Back in the 60s

 when I was a scout I remember hearing that there were more white tail deer in the country than there were when the Pilgrims landed.

The other day I read where the white tail population in 1900 was about 500,000 in the country and is now around 32,000,000. That's a lot of animals.

My guess is that the bulk of this growth has been since 1946. That's when the post WW2 building boom began and that likely had a lot to do with it.

A lot of deer live in suburbia. I have a herd that pases through my back yard and every year a doe gives birth to her fawn about 25 yards away from my back window.

I suppose part of the reason the deer like my back yard is because there is a lot to eat there. The reason is likely that every fall I take an old lawn mower down there and level everything. The grasses, weeds, suckers saplings and about everything gets leveled. Come spring the process of growing starts again. This leaves the deer with nice shoots and suckers to dine on.

The people that learned about animals from Walt Disney would say that deer live in climax forests but that's not true.

If you want to see the deep population expode simply clear-cut a hillside or climax forest. Level it and walk away.

Nature will take its course and the shoots and suckers will spring up and provide forage for Bambi. The new growth will provide a lot of food for the deer and the availability of food means the deer population will increase.

Another reason the deer population has increased is because they are sought after as game animals. Personally, I find 'em pretty good eating. Low in cholesterol and fat and generally pretty tasty. 

Yet there are an awful lot of poor, misguided souls out there that don't really understand a whole lot about animals, hunting or nature.

When I lived in Kodiak I managed to impress a fair number of tourist lasses by showing them Bald Eagles up close. I'd take them to the dump. Sometimes I'd put a particularly rotten piece of meat or fish and put it on the hood of my pickup and watch him land on it.

Same for bears. Bears hit the dump while making their rounds, too. Bears gotta eat, too. Just like eagles.

Yet try and explain things to Disney educated person and you'll get shouted down practically every time. Generally because it is because they do not understand money.

Most likely the reasons for the explosion in the deer population is a combination of hunting licenses and the construction industry.

Hunting licenses bring in a lot of revenue to the various state fish and game departments. They use a good portion of that money for conservation measures to help the herd grow and stay healthy. A lot of money is made and spent on this.

Another reason for this is that the construction industry from the loggers on up create a situation for new growth that enables deer to thrive by creating forage for them.

Recently logged areas generally create the new growth that the deer love to eat and that enables the herds to grow.

Another thing I have noticed is the growing number of deer in residential neighborhoods. A big part of that is likely that residentlal neighborhoods with occasional vacant lots and unusable lots provide forage and limited protection for the herds.

A number of people with bigger lots have changed from mowing the entire lot to permitting a part of it to go back to its natural state. That adds something to the deal.

Yet if you ask one of the educated by Disney fools out there about the deer population in the United States most of them will tell you that the herds are dying off at a tremendous rate and the culprits are construction and hunting.

Go figure.

Writing this reminds me. I have to keep my eyes peeled this spring for the doe. I want the young kids across the street to see the fawn like they did last year.


To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY