Here are some quick notes I typed while listening to the show for everyone that wasn’t able to tune in. The show was inspired after an article in The Des Moines Register. In the Register a writer from Van Buren County was concerned about NR's buying land for recreation purposes, mainly deer hunting. The writer was then concerned about the future of hunting and being able to own land in Iowa. They used the word "recreational land" to refer to land that is mainly bought up for deer hunting purposes.
These are just my notes and not my thoughts or opinions, all the facts came from the radio show.
First the host, Ed Fallon, and Iowa deer biologist, Tom Litchfield, discussed some basics:
25,000-30,000 deer road killed each year, but then later in the show they said 12,000-13,000, so I don't know what is correct. The report includes those reported and roadside surveys. Litchfield says the trend in car-deer collisions has been decreasing since 2004. When DNR does aerial surveys they don't look at urban areas, only really going along main rural travel corridors.
Many NR's are buying land in southern, central and extreme northeast Iowa. Many acres are bought up in neighboring counties around Des Moines for recreational purposes, mainly from the people in Des Moines and the suburbs. Farmers owning ground on neighboring properties of the recreational ground are feeling the pressure from the deer feeding on their ground.
Rural subdivisions and urban expansion are creating deer sanctuaries.
Mandating private properties that have high deer densities to have certain deer harvest percent is being discussed.
Then they took calls:
Some guy called in wanting to discuss increasing the cougar population, wanting laws to protect them. He suggested that doing so would help to manage the whitetail population. Litchfield responded in that they would go to eating more livestock, not deer. Litchfield then stated that coyotes are a high pressure to fawns during the spring and summer and to even full size deer in the winter.
Another caller called in discussing land being leased by NR's to create a business, in the form of hunting preserves. He also said that the average buck lives to 4.5 years. He stated that traveling south and looking to the west side of Interstate 35 south of Osceola there are hunting clubs that he can see that have high fences to keep deer there. The caller wanted to know if the fences keep the deer inside. Litchfield said it was the 2000 acre Teig Ranch, sp? Litchfield said the fences do a good job keeping the deer within the boundaries. The caller then suggested that all hunting preserves, since they have a lot of deer, be required to have high fences to keep the deer in. That would in affect keep the deer in those areas off of the roadways and out of neighboring farmer’s crops.
Ed Fallon, the host of the show mentioned the letter that was in in the Des Moines Register. In the letter the writer suggested that with the way things are going that in 10 years if you don't own land in the state that you would only be able to hunt public hunting land. Litchfield said that it is unfortunately a possibility, especially in certain counties. Ed Fallon, the host, then hinted that Iowa may be similar to Great Britain's history when hunting was a sport for the rich. Litchfield said that in 10 years that its stretch but in 15 to 20 years he could see that happening.
Caller from Clive, young guy, wants to be able to hunt and manage a deer herd one day. He said his dream is becoming distant due to NR landowners. He brought up the subject of rumors of increasing NR tags, therefore creating less land for him and others to hunt one day. Litchfield said those are just rumors, new legislation is brought up each year. Licensing is a legislative issue. Litchfield imagines that there will be another push for it this coming year. The host Ed Fallon, once again referred to the letter in the register where the writer stated that he borders 1500 acres that was bought up by a guy from Alaska in Van Buren County. Litchfield agreed that increasing NR licenses would increase NR land ownership, he says it’s a simple fix for the people in the state that want a quick fix to the high deer numbers, but they don't realize the deeper impact of that possibility.
Caller form Missouri, wants the number of NR tags increased. He suggested that increasing the number of NR tags would not make a lot of NR's like feel they need to buy land in Iowa in order to hunt here. Litchfield said buying land in Iowa does guarantee an antlerless tag. A lot of NR's buy land and lobby in hopes to change the law to allow a NR to be able to hunt every year. Litchfield had data that showed that 5.25% of Iowa’s hunters are NR's, the exact same as Missouri, who has no law on the amount of NR hunters allowed. Missouri had 25,000 NR hunters last year.
Caller from Leon asked Litchfield if the trophy hunting is negatively affecting the genetics of deer. He said it is decreasing deer size and body weight. Litchfield said that the same genetics are here. Litchfield stated that each year hunters harvest 30% of the herd. Harvesting deer impacts the age of the deer, not the genetics and that deer body size is just fine. Litchfield also said that more does are producing twins and that 12% produce triplets. Litchfield said Iowa’s deer population is down 10% from last year, and down 29% from its peak.
Another caller. He wanted to discourage NR from buying land. He says they are buying a commodity, the deer. He says that buying the ground is an economic thing. Litchfield says there are no restrictions on NR's buying land in Iowa. The deer are owned by the state, and managed for the benefit of the people of Iowa. Litchfield said that just shooting bucks is the recipe for creating a higher deer population.
Caller from Northeast Iowa. He called in saying that too many does are being shot. Some counties may have a large population and are therefore issued more antlerless tags but hunters cannot get access to those areas so then the hunters go to other parts of the county where they can get access and harvest to many does from those areas. Litchfield says the population is decline. He said that the areas where the numbers are really high need to be dealt with with depredation tags and not county-wide antlerless tags.
I listened to the whole show and the above were just my notes and they cover everything that was talked about. Basically everything has already been discussed on the forums here. I really liked Litchfield and felt he is on the side of us hunters. Tom and Ed Fallon did a nice job. Tom is really well informed and knows his stuff, he must be a member on Iowawhitetail lol.
I few things that I liked was the caller that suggested game preserves have high fences. That would keep a lot of deer in those areas off of the roadway, meaning that any anti-deer people out there would have fewer close calls while driving and less to complain about. Also it would keep the deer out of the neighboring farmers’ fields more, meaning fewer complaints from farmers. And also because I dislike hunting preserves lol. I like the argument of dealing with the high deer numbers with just depredation tags instead of county-wide antlerless tags. That way people who own a chunk ground who want a high population of deer for whatever reason could have that. The neighboring people could then apply and get depredation tags because the deer probably eat their crops, gardens, etc. and could hunt the deer that go to their land. I feel that would balance out well while keeping the hunting pressure in those counties down in the areas that are not honey holes.
and very well suited for his position. I wouldn't be concerned with the cougar population going unchecked with Tom around he was in charge of cougar numbers in Utah and lived in Montana before moving to Iowa. He is readily accessible to conversation, and urges all to pay attention to legislation if you want to have an impact at the state level.:way:
