yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Here is a different spin on the impact of CWD to hunting. We know that is a slightly larger percentage of anti-hunters in the general population than hunters but that the vast majority of the public is somewhere in between. Most support hunting when portrayed in a positive light of wildlife management and community support and most don't when portrayed as a graphic blood sport.
Years ago I was part of a small core group that started Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia. The purpose was to use archery hunting as a tool for deer management in the Virginia suburbs of DC where firearm hunting was highly restricted. The idea was to bring together highly skilled bow hunters with property owners experiencing deer damage. It was a very hard sell at first. Suburbanites were litigiously concerned and had little heritage to give them an understanding of hunting. We were able to use insurance and some education to overcome some of these hurdles but one more thing that really engendered support was alignment with Hunters for the Hungry, a group most of you know that accept venison and monetary donations and use them to provide meat to soup kitchens and other delivery paths to the less fortunate.
This is consistent with groups like H4H helping to portray hunting as important to society as a whole and having a positive influence on the non-hunting public.
So, what happens to groups like H4H when a CWD outbreak occurs? Is it cost effective for them to have each deer tested? If not, as long as there is concern with human contact and consumption of deer with CWD, will they be able to continue to play this important role in the future as they have in the past?
At the same time, our numbers as hunters are diminishing through attrition as older folks leave the sport fewer younger folks are entering. Reaching out more to women and girls has helped slow but not reverse this trend. How does CWD and the related concern of contact and consumption affect recruitment?
My intent here is not to argue for more or less herd control or to support or condemn particular management techniques. It is to simply broaden the thinking to include some of the second order impacts that folks may not be considering.
Thanks,
Jack
Years ago I was part of a small core group that started Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia. The purpose was to use archery hunting as a tool for deer management in the Virginia suburbs of DC where firearm hunting was highly restricted. The idea was to bring together highly skilled bow hunters with property owners experiencing deer damage. It was a very hard sell at first. Suburbanites were litigiously concerned and had little heritage to give them an understanding of hunting. We were able to use insurance and some education to overcome some of these hurdles but one more thing that really engendered support was alignment with Hunters for the Hungry, a group most of you know that accept venison and monetary donations and use them to provide meat to soup kitchens and other delivery paths to the less fortunate.
This is consistent with groups like H4H helping to portray hunting as important to society as a whole and having a positive influence on the non-hunting public.
So, what happens to groups like H4H when a CWD outbreak occurs? Is it cost effective for them to have each deer tested? If not, as long as there is concern with human contact and consumption of deer with CWD, will they be able to continue to play this important role in the future as they have in the past?
At the same time, our numbers as hunters are diminishing through attrition as older folks leave the sport fewer younger folks are entering. Reaching out more to women and girls has helped slow but not reverse this trend. How does CWD and the related concern of contact and consumption affect recruitment?
My intent here is not to argue for more or less herd control or to support or condemn particular management techniques. It is to simply broaden the thinking to include some of the second order impacts that folks may not be considering.
Thanks,
Jack
