Threat of Axis Deer on the Big Island

[Obie]

I know this isn't Hawaii but it could be our future.Think about it.I can't grow anything in my yard there because of the deer.

In 2005, 27,000 Ohio drivers saw, up close, what a deer in the headlights really looks like. Those car-deer collisions carried a cost of $71 million. Deer damage to crops, timber and nursery plants cost farm families additional millions. One Farm Bureau member has documented $70,000 in personal losses, likely an extreme, but indicative of the problem. A Cornell University study said that nationally, deer do more than $2 billion in damage every year. What’s irritating to farmers, and presumably insurers and policyholders, is that while most everyone proclaims the joys of abundant wildlife, only a few are paying the associated costs.

Part of the problem is we have too much of a good thing. Ohio’s current deer herd is estimated at 600,000. Just 20 years ago, we had 150,000. Making things worse, the herd has grown while open space has shrunk. As we turn their habitat into housing tracts, we’re forcing the deer onto freeways and farms.

[Carey]

Interesting you brought up Molokai, as there have been hired eradication efforts on that island for more than a century, because of the damge the deer have done to the forest & watershed there…. In fact much of their watershed problems date back to the axis deer! A little history with links to more!:

4 male & 4 female axis deer were introduced to Molokai by KamahamahaV in 1868 and “by the turn of the century, most of the accessible forest on Moloka‘i had been destroyed (Griffith 1902). A report from 1904 (Hall) stated that “the only forest now remaining in the mountains of Moloka‘i is found at elevations above 1,500 feet at the east end of the island””
(http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dofaw/forestry/FR...20file.pdf)
“On Molokai the population increased to 1000 within 20 years and reached perhaps 7500 before specific control measures were taken; hired hunters killed more than 3500 during 1900-1901 (Tomich 1986).”
HEAR deer link:
http://www.hear.org/AlienSpeciesInHawaii...isdeer.htm

[MarkP]

"Deer eats crops. Man eats deer". I say cut out the middleman. Go directly to the farmer's fields in the middle of the night without his permission and take the crops without paying. Either way the farmer gets screwed and somebody gets food for free. Same thing.

[Big_Island]

Ask and you shall receive.... Leaving on our first hunt!
Wish us luck?

[oink]

quote:

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Originally posted by Big Island: Ask and you shall receive.... Leaving on our first hunt!
Wish us luck?

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Well, Good Luck!
And hows about a trip report afterward (with pic links of course).

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[microage97]

Sounds like fun. Is it true there is no limit?

Dave

[kalakoa]

I realize I'm just a dumb non-kanaka transplant newbie here, but...

If the deer aren't "managed" somehow, all the farmers/ranchers will need a massive bailout for their crop losses and 10-foot fences.

Who pays for this?

[Carey]

No limit,(Added ON PUBLIC GOUNDS... PRIVATE MUST HAVE PERMISSION)

BUT it is for SUPPOSED to be for those with HUNTING LICENSE (which very few on island on in state have.... Hawaii has one of the lowest HL per capita....)

WHO PAYS?? Some from the pathetic fines the transgressors are to pay.... the rest will be payed by farmers, landowners, government....ie, all of us will pay for the actions of a VERY FEW spoiled brats... (sorry, the rancher had been to MANY meetings & KNEW that the deer would be devastating here & the helicopter pilot had done years of service for BIISC, knew that it was "borderline legal" still did it... both are only in it for money & lost very little time or money by doing this... and are SPOILED BRATS...)

(OK, this is one of my tweek points...having worked on research on this & knowing that the counts are nowhere near what has been admitted to & found...& knowing what the gulches here can do for an invasive species invasion.....)

[microage97]

Well I for one would be all over hunting them after I arrive. Climbing a deer stand in slippahs might be challenging though. You don't want them to get out of hand like hogs. I wonder how they taste?

Dave

[kalakoa]

Put another way: the Big Island has hungry people, invasive meat animals, and people who like to hunt. Seems like a pretty good combo, but somehow the hungry are given non-nutritious ultra-processed "food product" which is often past the expiration date while the privileged few get newly paved roads, tax breaks, etc.

Pretty sure there's a better way to do this.