Buzz from the Blind, Week Two
Published: Friday, December 6, 2019
Sadly, I don't have a terrific story of the perfect shot that brings down venison for our freezer. I do have a humiliating story of a not so terrific shot. (Hangs head.) I listened to my own lessons learned, but I should have been even more patient. I also need more target practice. Unfortunately, bullseye targets are easy. They don't move. Deer don't follow the same rules. However, last Saturday in the blind was a perfect fall day with ample entertainment from other woodland feathered and furred creatures as well as sunshine to warm my spirit and extremities.
Mr. Berens had ample opportunity to bring home the venison with multiple does in his neck of the woods, but he continues to wait for Mr. Big's grand exodus from the brush. Please don't wait too long, Sir. I am really counting on you, and not so much me, to bring home the venison.
Michigan has lots of controversy when it comes to management of our deer herd. There is Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), antler point restriction (APR), baiting ban, to change or not to change the beginning and end date of firearm deer season, and finally, our good old stand by issue, TB, which has been around forever.
Let's start with CWD, because that is something that most states will likely have to address at some point. Chronic Wasting Disease is a prion based distant relative of Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis—Mad Cow Disease. The scary part of this is its prion base in the soil. Once it's there, it's there for good, and at this time, eradication methods aren't getting anywhere. The disease shows up in dense herd populations, and we happen to be hunting one of those.
To come up with a plan for an attempt at containment, Michigan DNR under direction of the Natural Resource Council, outlawed all baiting practices, and enacted a confusing set of testing regulations. Heads are supposed to be brought to a DNR station for testing, yet the stations are neither consistent nor convenient with open hours. Processors don't all seem to be on the same page, and overall, it has left a very confusing mess for the sportsperson to sort out. Many have chosen to forgo tag purchases this year, which leads to fewer dollars for conservation efforts, a burden which has been born on the backs of hunters of all types for decades.
Baiting bans are based on out of state CWD studies. Whether or not these studies are of sound science is debatable, depending on who you ask. So, baiting is—for now—illegal. (Don't tell the deer congregating under the apple tree in the fence row that they are criminals.) Michigan legislators are considering measures to over-rule the ban for next year. Bagging and selling deer corn, apples, carrots and sugar beets, has big impacts the income of numerous small businesses and feed mills every year.
Somehow, antler point restriction got thrown into the mix as a veiled idea to slow CWD's spread and APR was implemented in the core CWD area in central Michigan. Now, if landowners in a given area want to work together to implement APR voluntarily, please go right ahead! However, we have had to pass on bucks that we would have been taken in our home county. Statewide APR was soundly defeated in a poll of deer tag buyers several years ago. Tying APR to CWD appears to be a sneaky way of those pushing the original idea to get their way, even though the majority of local hunters don't agree with the concept.
Lots of issues and just as many opinions in Michigan's hunting world. We will see what happens in state level agency and legislature for 2020. In the meantime, I'm not quite finished hunting for the year yet so there is still hope!
Bev Berens is a freelance writer and FFA parent from Holland, Mich. She can be contacted at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com.
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