The Outspoken Sportsman
hosted by Bill Moore
Traverse City Record-Eagle - Published: April 30, 2008 09:55 am 
DNR encourages deer hunting in TB zone
http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_121095521.html
New state program aims to halt spread of disease
BY SHERI McWHIRTER
smcwhirter@record-eagle.com
ATLANTA -- Gunmen killed hundreds of white tail deer -- bucks and does alike -- across northern Lower Michigan in recent weeks, often at night under the glare of spotlights, and even though hunting season is months away. Michigan's primary big game animal is being targeted to protect privately owned livestock under a state-sponsored program to reduce the risk of bovine tuberculosis transmission between wild and domestic animals. The state Department of Natural Resources mailed thousands of free, unsolicited kill tags to farmers this year as part of a new, three-year program in the state's TB zone. The project doesn't sit well with some northern Michigan hunters and business owners who've seen white tail numbers falter in recent years, a trend that's reduced both hunting interest and local commerce. "If we've got to have a reduction in the deer herd, it should be through regular hunting methods," said Doug Mummert of Gaylord. "If they have an excess of deer, wouldn't it occur to them to manage that with bag limits during the regular season? If you're doing this, you'd be called an exterminator, not a hunter." Phil and Marva LaMore of Montmorency County worry whether deer herd cuts will affect their business, the Atlanta Motel, a popular resting spot for hunters. "If you continue to diminish the herd and you put the scare into people (about TB), they won't come back here, especially if they don't get a deer," Phil LaMore said. The latest estimated deer population in northern Lower Michigan is about 482,000 animals, compared to 752,000 a decade ago and about 695,000 deer 20 years ago. Meanwhile, Michigan earned more than $20 million in net revenue last year from the sale of deer hunting licenses in the regular bow and firearms seasons, officials said. Agriculture and natural resources The state over the last decade issued disease control kill tags when requested, and last year, 235 were sent out with 57 deer killed, far less than the 268 white tails already shot this year. The new program will dispense such kill tags in the state's TB zone -- north-central and northeast Lower Michigan -- on a virtually unlimited basis, DNR officials said. State officials took complaints in recent years from farmers who couldn't get such tags quickly enough. Now DNR officials send out such permits en masse, but for biological reasons and not just to appease the agriculture industry, said Steve Schmitt, DNR wildlife veterinarian. "You have to look at TB not as a 'we vs. them' situation, but in a way where we work together to eradicate the disease in deer and in cattle," Schmitt said. "We try to accommodate, but the thing we look at is the effect on the TB transmission rate." Rebecca Humphries, DNR director, said the press to cull white tails is meant to provide a tool for farmers who must assume responsibility to prevent deer and cattle from co-mingling. It's about protecting both deer and livestock, not giving way to agricultural needs by slighting hunters, she said. "It's a drop in the bucket. It's not an effort to reduce the herd in the area; that's during the fall hunting season," Humphries said. "We've got to break the (disease) transmission cycle." But agricultural interests fully support the program, including the Michigan Farm Bureau, said board member Patrick McGuire of Antrim County. "It's not to control the deer population. It's there to mitigate a risk that is prevalent," he said. "I think it's a very important tool. We have to eliminate TB in domestic cattle in northern Michigan and that's just a fact of life." Mummert believes state wildlife officials may be taking orders from elsewhere. "For some reason or another, special interests have dictated to our natural resource managers," he said. Bucky Buchholtz, an Atlanta bow-hunter and restaurant owner, thinks the program will leave too few deer in the woods. "They should have the regular season and be done with it. I think it is overkill," he said. Regulated hunting is a fairness issue, so readily available disease control permits for livestock protection naturally will bring concerns from hunters, said Jeff Davis, spokesman for the group Whitetails Unlimited. "That's a pretty valuable natural resource, so I can understand the frustrations of the deer hunters," he said, though he added disease control measures are important to protect both wild deer and cattle herds. By the numbers About 3,400 disease control deer tags were mailed this year to more than 600 livestock farmers -- five at a time -- who keep more than six animals in Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, Oscoda and Presque Isle counties. Nine requested and received more tags and 23 sent them back, state records show. Another 125 tags were requested by farmers in other counties, plus other landowners were given 280 tags within the TB hot zone. A total of 268 deer were culled in the northern Lower Peninsula with these permits between January and the end of March, including some shot by federal wildlife officials on private land. Permit holders can sign kill tags over to other shooters and five wildlife officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have carried out that task in northern Michigan in recent years. This year, federal officials shot 93 deer, paid for with federal TB eradication dollars, said Tim Wilson, USDA wildlife biologist. Deer killed under disease control permits can be -- but aren't always -- shot during legal hunting hours and preferably not when a doe is pregnant or caring for a fawn, said Tim Reis, DNR wildlife supervisor. But that's not always the case. "A lot of the time, it's after dark when the animals move in and begin feeding near cattle. It's a short window of opportunity," he said, conceding it is possible for pregnant deer to fall under a sniper's scope. 'A necessary evil' State officials long battled the spread of bovine TB, learning both wild and domestic animals can become infected by eating from tainted feed piles. The state's elimination of deer baiting in core TB counties is a result, along with annually required livestock testing. There were 44 cattle herds destroyed due to the disease in the last 10 years, while 593 free-ranging deer tested positive since 1995, state records show. Deer hunter Vic Ouellette of Gaylord believes the permitted disease control kills are a "necessary evil." "It's not something that's easily palatable to any sportsman. But you have to ask if it's something beneficial to the deer population down the road," Ouellette said. Antrim County farmer Marvin Rubingh owns a dairy operation in Ellsworth with 220 milking cows, where a dozen deer were shot this year under disease control permits. "I don't like the job. I'd just as soon have the hunters do it," he said. "If the average hunter would be willing to shoot the deer and not shoot for antlers, we wouldn't be in this situation." The risk of deer infecting livestock feed makes the elimination of those that draw too close essential, Rubingh said. "We as a dairy herd are regulated ... to have a TB test on every adult animal every year. If they find one that's positive for TB, they take the entire herd and I'm out of business," he said. Officials with the Michigan United Conservation Clubs believe control must continue over the deer herd because of TB transmission concerns, but would support finding a better way, said Donna Stine, MUCC deputy policy director. "Unfortunately, the regular hunting season is not sufficient to manage the herd to make sure the area is TB-free. It's a very delicate balance we're walking," she said. Tell us what you think on our forum: http://www.theoutspokensportsman.net/bureaucraticbsforum.htm?forumID=1948414&page=1&topicID=1130739
