June 6, 2023

Maine Biologists Concerned About Ticks on Deer But Not on Moose

May 21, 2020 by Leave a Comment

The more I watch the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) biologists operate, the more I just simply wonder what it is these people are learning, from whom are they learning it, and then I ask myself why I should have any confidence at all that any wildlife management plan is worth more than a pile of moose dung.

It doesn’t take a lot of brains to come to the conclusion that the deer population in Maine is mostly concentrated in the southern half of the state, and that southern sector could be pared down to a concentration of deer in the center of the state. It is understandable then that should the state wish to reduce the deer population, claiming it is now approaching 300,000 (I seriously doubt that), it needs to be done in areas where there are too many deer. That chore is impossible to achieve because there’s not enough open-to-hunting land in these high deer population areas – that’s why there’s too many deer. Increasing “Any-Deer Permits” (ADP) is kind of like what happens when a feller decides to relieve himself while facing a brisk wind.

But, that doesn’t stop the biologists from trying.

I was reading an article in the Portland Press Herald this morning about how MDIFW intends to allot 109,890 ADPs. In 2018, the MDIFW set a new record in ADP allotments shelling out 84,745 ADPs. That year was the ONLY time in MDIFW history of utilizing ADPs to manage the deer population (since the mid-80s), that MDIFW actual met their objective of doe kills.

But is this really the issue here?

Let’s look at MDIFW’s previous statements about how it intends to manage wildlife now that we live in an environmentalist’s post-normal idiotic wildlife management era.

Not that long ago, MDIFW let the public know they no longer intend to count wildlife and use that knowledge as part of their wildlife management plans. Instead, their belief is that if they concentrate on a Kumbaya approach toward sensing the overall health of the herd, that will be good enough. No, really! That’s what they told us.

And yet, in the Portland Press Herald article, the head deer biologist said that the statewide deer population in Maine is close to 300,000. Evidently guessing at the deer population is good enough to justify to the citizens of Maine why the MDIFW intends to issue nearly 110,000 ADPs. Can’t they confirm their deer management goals and what needs to be done to control the population in places where you can’t hunt, by gaining a sense of the overall health of the deer herd? BALDERDASH!!!!!!!!

In the same news report, the same head deer biologist says that in 2018 when the MDIFW decided to issue 85,000 ADPs one of the reasons was because of concerns about “tick-borne diseases in southern and central Maine” in which biologists attribute to too many deer that can carry ticks that spread Lyme disease.

And yet, Maine’s moose population is being systematically decimated due to too many winter ticks. Now granted, I do have enough brains to understand that the ticks the deer carry, can spread a disease that is harmful to people and that, as far as we know, winter ticks on moose are not harmful to people but…but…but…what about the health of the herd? Who cares how many moose there are, even though moose populations are directly proportional to the number of winter ticks, just as biologists believe the number of deer is directly proportional to the spread of Lyme disease? And we have a wildlife management department that doesn’t think counting animals has much benefit?

Does it make any sense at all that wildlife managers are telling us one thing and seemingly doing something else, while at the same time can’t seem to figure out the correlation between deer and moose populations and ticks?

Why should we believe or trust to believe anything these people are doing and saying? Maybe it’s all driven by money? Maybe. Maybe not. Is there money to be made is caving in to the demands of environmentalists, telling the public one thing and doing another? Last time I checked, there are no licenses and fees required to become an environmentalist.

It’s all frustrating as hell.

Evidently a member of Maine’s IFW Advisory Council asked why the state didn’t return to an either sex hunting season, where any licensed hunter can shoot either sex of deer…like we used to and the way other states have done in attempts to reduce their deer numbers (evidently other states are still counting deer?). The answer was put this way. The head deer biologist said that if allotting 110,000 ADPs doesn’t take care of meeting the goal of doe kills, “other methods of thinning the herd will be considered.” This was followed by this highly scientific explanation (rolling the eyes here), “I think it would be hard to take a step back from that once you go in that direction.”

Please correct me if I’m wrong here as I’m not a certified deer biologist or a wildlife manager. I believe what the deer biologist/manager is saying is that should efforts taken in adjusting the issuing of ADPs doesn’t meet management goals, the choices would be better to sit on their asses and do nothing rather than “take a step back” to try something else. Who decided that trying another management strategy was taking a step back?” And why was this person hired as a head deer biologist? And why are any of them paid money for what they do?

If portions of southern and central Maine have too many deer (of course I still don’t know how the MDIFW knows this because they told us they don’t count wildlife anymore) then something ought to be done to reduce numbers. There is no reason that any of us should have much faith in deer manager’s decisions and the stupid excuses they use to justify their actions. Then when it’s all over, they can make up any story they want to cover their butts.

