Eradication of Mule Deer on Catalina Island

[Big Sky Guy]

Watching this now.

It seems pretty clear to me that they are taking a similar approach to mule deer as Montana has to wild hogs.

Eliminate the supply (mule deer) and you will not have to deal with any demand (hunters).

Honesty would go a long ways, just say you don’t want to deal with hunting and the management that comes with it.

 

[yourpal_al]

Good video, thanks for sharing

 

[Axlrod]

Watching this now.

It seems pretty clear to me that they are taking a similar approach to mule deer as Montana has to wild hogs.

Eliminate the supply (mule deer) and you will not have to deal with any demand (hunters).

Honesty would go a long ways, just say you don’t want to deal with hunting and the management that comes with it.

How is this the same? There are no wild hogs in North America. There are feral hogs, an invasive species. Feral hogs have not ever been present in Montana. Allowing feral hogs to establish themselves in Montana would be a very stupid idea.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

What is forgotten by lots of people who visit Catalina , is that this island is completely different from ALL the rest of the islands in that it has the two cities (even tho small) and a permanent population. It will NEVER be turned back to what it was pre white man.
The rest of the Channel Islands are either owned by the US Navy where no entry is allowed or by the state of California and require a permit to visit.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

How is this the same? There are no wild hogs in North America. There are feral hogs, an invasive species. Feral hogs have not ever been present in Montana. Allowing feral hogs to establish themselves in Montana would be a very stupid idea.

Correct. I was referring to the supply and demand relationship of the resource.

Montana has kept hunting hogs illegal to ensure there is never a demand for hunting them and no incentive for folks to release them to have a huntable population.

Similarly if you shut down the hunting program and then completely remove the supply then the result is the same - there will be no demand for hunting them.

 

[Skerhunter]

Great doc showcasing the usual suspects trying to find new reasons to prevent people from hunting.

 

[signing off]

The video was missing a significant part of the conservancys argument for eradication. An exclusion area was mentioned but never explained or added to the conversation.
If they had a showcase of non browsed, healthy plants and said "This is what our goal is", people could judge that as worth the effort. Or not worth the effort to remove the mule deer.
I bet they have deep enough pockets to fence large areas and in a few years time, those results would speak for themselves. Personally, I don't believe the flora would show the rebound and diversification they are hiding behind.
But then again, a preferred food source/plant can really get hammered by deer. So it's possible that a lot of plants are being repressed or wiped out.
It's complicated.
Did the woman take the video crew to the exclusion area and the footage was not included???
Or, was it not part of the days events?

 

[Cant hit em]

The video was missing a significant part of the conservancys argument for eradication. An exclusion area was mentioned but never explained or added to the conversation.
If they had a showcase of non browsed, healthy plants and said "This is what our goal is", people could judge that as worth the effort. Or not worth the effort to remove the mule deer.
I bet they have deep enough pockets to fence large areas and in a few years time, those results would speak for themselves. Personally, I don't believe the flora would show the rebound and diversification they are hiding behind.
But then again, a preferred food source/plant can really get hammered by deer. So it's possible that a lot of plants are being repressed or wiped out.
It's complicated.
Did the woman take the video crew to the exclusion area and the footage was not included???
Or, was it not part of the days events?

They were talking in the exclusion area when she was explaining the animals such as quail and a bird thats only on the island that rely on the certain shrubs and explaining how fire resistant they are ….if I’m not mistaking


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[huntsd]

bad news...looks like the conservancy got their way Thank @Howl For Wildlife for all your effort!!

https://ktla.com/news/california/california-approves-controversial-plan-to-wipe-out-deer-herd-on-catalina-island/

 

[robby denning]

Update: Sportsmens groups file a lawsuit. This was in @Howl For Wildlife newsletter.

Lawsuit Challenges CDFW over Catalina Extermination

 

[180ls1]

Update: Sportsmens groups file a lawsuit. This was in @Howl For Wildlife newsletter.

Lawsuit Challenges CDFW over Catalina Extermination

Tangentially, I'm glad to see out side embracing more and more litigious actions. It's not a "dirty" thing to do, its the reality of our world.

