Interesting article on Sports Illustrated site
One of the guys over at Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors posted up a link to a pretty intriguing article on the Sports Illustrated Vault site. One of the key premises of the piece is how the decline of hunting is beginning to impact the natural order, and the animals once kept in check by hunting are now expanding back into human territory.
The article begins with the story of Kenton Carnegie and his fatal encounter with wolves up in northern Canada. The event is significant, because until that point in North America, there had only been one human death from a wolf attack in 100 years. Is this a sign of things to come, or just an anomaly? It’s a good question.
Anyway, a good part of the article is based on the work and theories of Dr. Valerius Geist, an environmental scientist and a specialist in the behavior of large mammals. Here’s a bit from the article itself:
Valerius Geist, a professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Calgary and an expert on the behavior of large mammals, calls what is happening “the recolonization by wildlife.” The first sign, he says, “was when the herbivores returned,” a reference to the overabundance of deer, moose and elk in North America. After the herbivores, Geist says, the carnivores are never far behind. “We are just now beginning to experience that phase,” he says. As recently as 1994 there were about 50 wolves left in the Yellowstone region (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming), but the population there now stands at more than 1,500; in Minnesota wolves climbed from about 500 in the 1950s to more than 3,000 today.
The third phase of animal recolonization, Geist says, is “the parasites and diseases returning in full force.”
The population explosion of white tailed deer over much of the eastern US, and the boom in elk throughout Colorado are good examples of the kind of “recolonization” Geist describes. With the issues surrounding the return of wolves to Yellowstone and that area, it’s an idea that bears a lot of examination.
At any rate, it was a really intriguing read. If you get half a chance, go read the article, and if you’re so inclined drop back in here and let me know what you thought.
That’s a great article. Outstanding. It’s no surprise to hunters - particularly hunters that live with wolves - that predators need to be managed or everything gets thrown out of balance. When prey is abundant, predators are even more abundant - and if nothing preys on the predator, then the balance is even more out of whack. I remember when I was a kid and there weren’t many rabbits around. Not many rabbits, meant there weren’t many coyotes. Then here about ten years ago, the rabbit population started to grow. And then about 8 years ago, the coyote population boomed - and it is still booming. The wolves have followed the game into parts of Idaho, and even though our cloven hooved critters are declining, the wolves have no predators, so of course they won’t be declining. Over population of anything isn’t good. Whether it be turtles, elk, bear, wolves, or people. It just isn’t good - disease is sure to follow, it screws up the balance in nature, it throws everything out of whack. If we could manage critters through hunting, nature pretty well returns to balance. Hunting has worked as a way to manage wildlife for 4,000 years - why do we decide we need to change it now?
November 26th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I do have a theory about poor Kenton Carnagie and that is the fact that being a complete Vegetarian, his scent told the wolves that he was simply “prey”.
Little known fact here: Wolves,Coyotes and domestic dogs can’t see any better than humans, but their sense of smell is beyond exceptional and, they can smell the sharp metallic scent of adrenaline as easily as humans can smell “bacon” cooking from quite a few miles away!
Couple this with the fact that Carnagie was full of the pungent aromas of an herbivore fleeing in fright and what you get, is a tasty meal which sent a pack of hungry wolves into a feeding frenzy.
I guarantee that I would not succumb to such a ghastly ending without taking (bare handed) a few of those wolves with me!
The very root of the problem in the declining numbers of people who are not venturing out and into the woods to hunt is a bit more complex and multi faceted than any single factor.
One such factor which we have already discussed on your blog here phillip is the “cost”!
The guys gathered at the “Black Bear Lodge” dressed in camo and participating in “virtual Reality Games” shows that a large part of the population still has “the passion for hunting implanted in their breast” to quote Mr. Dickens.
But they have chosen a less expensive way to fulfill their need to get out and into the woods to hunt.
I have spoken many times about the clinical term coined around 20 years ago now, and that term is: Wilderness Deprivation!
This is why Yosemite Park has to turn away visitors every year and, the waiting list to get into that park can sometimes be as long as 2 years in advance when you book your reservations. Apparently they are now calling it: Nature Deficit Disorder!
The “No Child Left Inside” bill? I am immediately suspicious of because the term which they use: Environmental Education, sounds too much like a thinly veiled Animal Rights Agenda and I would like to get my hands on a copy of this bill to see just what is being proposed here.
I simply teach my children the basic principles of “survival” and to “not” fall victim of being someone or somethings “prey”! I do not rely upon the “system” to tell them where our meat comes from.
I really like the way Mr. Lieberman butchers a sheep in front of his students to teach them that meat does not magically appear in the supermarkets coming neatly presented in styrofoam and cellophane wrapping.
Kudos to you Dr. Lieberman!
This whole story is really nothing new to people like us who are out there and in the wilderness most every day.
We see more animals and witness the subtle changes in their environment in one single year, than most all of the “armchair adventurers” will ever witness within their lifetimes.
It is really sad though that States like California, have overburdened its populace with so many restrictive laws that we now have had to resort to hiring Professional Hunters from Australia to come and eradicate an overpopulation of Hogs on an Island!
When all it would take is to have the State, run a few “Public Hunts” The problem would be taken care of naturally, and the State would “generate” income instead of paying out hundred of thousands of dollars to foreign interests.
That would be too simple of a solution though!
November 30th, 2008 at 3:11 am