Is the MDIFW using this issuing of a ridiculous number of ADPs, hoping more hunters will apply for a permit, simply a money making scheme? One has to ask.

Some day, my dream will be that even though winter ticks don’t make humans sick, that we know of yet, biologists will figure out that reducing the number of moose will directly result in fewer ticks, just like with deer. So, instead of the woods littered with dead moose that suffered and died needlessly, why not let hunters take a few extra moose for meat in the freezer rather than feeding coyotes? I’m still trying to make sense out what these people do.

All of this reminds me of the time I took my car to the garage to remedy the skip in the engine. I checked back with the mechanic a few days later and he began to tell me all the parts and pieces he had replaced and still the motor had a skip.

Share
Filed Under: Deer Hunting, Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News Tagged With: , , ,

A “Naturally Occurring” Fungi To Kill Moose Ticks? What Possibly Could Go Wrong?

October 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Oh my! I was reading this article about how entomologists have discovered what they call a “naturally occurring fungi” that, in lab conditions, attacks and kills the dreaded winter tick, or moose tick, that is being blamed for killing moose in numbers not satisfactory to the wildlife managers…or so it keeps being repeated.

The idea, evidently, is to figure out what dosages and how to apply it to the forests so that it finds its way to the ticks/larvae in order to have any affect. We should be asking, what could possibly go wrong?

Reading the article, it is difficult to make actual sense from much of it because it is laced with repeated mythology about the winter tick – such things as how global warming contributes to the increased number of ticks on the landscape. Mixed in with the mythology, we can extract a few comments, etc. from the scientists who are working on this project – enough to at least say, what to ???????

This is the part that causes normal thinking people to scratch their heads in confusion wondering about the hypocrisy in thinking, or the lack thereof.

Yesterday I wrote a short piece about the criminal U.S. Senate, who in one breath say we are all gonna die because there are too many cars and too much carbon dioxide, which is warming the planet, and…and…and…yes, we are all gonna die if they don’t do something about taking our cars away from us so members of Congress can fly bigger, faster planes. In the next breath, the Senate unanimously approves a bill to better promote America’s Scenic Byways, to encourage more people to drive more cars, longer distances…and what the hell happened to we’re all gonna die?

When it comes to ticks, cast aside are any thoughts from the post-normal society of automatons who claim they want Mother Nature to rule everything. They believe hunting, trapping, and fishing should be stopped because of animal’s “rights” and that actions such as these are destroying game animals and in return just the thought of hunting is having negative effects on the entire ecosystem – that man should just butt out of any sort of wildlife management and let things take a “natural” course.

But then, along comes somebody with a potentially dangerous suggestion of how to kill winter ticks (a naturally occurring entity) in order that we can artificially grow more moose. Forget any notions that the real reason there are so many ticks is because there are too many moose and “Mother Nature” is doing what it does to kill off much of the moose population as a means of attempting to mitigate the tick problem, which is, must be anyway, upsetting the ecosystem. Oh, my! Are we all gonna die?

So, another question is, what is the purpose of thinking that a “naturally occurring” fungus might kill off the winter tick? Is it because this effort has monetary profit? Is it because we are all gonna die from too many ticks? Is it because some people want to have more moose to play with?

And here’s a brilliant question. If the fungi that can kill winter ticks is “naturally occurring” then why isn’t it, in the grand scheme of Natural Regulation, already mitigating the winter tick problem and any other problem that might be solved by its existence?

In the entire article I can’t find anywhere any kind of discussion of protection and growth of the moose as a food source. In a normal existence, moose as a food source would be the number one consideration of any need to protect and/or grow a crop. No more. Post normal existence is about cherry picking ideas and actions that fit the narratives of the moment – and to hell with food sources…well, until I they get hungry.

Maine had perhaps as many as 100,000 moose. Greed and selfishness cause people to begin making demands for more moose for profit. Instead of obtaining understanding of why there were so many moose on the landscape all of a sudden and that one day when that reason for a population explosion went away, something was going to have to change, the intention of the moose biologists was to figure out how to keep growing moose so that everyone had one as a pet in their back yard (not for food).

The notion here is to figure out what kind of a dosage is needed to apply to the “naturally occurring” “earth and leaves” where the “naturally occurring” winter tick lands in Spring to lay “naturally occurring” eggs that begin the cycle all over again. Might I also mention here that whether there is ice and snow or not on top of those “naturally occurring” “earth and leaves” whatever it is at that time is “naturally occurring?” How dare I!!!!!

The article presents stunning photographs of a cluster of winter tick larvae at the end of a stick of vegetation “questing” for a host. When that host (moose, elk, deer) walks by, they climb aboard. Gee! What if there just weren’t so many darn hosts?

