly calculated shooting – with caution ever the FIRST consideration per shot. That’s not necessarily what others might do and that can bring very bad things to one’s fellow citizens. The civil authorities DO have a problem here and a responsibility.
I use my air arms to protect my property within my property lines with caution, due regard for over shots and property lines and to eliminate ANY possible overshots that might affect others. I use air arms and, in the event of the need, do so with a GREAT DEAL of discretion. That’s especially needed given the fear of most folks of arms in general so subtlety and safe covert elimination of pests is REALLY necessary. When I have a need to act with respect to a pest situation, I make sure that no one will likely even know that anything happened except for the trash man having an additional plastic bag to go to the county dump.
Sense, caution, discretion, and well-planned covert action would seem necessary and the taking of the shot, no matter how well-needed, should be the last thing done. My late father-in-law practiced this in New Jersey suburbs for years in a state with little arms tolerance. He became the unannounced and covert resource for his neighbors to eliminate pests because they knew his FIRST values were safety, awareness of the risks of overshots, and discretion. He was the guy who would get the call from a neighbor for a “little assistance” on the quiet to deal with a pest when necessary. In other words, responsible arms use precluded alarm and facilitated elimination of problems without notice. It’s shortened form is “being a responsible adult.”
Do not disagree for the most part with your well-thought-out, reasoned opinion on the subject; definitely agree with the need for discretion and being a competent adult. FM admits that after being in the Federal government trenches for 37+ years, and seeing/fighting a lot of institutionalized stupidity and inefficiency, he’s become a little bit cynical about zombie-conditioned, knee-jerky and lacking-common sense government “types” meddling in the daily lives of the citizenry, often unnecessarily and many times with an attitude of “I’m from the government and you’re here to serve me!”
It wasn’t like that at the beginning of FM’s government adventure – had some great supervisors, intelligent, capable, hard working people who tended to lead by example, not exhortation. More than one of them was a WWII vet and not of the desk-attached type, and their experiences no doubt showed in the quiet confidence, competence and professionalism they projected. Over time, things started going downhill as these managers began to be replaced by others from Not-So-Great Generations.
I was in state civil service for 28 years. reflections much similar to yours!
BB,
The city of Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa (an island of liberal solace, surrounded by a sea of reality) had a problem with white-tailed deer. After deciding that the deer herd should be thinned out, the city council applied to the state DNR for special permits, to allow them to hire an out of state “contractor” to thin the herd. This contractor came in with night-vision goggles, suppressed high-power rifles and went to closed-off areas of the city (at night). The deer were processed at a local meat locker, with the meat given to local food pantries for distribution. The final tally (as my sometimes spotty memory recalls) was about 30 deer, costing about $3000 each!
When the city wanted to do this again, the DNR balked, asking if the city had considered bow-hunting in the city limits. (The city does not even allow BB guns to be fired on private property.) To receive approval for professional sharp-shooters to return, the city worked with the DNR to allow a deer hunt inside city limits. By the time the city finished with all of the ‘restrictions’ on qualification to hunt and location (private property only, restricted distance from any building), there weren’t too many applicants for licenses.
Last I heard, there weren’t many houses with hosta plants safe there.
A very dangerous phrase: “I’m from the city government and I have the answers.”
Bill
[Do you know the difference between genius and stupidity? Science says that there is a limit to genius.]
Billj,
See my post down a way below.
You are totally correct.
We how have retained some sense of reality “know” Government is here to do MUCH with our ever increasing taxes and fees…LOL!
shootski
There was a news report in _Science_ magazine recently that might be related:
https://www.science.org/content/article/predation-not-fear-wolves-keeps-elk-denuding-yellowstone
It is about the nibbling elk in Yellowstone getting out of control and the introduction of wolves to control the elk population and solve the ecological problem. For non-ecologists, Yellowstone is not just a park but an ecological field site studied by scientists the world over. And _Science_ is considered one of the top journals in the world, influencing technology and policy. It would be like the influence of BB’s blog on airgun hobbyists and manufacturers.
