Dear editor:

I read an article put out by the Game and Fish that stated more than 80% of the mule deer fawns they captured and collared, died. This they blamed on malnutrition caused by climate change. I do believe malnutrition is responsible for these deaths, and blaming it on climate change is plain ludicrous.

I come from a long line of mule deer hunters coming from two states, Utah and Wyoming. At a young age I was taught if you come across a mule deer fawn you should leave it alone because if you get human scent on it the mother will either neglect it or completely abandon it. I have always believed in this rule of thumb because I believe it is just good common sense. Something the Game and Fish doesn’t have. The practices they impose on our wildlife proves there is no common sense used.

Look at what they do by capturing them by whatever means of trapping they decide to use. Then several people hold the fawn down while others poke them with needles and put on rubber gloves and take what samples they think they so urgently need. Are they vaccinating them? We hope not. When they are done doing all of this they go ahead and put awkward collars around their necks. This not only hinders the little guy’s ability to nurse naturally, it puts a lot of stress on the does. The doe could reject the fawn because of the human scent or because the collars are hindering a natural feeding between the doe and the fawn. At this stage in their lives, the fawns depend on their mothers’ milk for their nutrition and they need all they can get.

This makes more sense to me than blaming climate change. The mule deer have been around for centuries and have survived through worse weather conditions than we have ever seen over our lifetimes. Now the wildlife are being faced with the worst threat to their existence, the government’s intrusion into their lives.

It seems to me they are keeping really low wildlife numbers to justify their projects but not high enough to satisfy the public’s needs. We have to remember that we are only stewards of the wildlife and habitats.

They are not owned by anyone and they are not the Game and Fish private property. If the government and all its special interest groups would lift their heavy hand of socialism off of the backs of the wildlife and its habitats, the wildlife would do a lot better the natural way that God intended. In spite of all the so-called science used to help conserve our wildlife, our wildlife populations have declined dramatically.

They have misused limited quota licenses by over harvesting our does and fawns, and have over regulated hunting to a point where they control the hunters more than they properly manage the wildlife. The Game and Fish should just stick to what they were originally established to do, which was to stop the illegal activities such as poaching and harassment, and control hunting in a way that is not detrimental to the wildlife population and their habitats. This would not only let the wildlife populations come back naturally, it would also reduce the size of the government and save a lot of money that I believe is being wasted on their social objectives. I believe the Game and Fish has a lot of explaining to do to the public.

Rand Christensen

Otto