Instead of managing moose in numbers that are healthy…(Note: It was only a short while ago that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife announced they were going to abandon wildlife counts and concentrate on causing wildlife to be healthy.) the interest seems to be in protecting and growing them in numbers to satisfy the selfish desires of a post-normal society that is obsessed with securing animals as friends and not as a food source.

With a focus on how to kill the winter ticks to protect the moose, and other ungulates (that really are not bothered so much by the ticks -moose are poor groomers) has any consideration been given to the collateral damage that might take place if and when scientists begin sprinkling a “naturally occurring” fungi in unnatural quantities?

Isn’t this entire effort really being based on the supposition that man-caused Climate Change is the culprit for everything? Combine that with misguided notions about wildlife and the purposes for its existence and, like promoting more driving while at the same time demanding people stop driving, ignorance in the causes and effects of “natural occurring” and man-caused events can potentially destroy much, if not all, of what people think they are trying to protect.

It would appear that we have continued ideas, much like our ready acceptance of a piece of paper that allows someone to “practice” medicine, so too are pieces of paper licenses for someone else to “practice” wildlife management and “practice” growing fungi. Like medicine and the demands for drugs by patients, wildlife practitioners are under pressure from a post-normal society that demands animals to play with, even at the expense of all other things…for that moment.

What can possibly go wrong?

Share
Filed Under: Climate, conservation, Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News, Moose Hunting, National/World, Scientism, Wildlife Diseases, Wildlife Science Tagged With: ,

Combined “Brilliance” at North American Moose Conference

June 16, 2019 by Leave a Comment

It is most difficult to get reliable and accurate information from just about ANY media source. Here is but one example.

I did not attend this conference on moose. All that I have had a chance to read about it I found in this Bangor Daily News article. As readers, we must understand that information contained in this article is from the perspective of the author…period. If the author is a Climate Change zealot, naturally the article will only provide support for their religious beliefs, perhaps overlooking contrary data or information provided. It matters not the complete outcome of the conference and all thoughts and determinations, the readers are subjected to personal perspectives of the author regardless of the writer’s intentions.

Having said this, this remains an attempt at sharing some thoughts and my own perspective on what I know about the North American Moose Conference, combined with years of knowledge and research about moose and in particular moose ticks and large predator mortality.

According to the article in question, Maine appears to be the only state (region) where the winter tick is killing off the moose herd. (Makes one wonder if that is true and Climate Change is the cause, aren’t these other areas being subjected to the same Climate Change?) I will make a note right now that compared to the other regions where biologists in attendance at the conference said ticks aren’t the problem, Maine has gobs more moose than any of the other regions. Is there a correlation? And why does Maine have gobs more moose? Does the spruce budworm after effects have anything to do with it? Does growing an artificially high number of moose related?

Keeping in line with the unreliability of good and accurate news information, we also read that in Minnesota, one attendee said, “We had a very high neo-nate mortality. And two-thirds of that was wolf predation.”

I will most certainly guarantee that if you were to contact the Minnesota authorities about wolf predation and moose survival, the “official” line would state nothing about wolves killing off the moose herd. Regardless of long-time historical accounts from Minnesota that wolves have always had devastating effects on moose herds, officials there will tell you the problem is…you guessed it – Climate Change. Who let this person out?

The article in question states that the problems with moose herd management throughout North America varies from ticks, to predation by wolves, to disease, to unregulated hunting, etc. but it just seems an irresistible result of brainwashing that Climate Change is the problem. I can’t help but wonder how much good scientific study has been destroyed or wasted due to catechized indoctrination of the false impacts of a man-created religion (politics) of global warming – now generically referred to as Climate Change?

Perhaps there is some hope. It has taken many years for Maine, with a few years of moose study under their belt, to admit that winter ticks might be destroying the moose herd. There has also been some hints that perhaps an artificially inflated herd is responsible for an intensification of the the winter tick.

I have stated in the past that if scientists want to blame the problems of moose management on the winter tick, maybe it’s time to do some studying of the winter tick. There is danger in that these days, as there is danger in any, so-called, scientific research. Scientism rules and most “scientific” research is nothing but useless garbage that mostly better represents a good dose of propaganda – outcome based research – it’s where the money is.

However, there are signs that there needs to be better studies (not influenced by the false demons of Climate Change) about the tick.

In a separate article, also found in the Bangor Daily News, about how this winter tick “quests” and finds a winter home on board a warm, blood-filled moose, we read some comments from attendees at this conference about that winter tick that remains mostly misunderstood and wrongly said to thrive on “Climate Change.” (Whatever conveniently fits the narrative of the day.)