Anyway, what caught my eye was that, “From 1995 to 2011, humans killed 16,700 elk and wolves killed 9100.” I understand that in the Yellowstone area but outside of the park, the wolves are a target of ranchers as they eat livestock as well as elk.
In my area hunting is well restricted and there are lots of deer eating people’s gardens, vultures eating road killed deer, cats eating from dishes put out, coyotes eating the cats, and flocks of turkeys blocking traffic. I wouldn’t call any of that the ecological problem.
Mike
B.B.
My brother lived in a fancy suburban neighborhood of the Twin Cities. There they permitted and encouraged bow hunting of deer, no firearms however….
-Yogi
Everyone,
Thanks for your early responses. I knew the problem was much larger than I had stated.
BB
This lady apparently has built a successful business around the iguana problem.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCprBc95NyDhjGN72TxlabCA/videos
I purchased a used Crosman Challenger from a dealer a while back that was practically new. It had a problem but was eventually repaired by Crosman under warranty. The previous owner had removed the precision sights (in order to use a scope I would guess) and installed a suppressor. Both of which were included in the original box. Also in the box was this signed photo. I suspect that Jessica might have been the original owner of the Challenger.
Be careful what you ask for, you just may get it.
In a good portion of this country, you are considered evil if you should own any gun, whether it is firearm or air arm. Fortunately, that is not so where I live. There are far more firearms than people in the county where I reside. It is a rare day, or night for that matter, when I do not hear the report of a firearm. What must seem strange to some unthinking, kneejerk, mental midgets is how few people are shot in this county. Could it be that everyone around here knows that if you mess with someone, you stand a good chance of getting shot? Law enforcement spends most of their time busting the out-of-town meth heads who come here to open labs to make their poison to sell to the city folk over the hill from here.
No one is allowed to hunt on my property, not even me. There is one exception, the dog.
She is allowed to hunt and kill anything she can. There is a large proliferation of fuzzy-tailed tree rats around my house. Fortunately, there is a large number of mature oak and pine around here to help feed all of these little varmints. The dog also keeps them on their toes.
Something else I have noticed is over the years there are fewer hunters. I think this may be due in part by the stigma that has been attached by some unthinking, kneejerk, mental midgets to owning or using a firearm. It could also be due to the fact of less reliance on game animals and such to provide nourishment to people. When I was young, I hunted year-round. I quit hunting many years ago because I did not need to do such to feed my family. I have never killed an animal for “sport”. There is no such thing.
Over the years I have noticed a proliferation of deer throughout this state and elsewhere. When I was younger, we were allowed to kill one buck during a hunting season. On the last day, if you had not killed a deer by then you were allowed to kill a doe. Now there is a muzzleloading season, a bow season and a firearm season. You are allowed to kill three deer and can obtain permits to kill more.
Something else I have noticed has been the pronounced increase in disease among wild animals. This would not have anything to do with the increased population of such, would it?
I see deer and other animal roadkills almost every day. I myself have had encounters with deer and other animals when driving. With the stigma and fewer hunters, this will only become more of an issue as time goes on.
Enough of my ramblings. BB has given us quite a bounty with this blog to think about. Perhaps there are many out there who should contemplate what he has said.
The “unthinking” types you refer to are those who were inspired by and drank the poison KoolAid pushed by the more radical elements within the so-called “Flower Power” generation; unfortunately, many of those folks are now embedded in our institutions of “higher” learning, the mass media and the celebrity-elites, where they seek to force down the same poison KoolAid down our throats.
FM thinks – thankfully he was trained to do that – one thing which would help reverse some of these negative trends and cultural attitudes would be reinstating the military draft or, as it is called in some quarters, conscription. It also does not hurt for those of us who engage in these activities smug types look down upon to get others interested into participating in them.
FM,
The truth is most people are sheep looking for a shepherd. The worst part is most have rejected the Shepherd and now think they know better.
