As discussed in our last blog post, the conversation around money has overshadowed an important plot development regarding how America’s changing values will influence conservation:
(Drum roll please…)
How will managers control deer populations if people don’t hunt?
Unfortunately, shooting deer with cameras instead of guns won’t help manage the population.
After all, hunting is the most common way for an adult deer in Pennsylvania to meet its end. What happens when all those deer in our freezers stay in the forest and fields instead?
Even with diverse funding sources, it is difficult to picture what Pennsylvania would look like without hunters removing 300,000+ deer each year.
Diminishing hunting pressure has already contributed to increasing deer populations. And deer overpopulation can cause a lot of problems.
There are many important potential outcomes of America’s character arc and changing values. But fewer hunters in our state, and the effect it could have on the number of deer on the landscape, could be an important plot to pay attention too.
-Tess Gingery