They got it right about how ticks climb vegetation in the Fall and lie in wait for a moose to walk by at such time they jump on the moose for a long winter’s ride participating in the blood letting…if you will.

They also get it partly right when they state that “early snow” will “…knocks that vegetation down and knocks the ticks down on the ground.”

This is a bit misleading though. At the time that the winter tick is questing (late Summer or early Fall – around the same time that the moose is rutting which adds to the enhanced possibility of getting ticks due to increased travel) what are the chances of “early snow?” And what are the chances that this “early snow” is substantial enough to “knocks that vegetation down and knocks the ticks down on the ground?”

Just about never. In regions throughout Maine, rutting and questing happen most often long before “early snow.”

While it may be fun to talk about and wish for “early snow,” none of us have any control over that weather and leaving it to chance (Mother Nature) wishing and wanting will do absolutely nothing to responsibly manage a moose herd.

Also mentioned as a deterrent to the tick population is drought. Once again, this may be an accurate claim, but perhaps the chances of a drought in the Fall being an effective killer of ticks are about as good as “early snow.”

Most often discussed in tick gabbing circles is the need for a lot of snow and cold to “kill the ticks.” This is really what I’ve come to call Romance Biology or Voodoo Science (coined by former USFWS biologist Jim Beers). For winters to be cold enough, long enough you have to approach the Arctic Circle. That’s why ticks aren’t a problem on Alaska moose.

As a side note, a biologist from Alaska made this statement: “Winter ticks aren’t a problem there. They don’t exist.”

Not to lose the point of his perspective of winter ticks in Alaska, but it is not totally accurate to say winter ticks “don’t exist” there. They may exist but negligibly. And the reason they might exist is because irresponsible researchers took winter ticks into that region just to see if they would survive. They did and that’s how you have “some” ticks in that region.

If one spends all their time focusing on how “early snow” and “drought” can have an effect on moose, sensible things are overlooked in exchange for blaming the lack of “early snow” or lack of a drought on Climate Change – a hopeless and irresponsible excuse for doing nothing. You can’t get rid of the winter tick. They are a viable species that can survive in extreme heat and drought as well as moisture and extreme cold temperatures. And we have no control over that. We do have control over the number of moose (food supply) we manage.

What studies that do exist on the winter tick, can tell us that a better deterrent in tick questing is wind. Ticks can’t hang on to vegetation forever and strong winds, which odds are probably better to have than early snow or drought, knock the ticks off vegetation forcing them to begin their quest back up the plants. Persistent winds could be quite effective. Maybe someone needs to make a claim that winds, or lack thereof, is a product of Climate Change.

Completely missing from this one news article is any discussion about reducing the moose population in order to reduce the tick population. Among sensible biologists (mostly those not overwhelmed by Climate Change) the ONLY way to mitigate winter ticks is to mitigate the number of moose….period.

Most of us don’t really know all that was discussed at this moose conference. All we have here is a little bit of information about Maine’s problem in dealing with winter ticks and the toll it is taking on the state’s moose herd.

Perhaps someday, if the Scientismists don’t completely win out, somebody will figure this all out. We could do as some suggest and let Nature do the job of management but I assure all readers, that’s not the ugly, rotten mess we really want to be subjected too.

Seriously, it’s time to can the false claims associated with the politics and religion of global warming and get down to some real, honest scientific research of value.

In case you might not have figured it out yet, I’m not holding my breath waiting.

Share
Filed Under: Climate, Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News, Moose Hunting, National/World, Predators, Science, Scientism, Wildlife Diseases Tagged With:

Beware: World’s Moose “Experts” to Descend Upon Maine

May 23, 2019 by Leave a Comment

According to the Bangor Daily News, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is playing host to a bunch of self-proclaimed (?) (or at least proclaimed by the BDN) moose experts from around the world. One has to wonder what kind of scientismic Romance Biology will be spread throughout the echo chambers. There’s one thing about scientism; the ignorant, which most often includes the “experts” don’t know what’s truth and what is fiction.

The BDN brags that the 75 to 100 “experts,” “…will include experts with decades of experience in moose management and research.” I wonder how many of these “experts” promote Climate Change as the main cause of dwindling moose populations in many areas of the world? Most can’t, or won’t make the correlation that with a world population of wolves and other protected large predators, the moose population is in trouble. Nothing to see here. Please move on. We have more Climate Change information to lie about.

And how many of these “experts” believe that it is also Climate Change that is causing the infestation of winter ticks, now found to be a leading cause of moose mortality in Maine?

This group of “moose experts” will get together and will be reported by the press as something remarkable. Scientism at work with the science of moose – one lies and another swears to it.

