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Show Something Needs To Be Done Something needs to be done about the dramatic decrease in the number of deer before it's too late. Everyone is aware that there are not as many deer as there used to be. Deer are killed each year, like every other animal, due to their surroundings, surround-ings, (such as disease, vehicles, etc.) Obviously this dramatic decrease de-crease is not caused by ailments that have stayed relatively the same percents for decades. So some other factor must be lying behind this. In my experience of being in the mountains, and where my family fam-ily and I are from in Utah, I have noticed as the deer population has decreased, the coyote and cougar populations have rapidly increased. I believe that this is the reason why our deer herds are becoming a thing of the past. In my travels along Highway 89, Highway 40, and other highways and surrounding dirt roads, I almost see more cougars, coyotes, and bobcats than I do deer. Common sense tells that you don't see a very high percentage of these predators because of their 'sneaky' nature, so when you see a lot of these animals remember there is a much higher percentage that you don't see. Also we have pictures of many cougar and coyote kills along these highways and dirt roads. During the last few years, coyotes and cougars have killed deer and sheep within a half-mile of my grandpa's home in Antimony. Within a half-mile is way to close in my book; this is not a game. To be safe, humans and predators should not live so intertwined and close together, each has their own place. When my grandpa's sprinkler line was installed, each day there were fresh cougar tracks atop of the their tracks from the previous day. This is very scary to me. If things continue as they are now, the coyotes coyo-tes and cougars will run out of prey and will look elsewhere for it. More than likely we will have many more down in the valleys looking for food, as some have already begun be-gun doing. You may think that this will not affect you, but look at California and the trouble they have had with these predators, and more recently the trouble experienced in northern Utah. It would be very sad to have someone seriously injured by one of these animals in search of food before something is done to control them. We have let these predators get out of control, already they are taking tak-ing over. We are in danger of losing most of our wild game to these predators by letting them dominate in numbers. I think their dramatic increase is partly due to laws and restrictions on killing them, which is the work of Animal Rights Activists and Environmentalists teaming up to defend a matter most of them have no knowledge of whatsoever. If you have never been around these predators, preda-tors, a video is not going to clue you in to their behaviors. I say we let them go and walk around in the brush awhile near a home, and when they come upon a fresh cougar cou-gar track only a few hours old let the hair stand up on the backs of their necks and see how that makes them feel then. To truly understand and accurately act upon a situation, you have to experience it firsthand. I think this is a big problem we face in America today, people judging judg-ing and acting upon a situation they know nothing about. But this is not the sole reason they are on such an increase. I think that the other major factor in this case is the 'laid back' attitude of the Fish and Game. After all, what do we pay them for, to regulate game and keep them well managed. It seems to me if they had been doing their job correctly, we would not be in the situation that we now face. I always understood their purpose was to watch the wildlife and keep them at an average number, not let one species spe-cies dominate another. Every year the Fish and Game charges us a higher fee for a buck deer license, and I don't see them doing much, if anything, to keep the deer herds around. Where does all that money go, I don't see much of it being used in maintaining the deer herds. Soon there won't be any deer left to hunt, and no one will buy tags when there is nothing to hunt. This is the reason the tag fee is always rising, because less and less tags are being sold. I think that it is time we wake up and get something done before it's too late. Brandi Schear Circleville |
