I rent our fields to a neighboring farmer who plants mostly corn, soybeans, and hay. Last fall he planted a cover crop of winter wheat which he will plow under this spring. Tonight when I went up to close the chicken pen, there were 14 fully grown deer in the field of winter wheat. That is like a herd of cattle.
When the soybeans or corn are planted, those deer will decimate those crops. Hunters are not keeping the herds down. The forests in the Poconos have little underbrush; the deer eat up to what is called “the browse line.” People feed them corn, which further increases their number.
They have no natural predators left in the east. It is time we import some. Plus, wolves would help to rid us of the feral cats. The whole ecosystem would improve. Let’s do it. And you know I am serious.
Same in California - some call deer "the rats of the foothills"
ReplyDelete