But wait! There’s more. There will be an open-to-the-public question and answer session where you can ask such profound questions as: “How much longer before we are all gonna die from Climate Change?” And, “Do the moose have any hope of survival as long as evil hunters kill moose and contribute to global warming by farting while in the woods?”

The “public” is as ignorant about moose as those who promote the lies. The media echo chambers simply repeat the nonsense and then they show up at these meetings impressing everyone in attendance with their vast knowledge of propagandized fairy tales.

Yessiree boy! And I wonder how much this event is costing the MDIFW to put on? Looks like we’ll be in for another round of license fee hikes to cover the propaganda shows and spread of scientism.

Oh, to be such a downer. Sorry, I just can’t stop exposing the truth about all this malarky.

And where is this forum going to be held where gobs of people can attend? You guessed it. Out in the middle of nowhere at Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Resort. Perhaps one of the six people who attend will be asking about Climate Change.

Share
Filed Under: Canada Hunting News, Events, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News, Moose Hunting, National/World, Scientism Tagged With: , , ,

Still Pushing “Climate Change” As Effecting Winter Ticks. Changing Propaganda?

December 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

It is incredibly insane listening to and reading the idiots who insist on spreading the lie that Climate Change is the cause for an increased presence of winter ticks which consequently are killing moose by sucking them dry of blood.

For years now, brain-dead scientismists have beat their propaganda drums that due to “lack of cold winters and ample snow” winter ticks are thriving and killing moose. Their premise has been that northern states, like Maine, because of warmer winters was not killing the ticks. Ignorance and the need to promote a false, non-existence of “Climate Change” (in the context that it is being promoted) failed to understand the complete life cycle of the tick and to what severity of cold, snow, and the right conditions needed to actually limit the number of ticks.

But that hasn’t stopped them from their money-making promotions of “Climate Change.”

From news out of Canada, a report falsely claims that global warming is the cause of moose mortality in Maine and other Northeast States as well as Canada. However, this time around, perhaps motivated by the fact that nobody is buying the B.S. that the lack of “normal” cold winters and snow are causing the ticks to thrive (people are looking out their windows and seeing 3-feet of snow and below zero temperatures in mid-November), they’ve decided to change their propaganda (lies) to approach the manipulation from a slightly different use of words (such as changing global warming to climate change): “…that tick is a parasite that’s given more time to find a host. Moose are just exposed to this potential parasite load for a longer period of time.” (emboldening added) There is never any consideration that the simple fact that too many moose perpetuate the growth and distribution of the winter tick.

Because, evidently, the lack of cold and snow (which isn’t happening on a regular basis) isn’t working out to substantiate their false claims of global warming they now are promoting that due to a warming climate ticks have a longer period of time to find a host moose to ride on for the winter and such them clean of blood.

What’s amazing is these clowns spend all of their “research” time (wink-wink) trying to figure out what’s happening to the moose because of the tick (by using someone else’s data) and nobody is interested in studying the actual tick. The only information being used about the tick is nonsense spread from one half-baked scientismist to another and repeated en masse and eagerly by an irresponsible, enabling, and lazy Media.

Evidently the authors of this propaganda piece didn’t bother to ask those in Maine conducting moose studies, or they didn’t want to because it might upset their agendas, otherwise, they would have found that Maine’s biologists are suggesting that the seemingly unprecedented spread of winter ticks is caused simply by the presence of too many moose.

But, there is no money in finding solutions and there is far more money in perpetuating “Climate Change.”

What’s most sad is the fact that truth and reality are being suppressed due to the perpetuation of the false myths about global warming.

Share
Filed Under: Climate, Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Moose Hunting, National/World, Scientism, Wildlife Diseases Tagged With: , , , ,

Frigid weather and extended snow cover once kept the ticks in check.

October 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment

BULLPUCKY!!!!!!!!!

As is typical of Environmentalism’s propaganda machine and brainwashing throughout all of Academia, another BS article in the Bangor Daily News, when discussing the problems with winter ticks and moose, states that “Frigid weather and extended snow cover once kept the ticks in check. But with climate change resulting in winters starting later and less snow in some places, winter ticks have more time to find their hosts.”

This is utter nonsense – propaganda fomented by environmentalists to promote their lies about global warming. It’s also ignorance about the winter tick itself. Even existing studies don’t support such nonsense.

BUT DON’T GO LOOK!!! GEEZUS MAN!!!

So, is Maine now backing off their claims of earlier in the year when they were leaning toward attributing the large growth and presence of winter ticks to an inflated moose population? Maybe there are more grant monies available to those promoting Climate Change?

