We need to identify the future impacts of the extinctions of this precious animal from this earth. There are vested interests of the hunters in the ways to implements the stringent restrictions for the protection of these animals. But there are some costs involves as well in hunting deer that are not always fruitful.
The conditions of the forests play important parts in locating deer. The deer are located in place where the food conditions are best where the forest and open areas meet, and food conditions determine the size of the local herd. The deer can be found in clear forests.
Travel expense is one item that determines the cost of a hunting trip. The man who lives in a state where the deer hunting territory is near his home does not need to pay as much as the man who must travel many miles in order to hunt. I have often shot deer at almost no cost except for my license. I have lived in a farming country where deer were plentiful and easy to find, after I had learned their habits. I have a rifle that I paid nine dollars for (with a box of cartridges thrown in) and I have often killed my deer in an afternoon of hunting. Others have traveled many miles from other states, have stayed at some of the better hunting camps at a cost of more than a hundred dollars a week, and have returned to their homes empty-handed or have paid some poacher up to seventy-five dollars for a deer. The cost of deer hunting can be almost any amount that a man wants to spend. The enjoyment is the same to a real sportsman, regardless of the cost.
In the days of the Indians, the white-tailed deer were found in practically all of what is now the United States east of the Mississippi River as well as in some sections of the west. According to available records, these deer were not concentrated in any one area, but were spread over the entire range. Their actual number was probably less than it is today. The forest conditions at that time were not favorable to large concentrations of deer. They are "edge" or "fringe" dwellers rather than virgin-forest animals. The food conditions are best where the forest and open areas meet, and food conditions determine the size of the local herd.
At one time I was able to spend some time in an area where the forest conditions were practically the same as they were in the days of the Indians. It was an area of virgin timber that had never seen an axe. The deer were around the natural clearings that were made by "burns" and windstorms and I could travel for miles through the untouched areas without seeing as much as a track of the animals.
The clearing of the forests of the United States has made some of the areas nearly ideal for the welfare of deer, while in others, clean cutting and thick settling by men have driven the deer out. Deer are very adaptable to different food and range conditions, but they must have food and shelter in order to survive. In most sections man has done more harm than good.
They have an amazing vitality and are apparently immune to many of the diseases and parasites that are detrimental to most domestic animals. Practically all of their natural enemies have been controlled and man is their most serious menace. With the control of man's depredations and with their ability to adapt themselves to quite heavily populated agriculture areas, the deer herds have been able to increase to the point where, in some cases, they have become a nuisance because of the damage that they do to agriculture projects. This damage is largely offset by the revenue that their presence brings into such an area by the sportsmen.
Traveling to hunt deer from long distances can be stressful and expensive exercise. But people like me who are living in the farming country can always enjoy the advantage of the plentiful deer to hunt whenever you are ready. There are fewer threats to deer from other animals because of other animals' slow extinctions, but man has become their greatest threat. And many of us may not be aware that the deer are also immune to many diseases and parasites that are detrimental to most domestic animals. And at the same time they can damage the agricultural crops as well if not kept under control. |
