OCR Text |
Show LETTER TO THE EDITOR the deer herd." Where have the deer gone? I do not believe that winter range and hunter pressure are the main reasons for our vastly vanishing deerherd. . One of the minor reasons referred to by Mr. Stein (who apparently got all of his facts from Division of Wildlife Resources of Dr. Wagner from USU.) was predation. The TV series concluded that coyotes and cougars probably kill only the weak or sick deer and that this is an essential part of Editor: As a sportsman, I watched with interest KUTV documentary documen-tary on Utah's disappearing Deer herd. Reese Stein KUTV's outdoor sports editor was right in his opening statement: "All agree (including wildlife resources) that the deer numbers num-bers are way down." As a sportsman in Southern Utah, I have to take serious exception as to the reasons for the vanishing deer herd. Mr. Stein, along with help from Wildlife resources, decided to blame the decreasing herd on No. 1 Lack of critical winter deer range. 2. Increased hunter pressure. 3. Several other factors of minor importancc.predation, etc. The winter range is the deciding factor for the size of any deer herd. In many areas of the state development has cut into the winter range. However, what was not mentioned was that thousands of acres have been cleared and reseeded by the BLM. Forest Service and Wildlife resources and the wildlife resources have purchased pur-chased in the past few years thousands of acres for critical deer winter range. In response to a question during the legislative appropriations ap-propriations hearing with Division of Wildlife Resources, Bud Phelps, director said: "Utah deer herd is down enough that the winter ranges can carry substantially more deer in most areas of the state than we now have. If the winter ranges can carry more deer than they now have, why is this classified the number 1 reason for our vanishing. deer herd? The second reason given for decreasing deer herds was. increased in-creased hunter pressure. Again we need to look at the statistics compiled by the Division of Wildlife Resources. 'Hunter pressure in the late 1960's and early 1970's approached 200,000 hunters yearly, with many hunters being able to take as many as five or six deer with the special hunts that were offered. In 1973 the State Legislature passed a law limiting the number of out of state licenses to 20,000 per year. (1972 28,000 were sold) in 1975 some 13,000 non-resident licenses were sold because of the poor hunts experienced in previous years. All around hunter pressure, may have declined in the past few years. The number of deer killed are also of interest at this point. In the late 60s and early 70s hunter success was averaging 50 -percent higher or nearly 100,000 deer killed yearly. The last two years with restricted hunts and the buck only hunts the kill dropped to the mid30 percents in 1974 or some 60-70 thounsand deer to 27 percent in 1975 or around 55,000 deer. Again quoting Bud Phelps in a legislative hearing. "Under normal conditions a buck only hunt for three years will double natures Daiance. Again quoting Norm Hancock Division of Wildlife Resources big game management specialist: "Predators are not a significant problem to Utah's deer herds." In studies conducted by United States fish and game and other wildlife groups, it is an accepted fact that Cougars will kill a minimum of one deer a week. If we can estimate 1000 cougars in Utah, this times one deer a week would total 52,000 deer killed a year; or as many as the hunters killed last year. This does not count the great number of livestock killed each year by cougars. According to the state and federal trappers,, most rural hunters, and livestockmen, coyote predation is a very s significant problem with our deer herd. There appears to be very little question in the minds of Southern Utah sportsman and livestock people, that predators are the number one reason for our declining deer herds. There have been many studies done on predation of our deer herds. Some indicate that there are few problems caused by predation. Other such as the Stiens Mts. studies of Oregon 1968-74 indicate as much as 70 percent of fawn mortality were caused by predators and this was a major factor in decreasing deer numbers. Dr. Darwin Nielson of USU also indicates that in a limited study last winter, the deer killed could be located and of the 31 dead deer located, 28 were killed by coyotes. Dr. Nielsen admits that his limited survey is not conclusive evidence on predation. However, in response to a question, "Could your analysis be applicable to the total deer herd?" his answer was YES! I again ask the question. "Where are Utah's deer herds? Why isn't the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources leading the fight against predators instead of claiming that they are not a significant problem. How long will it take urban hunters to see through the smoke screen which is hovering over the Division of Wildlife Resources and join those who know the answer to the question "Where are Utph's deer herds?" State Representative S. Garth Jones Iron and Kane Counties Box 312 Cedar City, Ut.84720 |