This is what Maine’s moose biologist Lee Kantar said about the differences in moose between Northern Maine and those in Western and Southern parts of the state: “I’m trying to strike a balance here between concern for moose in parts of the state and then the idea that in other parts of the state, in northern Maine, the population appears to be quite stable…We’re trying to do our due diligence in understanding the moderating climate, winter ticks and moose densities.”

If they believe in their nonsense about climate change then why can’t they see that attempting to grow moose in Maine to levels that are too high to sustain a healthy population, in time will force moose further south into climates that might attribute to better survival of the winter tick? But then again, weather and climate play such a minor role in the existence and perpetuation of the winter ticks that biologists are wasting their time trying to figure it all out.

It’s all hocus pocus – biology 101. If you want to get rid of the winter ticks and thus the high rates of mortality among moose calves and female moose, reduce the population. The longer wildlife managers remain befuddled by the BS lies of Climate Change, nothing will ever be learned.

God, the insanity!!!

Share
Filed Under: Climate, Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News, National/World, Scientism, Wildlife Diseases Tagged With: , , , , ,

An Epiphany Outside of Environmentalism’s “New Approach” to Wildlife Management

August 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment

With very little effort and a clear, open mind, it is obvious that when it comes to wildlife management things aren’t looked at in the same way as the tried and proven ways which created the foundation for the North American Model of Wildlife Management. It may, however, come as a surprise to many readers that this new environmentalist’s way of talking about wildlife management is a planned event and not something that just evolved over time – certainly not the result of real scientific research.

What is amazing, to me anyway, is when groups and individuals mired in the muck of environmentalism’s new approach to wildlife management, are forced to see what isn’t intended to be seen in this new approach. It shows itself as some kind of epiphany, as though because of lack of knowledge due mostly to a prohibition of access to historical documentation constructed from the actual scientific process, tested over decades and centuries of time, a moment of brilliance comes bursting through the muddled mess of what today we call modern wildlife management.

We catch a glimpse of this at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) where when it was discovered that winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) were numerous and killing off the state’s moose herd, modern wildlife management’s “new approach” declared the cause was global warming. Every echo chamber around the world wanted to reverberate the woes of man-caused global warming and yes, “we’re all gonna die!” Their emotional claims for cures demanded that the only way to mitigate this winter tick problem that is killing moose populations everywhere was to somehow find a “cure” for global warming – a condition that does not exist in the context of how it is being sold.

Maine began a moose study – determined, it was said, to get at the root causes of what was really reducing the moose population. I have been most pleasantly surprised to discover that Maine’s moose biologists dared break with the mold of “Climate Change ate my homework” and suggested what has been known for a long, long time what was stated by an Alaskan moose biologist in recent years, that the ONLY way to mitigate the winter tick problem is to reduce the population of moose.

In George Smith’s recent column he writes of a book, recommended to him by Maine’s Wildlife Division Director (White as a Ghost by Dr. Bill Samual) who is quoted as saying in his book, “As moose and tick numbers build, moose harvest by hunters is far more appropriate and humane than invasive harvest by winter ticks. We should be able to moderate some of the damage caused by winter ticks for moose by managing moose at below die-off levels.”

(Author’s Note: To dispell the critics who will want to claim that my call, and that of MDIFW’s, to reduce the moose population is rooted in the desire to hunt and kill more moose. For the control of ticks, it must be realized that once a “die-off level” is reached through controlled harvest, that die-off level will need to be maintained even while it changes and fluctuates up and down. That’s what real, responsible wildlife management is.)

Perhaps we can see a bit of this “new approach” to wildlife management in the attitude shown in what Smith writes: “And while this book was published in 2004, it is still very informative and pertinent to our moose/tick problem.” I find it a near incurable disease that has infested academia and every institution that employs science – a refusal to research historic documents, accounts, scientific research, etc. as though it was worthless because it is so old. In this case, the author seems to indicate that observations and documentation of Dr. Samuel aren’t dangerous to the new approach narrative of wildlife management even though it is an ancient history of some 14 years.

In my own research about winter ticks, because of the lack of any modern studies on ticks, I spent the majority of my time reading and studying the ones that have existed for many years. These old documents proved then that global warming could not be the cause of increased tick populations. This is valuable knowledge that should never be discarded because of age even if new studies want to suggest something else.

Some honest effort, with a goal of seeking the truth rather than propping up the new scientismic pathway, can reveal many useful things. This must begin with an attitude that historical scholarship isn’t useless, outdated material – it is the foundation of the Scientific Process.

Instead, we see here where it appears that some miraculous epiphany has caused the resulting talking points to become one of a need to reduce the moose population to solve much of the tick problem rather than wasting time with the mythological Climate Change fantasy.

