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" Jim....Here in Wisconsin we have a cure for wolves.....turkey hunters from Seneca. "

" All the things is this editorial also apply to food plots with the added problems with a bunch of unnecessary agra chemicals being released into the environment near streams and lakes.

Deer overpopulation, supported by food plot feeding, leads to increased damage to farm crops every year. For 2007, Wisconsin will pay more than $1.3 million in agriculture claims to farmers due to deer damage.

Food plot feeding promotes deer overpopulation, which threatens the health of Wisconsin forests by changing the composition and vigor of our forests, and limiting the benefits we all derive from them.

Deer in high numbers feed on young trees, preventing their growth, and preventing forests from regenerating, a major problem for public and private forest landowners.

Our forests are becoming increasingly important as a source of renewable products, both from traditional industries and in the emerging bio-energy markets. Deer herds kept artificially high by food plot feeding jeopardize our ability to realize the full potential of our forests both for renewable energy and to maintain one of the largest sectors of Wisconsins economy.

Feeding of deer increases reproduction and survival, and alters natural movement patterns of deer, making traditional herd control methods less effective and increasing the need for other tools like Earn A Buck and October hunting seasons.

Food Plot feeding causes deer to go nocturnal and concentrates deer on refuges, making a successful and satisfying hunting experience more difficult.

Food Plot feeding concentrates deer on the private property of those who can grow the most food most often and reduces opportunities for hunters who rely on public hunting lands. Hunters and property owners consistently report that they only plot because their neighbor does, and food plotting often leads to conflict between hunters on both public and private land.

Overpopulation of deer has a direct link to increased car-deer collisions. Car-deer collisions cause $70 million a year in personal property damage in Wisconsin and hundreds of injuries each year. Food plots keep the population artificially high.

What about all the addition agra chemicals being dumped into the environment by the food plotter? After viewing a few food plot web sites, I read for an acre of that that folks apply re. Apply at least 300 lbs of 13-13-13 or equivalent at planting. They respond very well to high nitrogen fertilizers like ammonia nitrate (34-0-0) apply 150-200 pounds of 34-0-0 every 45 days and not harm your plants. In our seed fields we use the equivalent of 800 lbs of ammonia nitrate per growing season.

so that's 300 pounds of 13-13-13 and 150-200 pounds of 34-0-0 every 45 days. the equivalent of 800 lbs of ammonia nitrate per growing season.

To heck with the environment and who lives down stream (or in the stream) By God, if it gets me a deer, I don't care.


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" I learned first hand the perils of feeding deer when I relocated and moved to the Texas Hill Country. Seeing the deer struggle to find food (or so I thought), I took to feeding them with corn and pelletized deer food.

Soon my yard was overrun with deer. Once the feed I put out was exhausted, they took to the knocking down bird feeders and eating every plant and flower in sight.

The herd of eight or so deer I originally fed, soon grew to eighteen.

After talking with the owner of the local feed store, he explained that in certain areas, the deer were genentically stared as well as almost totally reliant on humans as a food source. Tame does not discribe their nature.

I quit feeding the deer and for the first time in my life, saw the remains of newborn fawns. I learned from the Fish & Wildlife guy that the does, not supported by humans as a food source, was culling the herd to return it to size by not nursing their fawns.

The deer I see now are back at around eight. they look healthy, and seem content not to eat my plants anymore. "

" I have no science on this but it does seem logical that feeding deer also impacts wolf predfation in some way. One aspect might be that
private land feeding could attract wolves to that area and increase wolf/human contact problems such as livestock depredation.


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