Some people who prefer the well being of their ornamental plants and turf grass aren't a part of the group of deer admirers that wax poetic over the white tailed creatures that prance through their yards. The increase in the flock that has sparked a huge deer repellent industry is being blamed on humans themselves who are continuously encroaching on the animals' territories. This proliferation that has become a worsening urban problem is also coupled with the abundance of food offered in gardens, milder winters and loss of predators.
According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, during the opening week of firearms hunting season that began on November 11, 2006, and closes tomorrow (Nov. 21), 124,271 antlered buck, button buck and doe were "harvested". This compares to the total of 205,460 harvested for the entire 2005 firearms season. Action 12 News has reported that for the period over 220,000 deer were harvested in Missouri, a new record.
The local county totals for opening week of the firearms hunting season were 823 deer in Jasper County and 810 in Newton County, falling far short of the counties in the state that are more rural and where deer can't seek a safe haven within city limits.
The deer hunting season in Missouri also includes Deer Antlerless from December 9 to December 17, 2006, Deer Archery from November 22 to January 15, 2007 and Deer Muzzleloader from November 24 to December 3, 2006.
Deer hunting in Grove, OK
Approving guidelines for a controlled hunt within the corporate limits of Grove, OK once more is on the agenda of the city council. Several local residents turned out in October 1994 to voice their opposition to the idea of having a deer hunt within the city limits. They cited the obvious--safety issues.
Twelve years ago a deer count wasn't made that could be used as a baseline to determine what the increase in the deer population within Grove has become today, but at least one citizen is concerned over the numbers. In the past the suggestion that the herd be "relocated" was dismissed due to its cost.
The goal of the Missouri DOC is to maintain the white-tailed deer population at levels that serve the best interests of the Missouri public. The landowner becomes the key to this process. Most deer management in Missouri, according to the DOC takes place on private properties.
DVD series, Building Whitetail Paradise is created
Bob Coine, a hunter, farmer and self-proclaimed conservationist from Illinois, turned video productionist saw the need to create learning materials for average hunters, land managers and wildlife enthusiasts. He wanted to share his knowledge gained from others like himself on how to improve one's property for wildlife. His DVD series, Building Whitetail Paradise was the result.
His series teaches how to set up and locate hunting plots by satisfying the needs of the white-tail deer population. He calls his advice not just "trophy management" but the need to learn sound ecological principles and to manage for diversity.
In preparing land as an attraction for wildlife, Coine says he's offering instruction for the baby boomers that have moved back to the land to build wildlife habitats on former row crop land. He teaches how to set up habitats that he considers "giving critters a helping hand."
Know "what deer you're killing" is the advice Coine offers hunters. "Let the young bucks go so they can grow" is one of his key components of whitetail management. Clayton Wehmoefer, 22, is considered a good sportsman, according to Coine, because he follows that principle.
Referring to holding off harvesting a buck, Coine says, "Instead of shooting, I get to watch him mark his territory." "In deer hunting there is no catch and release."
Wehmoefer's appearance on one of the DVDs illustrates the need to hunt. "I'm just really happy. I don't know how to explain it," he says of his hunting experience in which he's bagged three deer, two with a bow and one with a shotgun. He went hunting, he says, with his grandpa and a couple of uncles. "After I shot the first deer, it was all over," he said. "I just had to go hunting."
Coine says he wants to dispel the notion that "allowing does to live will produce more overage bucks". He believes that consequent nutritional stress means does produce fawns that live for only one or two weeks.
Cousin Jonathan Caldwell tells the listener that he's helped quality deer management by shooting a doe. "She'll taste good," someone says, confirming that hunting is not just a frivolous sport.
Involvement of kids
Children are inculcated with hunting even before they are old enough to have weapons put in their hands. Coine shows the viewers how children are used as trackers. In finding the dead deer, they are complimented. They begin to feel a part of the process at an early age.
My first deer hunt
Dawson Lynch of St. James, MO says his Dad Jason Lynch has decided he is "big enough to go hunting." They become two characters in a new children's book, My First Deer Hunt written and photographed by Dawson's uncles Curtis and Michael Waguespack. The nicely illustrated softcover book is an endearing tale of the adventures of a five-year old learning to be still in the presence of deer.
Hand in hand, father and son head into the woods. Both are wearing camouflage suits and bright orange vests and hats. They stop in Dad's "special spot where Dawson is shown the signs that deer were present.
Awaiting the arrival of deer, the two are surrounded by other wildlife captured in pictures by the Waguespack brothers. And then Dawson excitedly sees a deer, then another and another, but he points to them and they run away.
Father and son move to another spot where Dawson says he has learned to be "still as a statue." His lesson pays off when he spies an antlered deer which he knows to be a buck.
"Behind me, Dad makes a grunting sound like a buck. He must be trying to call it closer," Dawson says to himself. After the sound makes the buck head back the way it came, Dawson turns around to tell his Dad "how cool hunting is," but he discovers that his Dad had taken a snooze and missed the whole thing. Dawson decides he will have to share his excitement with his Dad on the way home.
The book contains about two dozen unnumbered pages with simple language. Containing no violence, it is a perfect primer for the hunter in the family to read to his or her younger child or children.
Curtis and Michael Waguespack grew up with the Ozark woodlands as their playground. Curtis, the older of the brothers, has an extensive hunting background. Michael, an experienced elementary and outreach educator, currently is working on a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing for children.
Building Whitetail Paradise
hosted by Bob Coine
Heartland Studio's Production
5 DVD set for $64.95 or $14.95 each
available at retailers or here.
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My First Deer Hunt
written and photographed by Curtis and Michael Waguespack
Country Kid Publishing, LLC
softcover unnumbered
ISBN: 0-9754624-0-7
$7.95
available here.
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