In my neck of the woods (Arkansas), we have too many hogs and coyotes. It’s more or less open season year around on them. I’m no hunter but from what I understand (at least with the hogs) no permit is required. With the coyotes, we’ve always had them, but they have seen to increase and/or we have invaded their space with all the new housing and building over the year. Many small dogs and cats are coming up missing every week. Some people now have to go out with the dog to do it’s business. Even then some were almost taken. I think air guns could be utilized here as people blasting firearms in a populated area doesn’t sound the best. Don’t get me wrong, I know air guns are dangerous too, but, aside with the large caliber air guns, I do think they are safer than firearms if handled right.
B.B.
You said yesterday about doing more videos what is your youtube channel?
I’m sure going to miss you on Days that start with “T”
Speakski
Speakski,
Yes, I do plan on doing more videos for my channel. Editing used to take me longer than writing a report, but as I learn the software it’s getting better.
BB
The iguana problem in S Florida is what led FM to once again dip his toes and this time go waist deep into airgunnery waters so, thank you for that iggys!
BB,
The problem is the people, not the animals.
Seen it here first hand. When I first moved to this property, hearing/seeing coyotes was a common thing. Deer, raccoons,
beavers, squirrels, chipmunks and coyotes balanced out.
With most lots running 5 to 15 acres in size it’s still pretty “wild” around here but with more houses being built the coyotes moved out and populations of the other critters blew up. Cars and SUVs are the main “predators” now.
I used to have a red fox as my squirrel hunting companion. He’s gone now and I’m the only on left to manage things.
Fortunately, there’s still a lot of owls and hawks to help with mice and chipmunks.
Humans (mis) manage the environment, the animals that can adapt do, the others disappear. Seems that our solutions to problems just make more problems.
Hank
Vana2,
I tend to agree with you at the basic level that humans cause most of the perturbations to the natural order in many places.
Where we differ is that in each place or region the current “problem” has a unique most acceptable resolution. The components, all of them, creating the issue need to be understood.
The area i call home didn’t see a deer problem until the counties outside the Beltway became suburbs and hunting was severely restricted or just made socially unacceptable. The deer population exploded beyond the Beltway and the deer suffered. At the same time Rails to Trails and Stream Valley parks became very popular recreational assets. Those same recreational assets also became major wildlife ( Black Bear, Coyote, Whitetail and more) migration corridors. We have deer herds in downtown Washington DC, beaver dams being built in the Tidal Basin (Cherry Trees felled) and Pentagon Lagoon.
With the numbers of birds Canada Geese, Crains, Turkey Vultures and birds of prey (including nesting Bald Eagle) on the approach path. I am surprised it was a helicopter-airliner crash that got in the first kill, in years, of folks on approach to DCA.
I suspect you will see red fox soon enough we currently see three hunting and sunning in our (sub)urban yard regularly.
shootski
Shootski,
The local red fox denned not far from the house and enjoyed a steady diet of grackles and other such pests. He learned to associate a single shot with food, became very comfortable around me and acted more like a pet than a wild animal. “Red” twigged to squirrel hunting real quick and would help on the hunt in exchange for the field-dressings.
Think that the coyotes preyed on the foxes which kept them closer to people. When the coyotes left the foxes moved further a field and I haven’t seen my hunting buddy since.
Still see fox tracks regularly but they’re only around, mouse hunting, in the front field at night.
My locale in the Carolina upstate is hilly, lots of woods but definitely increasing population with people moving down from colder climates in New England and upper Midwest. But wildlife is up in residential areas except for quail. Canada geese, deer, armadillos and wild turkey are common whereas they were rare 75 years ago. The Bald eagle is back also. Black bears are often seen not too far from here. Unfortunately coyotes and feral hogs are here now. I attribute the increase in wildlife mostly to managed public hunting aimed at maintaining a healthy population.
I used to hunt game for the table but haven’t in years. Now I enjoy target shooting from my deck perch with airguns while observing squirrels, Cardinals and geese. Life is good!
