Shooting of White and Albino Deer (cot)

[Mikey]

Shooting of White and Albino Deer


Posted on November 30, 2012
[img=http://www.outdoornews.com/Davis.jpg,right][/img]Jerry Davis
Some
interesting issues were brought to the forefront during the 2012 gun
deer season when two white deer were legally killed by hunters in Sauk
County.

It’s easy for news reporters to hype a store like this because there
are plenty folks willing to give energy-charged interviews.


There are reasons why white and albino deer can be hunted in some
regions of the state and not other areas. Most of the reasons are that
that is the way it’s been since 1940 when the first protection of albino
or white deer was put in place ( see Otis S. Bersing, 1956).


Then several years ago, management in the Chronic Wasting Disease
Management Zone allowed any deer to be taken because any deer – brown or
white – could be infected with CWD and could, therefore, infect other
deer.


White and albino deer are mutants, which in general are less vigorous
and could weaken the gene pool. Some mutants, of course, are more
vigorous.


So why are these hunters who shot white deer being crucified? Is this
all that different from the treatment some hunters get when they bring a
small deer, or a doe, to a registration station?


I recall a decade ago a reporter’s lead line in her opening day gun
deer season story. “The hunter brought in a deer to the registration
station he didn’t have to be ashamed of.” His deer was a large buck.


Are we to read into her lead that if we bring in a legal deer, albeit
an antlerless deer, we should be ashamed? That’s what she thought, and
that’s what she wrote.


So these hunters who shot the white deer, and shot them legally, are
being crucified. Why should someone have to take that much abuse for
doing something that is legal?


It makes sense to allow albino and white deer to be killed in the CWD
zone. And It makes sense to allow white (non-albino) deer to be killed
in the rest of the state, too. Hunters who believe these deer should
not be killed, can and probably will and do, take a pass.


And it is right for local folks who like the unique nature of these
deer to suggest they not be killed. But their opinion should not
replace the law.


Both sides should ease off, take a breath, and go about their ways.


Maybe an olive branch would be appreciated if the hunters had the deer
mounted and presented them to a local library, school or community
building, at least on a long-term loan. But the gesture should go the
other way, too.


We should hear in those same news reports of these hunters’ camp having been trashed.


And the community should not continue to encourage and allow news people to use them as pawns to sensationalize a story.

[Mikey]

this is a great points i have high lighted :

"And it is right for local folks who like the unique nature of these

deer to suggest they not be killed. But their opinion should not

replace the law.



Both sides should ease off, take a breath, and go about their ways.



Maybe an olive branch would be appreciated if the hunters had the deer

mounted and presented them to a local library, school or community

building, at least on a long-term loan. But the gesture should go the

other way, too.



We should hear in those same news reports of these hunters’ camp having been trashed.



And the community should not continue to encourage and allow news people to use them as pawns to sensationalize a story."