 

[robby denning]

Tangentially, I'm glad to see out side embracing more and more litigious actions. It's not a "dirty" thing to do, its the reality of our world.

I was doing air fist bumps when I saw the lawsuit was filed by sportsmen. Had to read the title twice.

 

[huntsd]

Tangentially, I'm glad to see out side embracing more and more litigious actions. It's not a "dirty" thing to do, its the reality of our world.

Yup feels like our side gets held up by this crap all the time. Grizzlies feral horses ect… it how you have to play now a days

 

[RollingWilly]

It's always gonna be easier to contract cullers than rely on hunters. Look at mountain goat removal in the Olympics or feral pig removal in Kansas. And in contrast, axis deer in Hawaii. My guess is they don't want to deal with the headache or liability of having random hunters on their property and don't want to maintain fencing anymore.

Not a huge loss one way or the other... non-native population, 100% private land, expensive to access, and far better opportunities on the mainland. There are bigger fish to fry for CA deer management.

 

[Howl For Wildlife]

Watch the documentary, this is not the story.

 

[Blake C]

No sense in resisting this. The island is privately owned. And the deer are not native to the island. They already got rid of the goats and pigs. Waste of resources to fight this.

 

[huntsd]

No sense in resisting this. The island is privately owned. And the deer are not native to the island. They already got rid of the goats and pigs. Waste of resources to fight this.

You couldn’t be more wrong. Yes it’s private but was open to public hunting. I hunted it diy in 2024 cost about $1k including transportation lodging ect… could have been cheaper if went in bigger group and split it. Pretty much the cost of all my diy out of state deer hunts with gas tags ect. Most importantly, mule deer are fighting an uphill battle just about everywhere in the west. Their numbers are declining, cwd, range loss, the list goes on…Having a healthy heard on an island not affected by this is a positive for the species and anyone who cares about mule deer.

 

[Blake C]

You couldn’t be more wrong. Yes it’s private but was open to public hunting. I hunted it diy in 2024 cost about $1k including transportation lodging ect… could have been cheaper if went in bigger group and split it. Pretty much the cost of all my diy out of state deer hunts with gas tags ect. Most importantly, mule deer are fighting an uphill battle just about everywhere in the west. Their numbers are declining, cwd, range loss, the list goes on…Having a healthy heard on an island not affected by this is a positive for the species and anyone who cares about mule deer.

The best chance we had was the humane society being on our side. But they just walked away. They're aren't gonna help hunters save them just to hint at a later date.
Everything i said was 100% correct. The last sentence was my opinion. Saying I couldn't be more wrong, sounds like you're viewing this emotionally instead of logically.

 

[huntsd]

The best chance we had was the humane society being on our side. But they just walked away. They're aren't gonna help hunters save them just to hint at a later date.
Everything i said was 100% correct. The last sentence was my opinion. Saying I couldn't be more wrong, sounds like you're viewing this emotionally instead of logically.

While of course I’d love to go hunt them again. It’s not all about hunting them or not. It’s about keeping a safe heaven for a population of deer that can’t be affected by the challenges previously mentioned facing our beloved mule deer. Look at any population trend in any state. They don’t justify eliminating a health population anywhere. They justify the opposite. Not emotion that’s logic

 

[Blake C]

While of course I’d love to go hunt them again. It’s not all about hunting them or not. It’s about keeping a safe heaven for a population of deer that can’t be affected by the challenges previously mentioned facing our beloved mule deer. Look at any population trend in any state. They don’t justify eliminating a health population anywhere. They justify the opposite. Not emotion that’s logic

The pigs were healthy. The goats were healthy.
Mountain lions are not endangered at all in California. Bobcats are extremely high in numbers. But the state took that harvest away. They're even about to put mtn lions on the endangered list. Nothing is justified. All these decisions were made by people with the most money.
I hate what they're going to do to the deer. But at the end of the day it's there land. Imagine someone having a say in what you do on your land. That would suck.
The Wrigley daughter has grapes. And money. The deer eat the grapes. The money decides their fate