Michigan considers shutting down the UP deer hunt
http://www.realtree.com/brow-tines-a...15-deer-season
For anyone unfamiliar with the UP deer hunt - it's more culturally significant there than in rural central Ontario.
I killed my first buck in the Ottawa National Forest in the western end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
I may never hunt deer there again. Both by my choice and, perhaps, by regulation.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has put forth several points of consideration for the Natural Resources Commission, the panel responsible for setting Michigan's hunting and fishing regulations, in regards to deer hunting in the Upper Peninsula.
One of those considerations: closing the U.P. to deer hunting.
To put this in perspective, we need to take a quick look at the history of deer hunting in Michigan. It is, in fact, a history that mirrors the rise of whitetail hunting across the nation.
Michigan's deer-hunting tradition spans back more than 100 years. Prior to settlement in the 1800s, southern Michigan was home to a thriving population of whitetails. The mixed hardwood forests and open areas created an ideal habitat mix. On the other hand, the virgin confier forests of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula were habitat better suited to elk and moose, and there were few deer in those regions.
By the 1870s, as settlers began to flood southern Michigan, whitetails were all but gone, thanks to widespread habitat loss and unregulated shooting. Meanwhile, large-scale timbering of northern Michigan helped to create ideal habitat conditions, and whitetail numbers took off there. By the 1880s, more than 1 million whitetails lived in the northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Logging camps hired commercial hunters one of which was my great-grandfather to supply the camps with venison.
This commercial take of venison eventually led to the creation of Michigan's first regulated hunting season in 1895. Throughout the first several decades of Michigan's hunting history, northern Michigan continued to be the place to hunt whitetails for obvious reasons: that's where all the deer were.
But in the 1960s, things began to change. Whitetail numbers in the southern reaches of the state, where corn and soybeans are grown in great abundance, began to grow. At the same time, deer numbers in the northern reaches of the state began to slide.
By the 1990s, southern Michigan easily surpassed the northern portions of Michigan in both deer numbers and harvest totals.
And then the bottom fell out.
In the 2000s, Michigan saw population and harvest totals decline steadily in the northern portions of the state, with the Upper Peninsula seeing the most dramatic decreases.
Last fall, according to Michigan DNR estimates, the U.P. deer kill was down 40 percent from the previous season. And that season was down considerably from the year before... and dramatically from the boom times of 20 years ago.
Some areas of the Upper Peninsula had more than 40 inches of snow on the November 15 gun season opener, and the winter dragged on long and brutal.
Several consecutive years of harsh winter conditions have now taken place, prompting the recent DNR consideration of closing the U.P. deer season for 2015. Of course, it's important to keep in mind here that this is not an official proposal. It is merely one of several talking points the DNR has presented to the NRC in an effort to craft regulations that will ensure the long-term viability of deer hunting in the U.P.
But here's something to consider: is there truly a long-term future for whitetails in the Upper Peninsula?
Winter weather has certainly taken a toll on deer numbers in the region. But harsh winters aren't exactly a new occurrence there. The U.P. is a rough and rugged place. When deer numbers were booming there 100 years ago, winters were likely just as harsh. And yet deer numbers were high. Why? The same reason there weren't many deer there prior to settlement.
Habitat.
Before settlers arrived when winters were just as harsh as they are now there were few whitetails in the virgin stands of pine and aspen. But when logging operations cleared the land and allowed for new growth to occur, whitetails found a buffet of nutrition. Numbers boomed, and winters were still long and cold.
Today? Logging is done on a smaller scale, and much of the region is National Forest making prescribed fires and timbering a much trickier proposition. The habitat of today resembles that of pre-settlement. And deer numbers are starting to match those times as well.
In addition, there are wolves in the Upper Peninsula. It's no secret that wolves are voracious predators and that they can have an impact on deer numbers. Sensible predator control should take place, and that will likely help the situation some. But it's not a cure-all.
So what will happen?
Well, I don't think we will see the U.P. closed to deer hunting. So if you're a U.P. hunter, you can relax on that point. But I do expect we will see fairly significant regulation changes to protect more deer. At the same time, I'm not sure that it will do much, if any, good.
Far more deer are dying from winter conditions than are being tagged by hunters. And the same holds true with depradation by wolves.
I've been in the U.P. at the tail end of a long winter. I've seen the carcasses of deer that died from exposure. Wolves will take their share of deer. Hunters are taking their share, as well. But Mother Nature is taking more. Despite the taking of deer by hunters and wolves, we still see significant winter kill. That indicates the issue is not overharvest by hunter or predation. That indicates an issue with habitat and an inability for the land to support the deer that lived there.
If we kill fewer deer, will that not place more stress on limited food sources and yarding areas and lead to even more winter kill? In fact, that's likely to happen.
Prior to settlement, the habitat supported few whitetails. Then that habitat changed, and deer numbers boomed.
Winter conditions have been fairly consistent since the beginning. Wolf numbers aside, there has been but one factor that's determined whitetail boom or bust in the U.P.: habitat.
I can't help but wonder if the answer to the future isn't found in the past.
