Whitetail deer hunting is part of the American landscape. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that there were more than 10 million big game hunters aged 16 or older in 2006. According to Whitetails Unlimited, the whitetail deer's range is throughout the United States, except for some portions of the southwestern states.
Significance
According to State Farm Insurance, there were 2.3 million collisions between deer and vehicles from 2008 to 2010. Cornell University estimates that the deer population is 40 times larger today than it was in the early 1900s. According to Cornell, management, which includes hunting, is part of the reason behind the population growth.
Benefits
Whitetail hunting offers benefits both to the environment and to the deer population. Without management, deer populations will continue to escalate. Hunting keeps populations under control, which can prevent human-deer conflicts. It also helps strengthen the herd as a whole by removing weaker members. This allows the stronger, healthier deer to prevail, which means a better gene pool.
Considerations
Current populations of whitetail deer have no natural means of control. Predators such as wolves and cougars normally fulfill that role. However, the populations of these animals have declined because of wildlife management policies of the 1920s. For a time, predators were viewed as unnecessary to the environment. This perception began a campaign of elimination by the National Park Service and other agencies that brought some predator populations to the point of extinction.
Conflicts
Whitetail hunting is not without controversy. Many view hunting as cruel and unnecessary. Critics point out that food resources are plentiful in the United States, negating a need to hunt for food. However, according to "Missouri Outdoors," Missouri hunters donated more than 250,000 pounds of venison to needy Missouri citizens through the Share the Harvest program in the 2009-2010 hunting season, helping to fulfill an urgent need to supply protein.
Wildlife Management
The goal of hunting and wildlife management is not to decimate the whitetail population but to strengthen it. Hunting at specific times of the year maximizes the environmental benefits. Hunting also is a major revenue generator. Deer hunting in the United States generated more than $10 billion in revenue in 2001, according to the International Agencies of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. This money helped local economies as well as provided support for ongoing wildlife management.
References
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation
- Whitetails Unlimited: North American White-Tailed Deer
- State Farm Insurance: Number of Deer Collisions Rises
- Cornell University: General Deer Population Facts
- "Wildlife Management Techniques Manual"; The Wildlife Society; 1980
- National Park Service: The Predator Problem
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