Knimrod
03-18-2006, 11:50 PM
Though TB in herd decreasing, now's not the time to loosen deer regs
March 18, 2006
By Bob Gwizdz
Booth Newspapers
ALPENA -- No topic inspires as much passion among sportsmen in this state as deer hunting. Seemingly harmless topics -- Should the limit be one buck or two? Should hunters be required to hunt minimum acreages to use antlerless permits? -- can turn normally rational individuals into fire-breathing zealots. Disagree and you are likely to be labeled ignorant or stupid, or -- my favorite -- a co-conspirator in some vague plot to destroy deer hunting for some equally vague purpose.
But as sportsmen argue amongst themselves about what policies will provide optimum numbers or bigger antlers, state officials are making decisions that have real-world consequences that many deer hunters rarely consider.
Take, for instance, the case of Kendall Sumerix, a chemistry teacher and beef cattle grower just inside the northeast boundary of Deer Management Unit 452, the tuberculosis zone.
Sumerix, who runs a cow-and-calf operation, has up to 230 head (after spring calving) on his 120-acre ranch. He owns two more pieces of property for hay production and leases more for the same purpose.
Sumerix estimates he spent $17,000 constructing a 4-foot woven wire fence -- with two additional strands of barbed wire on top -- around his cattle ranch and another $15,000 to build a 5-acre enclosure with a 10-foot fence for storing his hay.
Since the fence has gone up, Sumerix said, he's seen only one deer on his property -- during deer hunting season, an animal that was pushed from an adjoining place hopped the fence. By the time Sumerix got out there with his rifle, the deer had already left.
Sumerix walks the perimeter of his place every so often to make sure of the fence's integrity. "I never saw a (deer) track inside the fence," he said.
Then in February, Sumerix got the bad news: One of the cows in his TB-free accredited herd tested positive for M. bovis. All of his cattle will have to be destroyed, which is standard operating procedure.
Officials are uncertain about how Sumerix's cows were exposed. Elaine Carlson, the Department of Natural Resources' biologist in the area, said Sumerix did everything possible, short of enclosing his place in a 10-foot fence, to safeguard his herd. But it wasn't enough.
Although Sumerix will be compensated for his loss, he'll be out of business for at least two years, maybe longer, as he rebuilds a herd and his operation. But more tragic is what is lost in the interim; his 14-year-old daughter, who was planning to show her calf in the 4-H competition for the first time this year, is out of the game, too.
"My daughter is as much attached to her calf as most hunters ever were to their hunting dogs," Sumerix said. "She asked me why they had to take hers."
Fortunately, the methods used to address TB in DMU 452 appear to be working. Both the incidence of tuberculosis infection and the transmission rate of the disease are falling. State officials are optimistic that if they stay the course -- continue to maintain the herd at its present level (or lower) and continue to make baiting and supplemental feeding of deer illegal, the state's deer herd could be TB-free in a decade.
Meanwhile, as TB slowly begins to disappear, political pressure builds to allow the deer herd to grow (by cutting back on antlerless permits) and to allow hunters to begin baiting and feeding again.
That's understandable. Sportsmen are passionate about deer hunting.
But tuberculosis in the deer herd has been one long nightmare and while we could be on the verge of recovering from it, we're not there yet.
As sportsmen push to loosen the regulations, I would hope state officials would perform one simple function before they agree: Ask Kendall Sumerix how much TB in the deer herd is acceptable?
Link to article (http://www.mlive.com/sports/statewide/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/114237780567740.xml&coll=1)
March 18, 2006
By Bob Gwizdz
Booth Newspapers
ALPENA -- No topic inspires as much passion among sportsmen in this state as deer hunting. Seemingly harmless topics -- Should the limit be one buck or two? Should hunters be required to hunt minimum acreages to use antlerless permits? -- can turn normally rational individuals into fire-breathing zealots. Disagree and you are likely to be labeled ignorant or stupid, or -- my favorite -- a co-conspirator in some vague plot to destroy deer hunting for some equally vague purpose.
But as sportsmen argue amongst themselves about what policies will provide optimum numbers or bigger antlers, state officials are making decisions that have real-world consequences that many deer hunters rarely consider.
Take, for instance, the case of Kendall Sumerix, a chemistry teacher and beef cattle grower just inside the northeast boundary of Deer Management Unit 452, the tuberculosis zone.
Sumerix, who runs a cow-and-calf operation, has up to 230 head (after spring calving) on his 120-acre ranch. He owns two more pieces of property for hay production and leases more for the same purpose.
Sumerix estimates he spent $17,000 constructing a 4-foot woven wire fence -- with two additional strands of barbed wire on top -- around his cattle ranch and another $15,000 to build a 5-acre enclosure with a 10-foot fence for storing his hay.
Since the fence has gone up, Sumerix said, he's seen only one deer on his property -- during deer hunting season, an animal that was pushed from an adjoining place hopped the fence. By the time Sumerix got out there with his rifle, the deer had already left.
Sumerix walks the perimeter of his place every so often to make sure of the fence's integrity. "I never saw a (deer) track inside the fence," he said.
Then in February, Sumerix got the bad news: One of the cows in his TB-free accredited herd tested positive for M. bovis. All of his cattle will have to be destroyed, which is standard operating procedure.
Officials are uncertain about how Sumerix's cows were exposed. Elaine Carlson, the Department of Natural Resources' biologist in the area, said Sumerix did everything possible, short of enclosing his place in a 10-foot fence, to safeguard his herd. But it wasn't enough.
Although Sumerix will be compensated for his loss, he'll be out of business for at least two years, maybe longer, as he rebuilds a herd and his operation. But more tragic is what is lost in the interim; his 14-year-old daughter, who was planning to show her calf in the 4-H competition for the first time this year, is out of the game, too.
"My daughter is as much attached to her calf as most hunters ever were to their hunting dogs," Sumerix said. "She asked me why they had to take hers."
Fortunately, the methods used to address TB in DMU 452 appear to be working. Both the incidence of tuberculosis infection and the transmission rate of the disease are falling. State officials are optimistic that if they stay the course -- continue to maintain the herd at its present level (or lower) and continue to make baiting and supplemental feeding of deer illegal, the state's deer herd could be TB-free in a decade.
Meanwhile, as TB slowly begins to disappear, political pressure builds to allow the deer herd to grow (by cutting back on antlerless permits) and to allow hunters to begin baiting and feeding again.
That's understandable. Sportsmen are passionate about deer hunting.
But tuberculosis in the deer herd has been one long nightmare and while we could be on the verge of recovering from it, we're not there yet.
As sportsmen push to loosen the regulations, I would hope state officials would perform one simple function before they agree: Ask Kendall Sumerix how much TB in the deer herd is acceptable?
Link to article (http://www.mlive.com/sports/statewide/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/114237780567740.xml&coll=1)