Maybe the scientific process ruled in this case of the Maine moose study. Perhaps the efforts made and what appears to be a daring and honest assessment of what’s going on has helped to restore my faith that there are still glimmers of hope in wildlife management – that it hasn’t completely gone to the environmental dogs…yet.

These epiphanies present themselves as though a discovery was made, and something is written as old as 2004 supports that discovery. It should be the other way around. That is the scientific process. But, if you don’t know and have not researched the scientific process, this is what we see. In this case, it appears as though a correct conclusion has been reached despite lack of historic scientific knowledge.

There should be a great takeaway from this. We will see.

Share
Filed Under: Climate, Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News, Moose Hunting, Science, Scientism, Wildlife Diseases Tagged With: , , ,

Vermont Wants Fewer Moose, Environmentalists Want to End Hunting

July 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Vermont, which has been a part of an ongoing moose study in three states – Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont – is now saying they also believe that the reason for an increase in winter ticks that are killing off their moose herd is because of too many moose. Maine was bold enough to make that claim a few months ago.

As with Maine, it appears not everyone in Vermont agrees with the assessment that the state needs to reduce is moose population in order to mitigate the deadly winter tick problem that continues to kill the herd.

At a public hearing earlier this year, attendees thought the logic behind reducing the moose herd absurd and instead called for an end to moose hunting “until the tick problem is better understood.”

The tick problem will never be better understood because there is no end to the terrible misinformation about what causes ticks to increase. So long as brainless automatons narrowly focus their attention on global warming as the culprit, nothing will change. This is insanity.

Even the editors of the linked-to article practice their echo-chambered response that “Mild winters have created a safe haven for ticks to thrive year-round.”

They know nothing about winter ticks and are too lazy to do any real investigating – much like the biologists who manage our game species. There’s little hope for a bright future so long as the ignorant continue to be led to the slaughter with false and ridiculous claims about “Climate Change.”

Share
Filed Under: Game Management, Maine Hunting News, National/World, Wildlife Diseases Tagged With: , , , ,

I Still Don’t Understand How You Can “Manage” Wildlife Without Counting

July 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment

And evidently, I’m not the only one scratching their head just a bit in trying to figure this nonsense out. It sure appears on the surface as though claiming counting is no longer important as a vital tool to responsibly manage game populations, like bear, deer, moose, and turkeys is another convenient excuse to hide problems or simply provide alibis for where you were when the moose population dropped dead.

V. Paul Reynolds, in his article today, states the following: “When the moose aerial studies were commenced in 2010, getting a handle on the ever-elusive question of how many moose there actually are was an avowed purpose of the surveys, along with understanding moose mortality and productivity. Eight years later, it seems that, although we have gained useful data on moose sex ratios and causes of mortality, and other indices, we have fallen short in counting heads.”

And in and around 2010 (It wasn’t immediately made known to the public that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) had undertaken a moose study.), I questioned whether MDIFW would ever get to the real, honest, explanation of life as a moose in Maine or would it be just another in a long line of “studies” backed and crafted by Environmentalism’s Scientismic hocus-pocus. So far, it appears it’s leaning toward the scientismic end result.

However, it was encouraging when MDIFW reported that their data “suggested” that ticks were the real culprit in taking control over moose populations, although there still exists fuzzy voodoo science and romance biology over whether it’s Global Warming or too many ticks that are causing moose mortality.

As Reynolds points out, one of the great selling points of this current moose study was the need to get a solid grasp on the moose population and what is controlling it. The Second Grade question remains how do you accomplish this task while at the same time removing from the new Game Management Plan the importance of population densities and replacing it with “healthy populations?”

At the drop of a hat, or perhaps if it fits the current moose management narrative for political purposes, moose biologists and MDIFW officials seemed almost boastful in stating Maine had 76,000 (or lot’s more) moose. After eight years of study and many dollars later, MDIFW is reluctant to utter a guess?

Perhaps what’s really going on is a matter of attempting to save face. Is it that MDIFW has discovered that Global Warming can’t be blamed for a decline in moose? Has MDIFW discovered that winter ticks really are killing off the moose (you know, some of that “natural balance”) and it is NOT Global Warming that has caused the epidemic? Has MDIFW discovered that trying to grow too many moose has caused the prevailing tick problem? Has MDIFW discovered that there isn’t even close to 76,000 moose and, as yet, has not come up with a workable lie as to why they were so far off in their estimations?

If so, perhaps now they don’t know what to do because taking action to scientifically correct the “unhealthy” moose population means bucking the Environmentalists and Animal Rights groups who not only want more moose they want uncontrolled numbers of every wild animal that exists…despite the consequences.

