Allocation system needs a complete overhaul
To the Expositor:
Again (as in the August 22 edition of the Manitoulin West Recorder), we are hearing of Manitoulin farmers and landowners being very upset with the MNR’s unfair allocation of antlerless deer tags for our annual deer hunting seasons. As you read through the article you can get the sense of frustration from the very people who, in a lot of cases, are “stewards of the land” and provide many deer with the nutritious alfalfa (and other various farm crops) that the deer consume year after year. It is their private land that they pay healthy taxes on and they cannot even be guaranteed an antlerless tag!
Now, by the looks of things, the MNR has screwed up again and apparently some of the tags issued for this year’s upcoming hunt have no indication on them as to whether they are for antlered or antlerless deer. Some hunters may remember a few years back of another major mistake when they issued extra tags to individuals to take antlerless deer in all three of our seasons (rifle, bow and muzzle loader). Should make for interesting conversation with a CO!
It was very interesting to read remarks made by Keith Beasley (Canada in the Rough) at the Whitetail Deer Show in Manitowaning (August 27 edition of The Expositor). When asked about the tag system on The Island he replied, “The system is broken…a buck tag should never be over the counter, a doe tag should.”
Also when asked if there was a possibility of a filming of an episode of ‘Canada in the Rough’ on Manitoulin, his reply was, “People don’t watch Bob Izumi to see him catch a 1 lb. bass,’ likewise people don’t watch Canada in the Rough to see a small buck harvested!
For many, many years now a small core group of Quality Deer Management advocates here on the Island have been trying to get their message out as to their feeling on what needs to be done to improve the quality of our whitetail herd here on the Island, but the concepts do not seem to have been accepted by the majority of Deer Advisory Committees and certainly not by the MNR. Now we see Keith Beasley sending out basically the same message to the deer hunters of Manitoulin. If we could succeed in changing the tag allocation system to a buck tag draw with the anterless tags being available over the counter (keeping in mind that the antlerless tag could not be used to harvest a buck) it would automatically solve many of the present problems. Firstly, all farmers and land owners would then have the ability to get an antlerless tag. Secondly, it would prevent a high number of young bucks from being taken (which is exactly what the present system of reducing antlerless tags does!) and most important of all it would help lower the doe to buck ratio in the herd which is imperative to maintain healthy quality herd!
It is clear that there are a lot of factors working against Manitoulin’s whitetail population: the tag system, increased coyote numbers and a very hard past winter with the potential of further hard winters to come.
Basically it comes down to Island deer activists either taking a proactive approach to bring about change to the present tag system or do we just continue to allow the MNR to mismanage it to the point where Manitoulin will fall off the map as one of Ontario’s top whitetail destinations (keeping in mind the economic value the annual deer hunt brings to this area)!
In ending I would like to throw in the following stats about our newest deer predators roaming the Island:
According to wildlife biologists, an adult male cougar will kill a deer every nine to 12 days, eating up to 20 lbs at a time and burying the rest for later. The average lifespan of a cougar is 12 years. Female cougars have one to four kittens every other year.
You do the math to estimate the consumption of deer for one year by just one cougar. Remember what Cheryl Seabrook saw that cougar chasing (in her Cougar Tails story). These ‘puddy tats’ don’t live on rabbits and squirrels!
Greg Young
Wikwemikong
