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The Question: Do you agree that to have more deer we should shoot more deer? (Asked at Colorado Springs and Denver)
MRS. EDWARD P. FALLON, Toledo, Ohio
Registered nurse
"Maybe, but I don't I like to shoot deer. They're such beautiful animals. I can't even " eat venison. If there are too many deer in one state, why not transport them to other states? Then there'd be enough food and they wouldn't starve. Even that may be bad because more people would kill deer."
SGT. R. G. SCHIPPERS Colorado state
patrolman
"Yes, that's true. One winter, when I was patrolling along the west slope of our mountains, I saw thousands of deer who had died from starvation. There were too many of them and not enough foliage for food. As I drove along the highways, I had to remove many dead deer from the roads."
CHUCK MYERS, Colorado Springs
Maintenance man
"No. I know what I'm talking about, because I spend as much time . hunting as I do working. The solution is to scatter the deer. At the Gunnison state game project, they feed the deer. So what happens? The deer flock to this area. When we have a severe winter, they starve by the thousands."
WILLIAM B. HALL JR., Colorado Springs
Hotel manager
"We've had a lot of arguments about that question. If there isn't enough food for our herds, they will eat roots, herbs and grass intended for other animals and thus upset the processes of nature. I think it's better to let hunters kill the excess population and maintain normal, healthy herds."
WILL B. NICHOLSON
Mayor of Denver
"That doesn't make sense to me. If hunters are given unlimited I license, there'll be no deer. I read the article in SI. The biologists have a point, but in Colorado we want more deer because more and more hunters are coming to our state each year. We'll be hard put to have enough deer for them to kill."
JULIAN G. POLLOCK, Colorado Springs
Marketing consultant
"The hunters here think so. But the law limits them to one deer per license. Everyone wants to hunt deer. Workers were installing ornamental ironwork in my home. Suddenly they quit, in the middle of work. Unless the contractor let them hunt deer, they wouldn't work."
JOHN ALEXANDER, Colorado Springs
Official, Alexander Film Co.
"Yes. I have seen the carcasses of hundreds of deer that died from starvation. You have no idea of how many have died in severe winters. However, as a general policy and without rigid controls, killing more deer would result in the extermination of our herds, which are a great Colorado asset."
THAYER TUTT, Colorado Springs
Vice-president Broadmoor Hotel Corp.
"No. I don't believe such claims. In some counties last year, the wardens permitted multiple killing of deer. Hunters could kill as many deer as they bought licenses for—buck, doe or fawn. One of my caretakers killed several. This year, the hunting there isn't worth a darn."
DR. PHINEAS BERNSTEIN, Colorado Springs
Physician
"It's better to shoot deer than let them starve. There are more I than 100,000 hunters in Colorado every winter. It's possible to deplete our herds, but before the season game wardens know the deer population. The allowed kill depends on deer count. In some restricted areas, only one kill is allowed."
EDWIN C. JOHNSON
Governor of Colorado
"There isn't any categorical answer. How many deer do we want? Do we want to make deer sacred cows? Do we want nature's balance? If so, how shall we go about getting balance? Should we shoot them and use the meat for food? Should we allow nature's cruel law of the survival of the fittest to operate? Wild life in Colorado used to be in balance when the timber wolf and the mountain lion roamed the mountains. They lived on deer. We upset nature's balance by practically exterminating the wolf and the lion. We can restore the balance by permitting hunters to kill off the increase each year. Or we can limit the hunters and let the deer starve by the thousands. There is another angle. Many hunters want to shoot bucks and refuse to shoot does. Contrary to uninformed opinion, it's better for hunters to concentrate on bucks. The wild life people say that if there are too many bucks, there are fewer fawn. In cattle, we have one bull for a herd. One buck is enough for a herd of 50 or more does. Those who want to bag only bucks are helping to preserve the herd. When bucks are killed, it has no effect on the herd population."
ILLUSTRATION
JIMMY JEMAIL
TEN PHOTOS
NEXT WEEK:
Would you take a coaching job at a college that has completely de-emphasized athletics, such as the once-mighty University of Pennsylvania?
