IS DEER HUNTING A VIABLE CONSERVATION TOOL?
By Jack Kloepfer Years ago I put that question to a respected Yellowstone wildlife biologist and former Wisconsin state game manager. He responded that human hunting will never control white-tailed deer populations. That response sent me on a quest for knowledge and answers to the ever-expanding white-tailed deer population in North America. I soon found out trying to obtain unbiased and objective info from game managers and sport hunters was futile if not downright sacrilegious. Over the past ten years Ive gathered information by working as a volunteer on wildlife conservation projects and deer census in North America and South America, talking to field biologists and reviewing findings of wildlife studies. Additionally, I found a good deal of useful information in the book “The American Hunting Myth” by Ron Baker. Lastly, I analyzed principles of basic wildlife biology. The following is a summary of my findings and conclusion. THE ASSUMPTION Many hunters, to their credit, honestly be