Being politically on the wrong side of Environmentalism is a place MDIFW does not want to be.

For now, better to act stupid and not reveal your hand, and then maybe it will just magically go away.

In the meantime, let’s practice…1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… I knew you could.

Share
Filed Under: Game Management, Maine Hunting News, Maine Outdoor News, Moose Hunting, Wildlife Diseases Tagged With: , , ,

Maine: Recommended Record Number of “Any-Deer Permits”, Moose Permits Not So Much

May 24, 2018 by Leave a Comment

It was announced recently that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) has decided to issue an all-time record number of doe permits (Any-Deer Permits). The reason they give for this unprecedented increase is: “…that in all but six of the state’s Wildlife Management Districts the projected doe harvest was not reached last fall.”

There could a number of reasons the doe harvest fell short statewide – the number of hunters, weather conditions, available food supply (for the deer, not the hunters), more hunters with doe permits taking bucks instead – to name a few.

So the question becomes, will increasing doe permits to a record number achieve the desired harvest? Another question might be, does MDIFW have a clue as to the reason the harvest wasn’t achieved? Was it simply not enough permits issued? What the rate of does harvested comparable to the rate in other years? Or, is MDIFW just issuing more permits and hoping for the best? We’ll never know.

It appears that the issuance of permits and the bulk of the increase is focused on much of Central and Southern Maine where deer survival has been good. This increase in those areas makes sense.

Key to this decision might be what MDIFW reportedly said about what was behind this increase other than achieving harvest goals: “The proposed increase in permits is a result of the goals and objectives set by the public in the state’s big-game management plan, which was recently revised.” (Note: I find it interesting that at least certain members of the MDIFW seem to be going out of their way to tell us that the “public” has made all these decisions about the ins and outs of game management. It wasn’t until recently when the Draft Management Plans for deer, bear, moose, and turkey were made available to the public for their comments. It is quite dishonest, therefore, to label those members who gave of their time to assist in formulating new management plans, the “Public.” In addition, MDIFW likes to give lots of weight to the fake “surveys” they paid a lot of money to get. I have written on this topic before and it is quite unfortunate that MDIFW decided to, not only conduct this biased, outcome-based survey but to put so much emphasis on it and then call it the “Public” and thus the “Public” devised these game management plans. Isn’t this a convenient scapegoat when and if management goals fail?)

So, from the perspective of deer management, according to MDIFW the public wants a lot fewer deer in Central and Southern Maine. And where’s the science in this decision or is it all society demands? Giving the benefit of any doubt to MDIFW biologists in meeting harvest goals is understandable. What is not is a move to issue a record number of doe permits because the public demands such.

If MDIFW is saying these decisions are based on the new management plans, then are we to assume also that this is being partly justified as part of achieving a “healthy” deer herd rather than a focus on the population?

It will be interesting to see if making this decision to liberally increase doe permits results in MDIFW reaching their harvest goals.

As far as the moose hunt and management goes, issuing a meager 2,500 permits, to be taken by lottery, doesn’t seem to be fitting the explanations we have been given for moose management and the new healthy moose agenda.

When you consider that at a time when the Maine moose population was estimated at anywhere between 70,000 and 90,000, permit issuance reached a high of over 4,000 permits, 2,500 is out of proportion. According to CentralMaine.com, that estimated “healthy?” moose population is estimated at 50,000 – 70,000. Information gathered from an ongoing moose study indicates that the density of moose is directly proportionate to the number of deadly winter ticks, and yet, if MDIFW is gearing toward a healthy moose population, the increase in permits appears a bit meager to me.

And, the majority of the increase in moose permits, from 2,080 to 2,500 are for those areas where MDIFW has been studying moose. Is this increase really about achieving a healthy moose population or a move to manipulate study results? Hmmm.

From this study area, we were told that winter tick presence had dropped around 68% and that moose calf survival rates were at near 100% – for collared moose.

In some ways, I can understand the “conservative” approach to moose permit issuance, but indications are MDIFW doesn’t really want to accept the fact that too many moose results in too many ticks and that it can’t be blamed on global warming.

So, we will have to wait two years to know whether the 2018 deer season will result in the Department’s doe harvest goal, and over one year to find out about the moose. God only knows how long it will take before MDIFW decides exactly what they plan to do with the moose.

It would be nice to have updates on study findings and to get game harvest results in some kind of reasonable fashion. Instead, I expect that with this announcement of paying less attention to game numbers, placing the focus on “health” (wink-wink) MDIFW will eventually stop counting harvested game. With it will disappear even more accountability.

Government as usual.

 

Share
Filed Under: Game Management, Maine Hunting News Tagged With: , , , , ,