Deck
Decksniper,
While i was out exercising the SIG ASP20s the other day one of my local squirrels came along and looked up at me for quite some time. I wonder each time it happens, and it happens often with cottontail rabbits as well, what on Earth these urban creatures could possibly be thinking in that moment! I suspect it is something like, not a cat or dog, looks a little like the thing that gave me a McDonald’s french fry once.
shootski
Shootski,
About 25 years ago, the parks in Scott county (Iowa) and the city of Davenport were overrun with deer. There was a hunt, where they closed the parks & issued specially permits to hunters to take deer. A gentleman that I worked with drew a tag for the first year. He and a friend sat at a picnic table, facing opposite directions.
They each filled their tags within the first 45 minutes of sitting down.
He said that it took about 3 hunting seasons before the deer started ‘acting like deer.’ (But it worked)
Bill
Shootski
LOL
We ain’t the only creatures lookin for a handout.
Deck
B.B.,
Great blog topic.
Locally the Whitetail dear situation is being studied to death while action is “approved” by the county. The restrictions Built In by the outside consultant to include no Lead (Pb) ammunition makes it difficult for airguns to be used.
This is a fast growing BIG money business for less than honest grifters!
“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed.” Albert Einstein
He was right!
shootski
Topic “Overrun”
When I was much younger, in the late 1960’s the area where we lived was overrun by abandoned dogs that had gone feral. The source we had conjectured at the time was dogs abandoned by their owners while on vacation in the sticks of southern Illinois. Usually they were ignored except when a small pack was a nuisance, then someone would eliminate the problem. Over time the deer hunting in the area became very sparse, with only the occasional deer seen but rarely harvested. But, once a large pack started to roam our area, think a few thousand square miles, and since the deer were all but gone. The dogs started to harass the local livestock and when a calf was killed, the farmers became decidedly upset. They asked my oldest cousin he was still in high school if he could hunt the pack down. He agreed and setup a call system to locate the pack.
Once we received the location we loaded up our guns, about twelve of my cousins and I. Then the search began we found them across an open field. The pack was much larger than we had anticipated, greater than 50 large to medium dogs. The dogs ranged from a large German Shepard to typical beagle in size. The small dogs I suspect could not keep up with the pack and died from starvation and neglect.
We opened fire on the pack leaders starting at about four hundred yards across the open field. Since these were domesticated dogs they had little to no fear of humans, the pack turned and started towards us at a run. Even with all our fire power and this included 30-06 and a few shotguns with 00 buckshot. We still had to run and climb the trees in a small grove near our location. The last of the dogs was put down from the trees with the 44 Magnum revolver that my oldest cousin carried, as he said just in case.
Once down from the trees we made sure each dog was taken out of its misery. Then with the help of a nearby farmer and his tractor with a front end loader to dig a long deep trench to bury the remains.
After this particular hunt, the farmers started eliminating any loose dog that could not be attributed to a local owner. Since most people allowed their farm dogs to roam freely, this determination would generally take several days to a few weeks before any action was taken.
The deer population eventually recovered and farmers did not lose any more livestock to feral dogs. Though over the years coyotes started to return but their population was closely monitored by the local farmers who took action when they decided it was time. Notice there was no government action to either prevent or help the farmers from taking action.
The current laws and regulations in place in Illinois would have made criminals of all of us involved. Then the stupidity of gun restrictions was only the megapolis of Chicago and immediate surrounding area, but like all stupidity it spreads like wild fire unless actions are taken to eliminate it.
“Stupid is as stupid does” Forest Gump
Mike
Does anyone know what wild boar and feral pigs taste like compared to their farm-raised kin? Does it taste differently due to the different diet of the animal? Is is leaner, tougher? Does bacon or ham from a wild pig taste the same as a farm-raised one?
Would market hunting be viable? Dang near killed off the bison. How about feeding the homeless?
Roamin,
I haver never knowingly had any wild boar / feral pigs, but then I generally don’t ask too many questions when someone else supplies the food already cooked.
But, according to what I have read, Yes it is different and leaner, but needs careful handling and cooked slower. This should will result in a very tasty meal.
I have had black bear slow cooked, it is awesome and similar to farm raised pigs.
Mike