I sent this to a long time friend and avid hunter for his opinion: Thanks for the explanation, just what I suspected. The rapidly growing Whitetail Deer hunting mania phenomenon is out of control with a continual demand for more deer even though their current population already represents an environmental problem. You can see it in so many ways. In our lifetime we have seen the dramatic changes from the days when if one of our friends killed a "4 Pointer", or even if he killed a Deer, period, we would visit, have a beer and offer our congrtulations. Today, even teen age girls and boys are routinely killing adult Bucks. I personally know of hunters who kill 6 Deer in a Season. An "8 Pointer" is no longer longer considered a trophy. Men, who cannot afford it, spend family money to go to places where they can kill "a really big Buck" even though its done from a tower over baited fields and a carefully managed Deer herd. I've come to the conclusion that the seemingly fast growing number of new Deer hunters is attributable to the fact that it is so easy to get one, two, three, four or more in one season. And, in many cases these are people with little or no woodsmanship. Add to this the enormous lobbying influence the Deer Industrial Complex has with States from their Governors on down so they can sell night scopes, cameras, scent, clothes, bows, cross-bows, rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders, videos, seed and plants to bait deer, drones, blinds, RVs, blinds, boots and on and on and on. And the States are competing to offer longer and longer Seasons with more liberal limits to attract their fair share of license fees. The idea of a traditional Deer hunt our Grandparents and Parents experienced with a 30/30 and "open sights", a pair of Bean Rubber Bottom boots(guaranteed to freeze your feet by
8:00 AM) and your handed down twenty pound Woolrich coat with a sandwich and "thermos"( guaranteed to provide ice cold coffee) alone in the woods without benefit of Rv would be unthinkable to many of todays Deer hunters, particularly if they knew the chances of even seeing a Deer all day, or maybe all week, were slim to none. And now it's still not good enough. We want more Deer. Let's kill all the Coyotes. And, we don't spend 2 cents on other Wildlife. Grouse are becoming practically extinct in Southern Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Mass. and Ct. And for the relatively few remaining Upland hunters, it is sad that they are unable to spend a day in the Grouse Woods without the great fear their beloved dog might be caught in a Coyote trap and never found. But, it's still not good enough. Even though Deer Biologists agree we have too many Deer, we are now going to put a bounty on Coyotes, and don't for a minute think this practice will stay in s. Carolina
