DNRE explains new TB eradication recommendations

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Public hearings, hosted by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNR), were conducted last week in northeast lower Michigan to present information regarding recommendations on the agenda of the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) meeting next Thursday (July 8). One of the most controversial of the recommendations is a new antler restriction that proposes hunters be allowed to only shoot bucks with at least three or more points on either antler side.

The recommendations would be for deer management unit 487, which includes the six counties of Presque Isle, Montmorency, Alpena, Oscoda, Alcona and Iosco, where bovine tuberculosis in the deer herd is most prevalent and of greatest concern. DNRE representatives and area hunters gathered at the Alpena Civic Center June 23 for the second and final of two public hearings. The first was in Alcona County the day before.

Officials presented PowerPoint information detailing why they believe the restrictions will assist the state agency in eradicating TB from the deer. ?AFTER THE meeting yesterday (Alcona County), when we went through the same exact presentations, some folks didn?t realize when they got there that there would be so much discussion about TB,? said Brent Rudolph, DNRE deer and elk program leader. ?They heard about a meeting about antler point restrictions. This is really the point we are trying to drive home here. The nature of the proposal is to address bovine tuberculosis.? DNRE wildlife veterinarian Steve Schmitt said while the long-range trends have reflected reductions in deer numbers and TB, progress has stalled over the last five or more years.

?The older the deer is the more likely it is to have TB, and males are more likely to have TB than females,? said Schmitt. ?A five-and-a-half year-old buck, is 11 times more likely to have TB than a one-and-a-half-year-old buck. If we could target those and remove more of them, that would be helpful to us. That?s what we are talking about, targeting older bucks. We realize nobody passes up any of these older bucks, but again, if we can harvest a few more of them.?

Plus, the movements of the males are more dynamic, said Rudolph. ?FOR THE last five years, we?ve had a static prevalence rate of about two percent,? said DNRE chief Russ Mason. ?What we?ve been doing has got it down to that point, but it?s not doing any good, anymore. That?s where it is going to stay forever, unless we change what we?re doing.

?If this doesn?t go forward, and it?s not a done deal by any means,?rest assured I?ll come back next year with something else, and I?ll come back the year after that with something e

lse. This is a disease that we need to solve, because things won?t get better until we do.? One of the goals, DNRE officials reiterated several times at the meeting, is the need to thin out does as well. The new restrictions are being looked at as a way to put more pressure on the harvest of antlerless deer, said Mason ?We are not asking you to shoot all the deer on your property, or your hunting area, we?re just talking about shooting a few more,? said Schmitt. ?If every hunter in the 487 area was willing to take one antlerless deer, that would effect the transmission rate enough that it would get rid of TB.?

The recommended antlerless quota on private land for 2010 is 72,100, while it is 26,000 on public. In May, the NRC made it easier for hunters to take more antlerless deer. Hunters may now use a tag from a firearms license or a combination license to take an antlerless deer during firearms season.