WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24,1999

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24,1999

Our View

Deer harvest?

Accidents, crop damage and disease

mark the increased deer population

There was once a time when the “deer problem”

in the Piedmont was much less serious than it is

today. The human and wildlife balance has changed dramatically since those more rural times, bringing with it an explosive mix of backyard gardens, commuting road warriors and herds of white tail deer dancing through.

Despite well-intended efforts of the Virginia Game Department, the deer population here and throughout Northern Virginia continues to multiply, bringing with it growing numbers of highway injuries and deaths, damage to the woodland ecosystem, and disease and famine to the overpopulated deer themselves.

While the sale of hunting licenses — with assured quarry for all — is a primary revenue source for the Game Department, that is no longer justification for its failing to launch a more aggressive hunting campaign.

The department’s programs, including bow and arrow, black powder, rifle, and deer management assistance (for doe and crop damage) have not begun to face reality: there are just too many deer around.

The herds themselves by now have adapted to the hunting season. The deer have learned that when the guns are banging, they can simply move into the sanctuary of nearby lands where hunting is prohibited.

We have to change our mindset from “hunting and killing” deer, to “harvesting” them to control the growing damage and to benefit the deer population itself.

This is not heartlessness; it is human and wildlife reality in the late 20th century here. With the recent season ended, the Game Department and county governments should now lay out a new game plan for a realistic harvesting of white tail deer.