Coyote Confessions: Cologne Bandit Part 2

Remember this: Wait for it and milk it.

I decided I would visit the first person on my Cologne Bandit list. I didn't have to go far. I pulled up in the yard. When the guy came out, I pointed to the steps, told him to take a seat, and that I had business with him.  The wife was on her way out the door to work.

He sat down. I asked him, "Do you rent or own the land behind my deer stand?" He told me, he owned it.

I said, "Yesterday, I heard an ATV down there." He seemed annoyed and said, "I was down there and heard a lawnmower."

Of course, I was on the golf cart initially and he didn't know I was there. I timed him an hour or so before the sound of the lawnmower. He kinda told on himself.

I could now place him in the area, yet I had not relayed the cologne smell. I looked him in the eye, with as much mischief as I could muster and said, "Wow, we were cutting the grass down at the pond. I drove into some cologne. It went right in my mouth. Did you smell anything like that?"

My inner demon was belly-rolling with laughter. Of course, this doesn't explain the Cigarette Smoking Man.

He lowered his eyes and stared at me under his ridges. I told him I thought someone was back in the woods. To be fair to his daughter, who sunbathes in the yard, I wanted to let him know, he might have a pervert spying on his house. He didn't seemed bothered by this and then tried to shift the blame off onto the surrounding neighbors. I relayed further information. The pressure was on.

I relayed one of his relatives said to me, "You have a secret admirer in the woods."

I did say to him, I couldn't tell him what to do on his property. He couldn't tell me what to do on the one I was haunting. I wanted to help him pass on my concerns to his little group on that corner road, who lives with the idea I am unaware of their doings.

I also gave him a way out by diverting the questions off to something else. I told him I didn't feel like I should have to worry that someone is menacing me in my area. I did say that it could be someone else just to be fair but he was in the area at the time. He did tell me there were other people that rented property that abutted his. I told him these things only happened during deer season.

I felt I should warn whoever it was in advance that walking in the treeline on property they are trespassing on could get them seriously hurt or worse.  It is bad enough I could be walking on my father's property and someone shoot over in his area; wounding or killing me.

I was just taking precautions. There are times in life when you have to let people know you are not the idiot child of the stick people tribe.

He finally dodged me and walked to the door proclaiming, "Let's go get some supper."

I backed out the yard and drove away; with a plan. The only thing playing in my mind was Mikey and Mouth, from Goonies, yelling at Data, "Slick shoes? Are you crazy?"


Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

To Catch A Cologne Bandit.

Remember this:  Never underestimate a person who is up to no good.

I went to the small patch of woods to ascertain if the ground was too wet to cut the grass in a field. On the way up the path, I heard the sound of an ATV of sorts. I crept through the woods. I determined no one had driven in from the main entrance. I thought about going up one of the fire breaks, but it was downed by some trees. I decided to push some oak logs with my foot while I waited. The motor stopped. I waited a while but then decided to take the golf cart and head down the dirt road. I wanted to visualize the person behind this noise. I never found them. I went out to the main road and passed the church. The church was just beginning to take on worshippers for the nightly service.  I went back to the house.

I decided I was being silly. When I thought about all the crappy things done to me last year, I decided to shake it off. I devised a different plan.

I wanted to cut the grass thinking the person was gone. I trolled down the lane with the dog. I cut half the road but when I got back to the area where I was previously, a shadow darted into the trees. A taste filled  my mouth that almost made me gag. I could not hear retreating footfalls due to the lawnmower motor.

This gave me two clues. The first clue was the expensive cologne taste lacing my tongue and hitting me in the face. The second clue was the darting shadow.

I stopped the lawnmower. Someone must be getting an early start skunking stands, because gun season for deer starts September 1. I thought about the people who were probably bow-hunting back across the field.

The only way I would have a cologne taste in my mouth were if the person, in the wind against my face,  poured out an expensive bottle of oily cologne or wore it.  Given the rain constantly hitting the ground, someone wasted a bottle of cologne. When the deer came out of the woods, I should have known someone was walking in them.

As for the identity of the culprit, the only telltale clue is: the perpetrator has to come from the abutting cow pasture that is less than five steps from beneath my deer stand.  This person has to have access to that field in order to trepass onto the property that I stood on. I saw one of them coming from that corner yesterday.

Given I should be worried some man is stalking me in the woods, I thought this wasn't the motive for the day. Usually, the Creeper stands in the trees at the edge of the horse pasture smoking a cigarette. I think the person didn't know I was in the woods, but decided to do a walk through while spraying Hi-Karate.

When I considered who these guilty people or persons might be, they are the kind of crazy folks that will kill a deer just to hang its guts on the ladder of your stand. It is one-hundred fold if one of them has a liking for you and you rebuff his advances. If they are willing to spray perfume, they might be willing to tap me in the back of the head. You never know.....

I sat wondering what I could do about this. This happens all the time to hunters. A neighbor or stranger cases your property to determine when a good time would be to trespass. The thought doesn't strike them that they might get caught.  When they do, if you turn them in, they are worse when they are released from jail. There are people that like to tempt fate. They think they will never get caught or hurt. Last year, one man was so ballsy he came right out and asked me, did I quit hunting yet.

What was I to do? I have one old game camera with a night flash. I need something with night vision that can't be detected, no matter what time. I am not sure what to do about these people. I don't want to fight with neighbors but they seem to want to spite me. I entertained the idea I should not hunt this year. I am tired of it always being a bad experience; usually caused by men. I laugh at this but.... I have decided I don't think much of men.

It did bother me someone was in my woods, either spraying or wearing cologne; probably on their way to sit in church to worship God for the night. I hope God teaches them a lesson.

What do I do?

The silver lining is my habitat, in all its unkempt glory, has finally become a home for wild duck. Took it almost five years but if you build it, they will come.



Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Three Coffins Deep

Remember this: Animals are elevated on the wall. Humans can be buried up to three coffins deep.

 

My thoughts have been on the different ways hunters perceive trophy animals and their treatment. Trophy animals are elevated to a status of enshrinement in a hunter’s home. What could this mean?

A hunter will stalk the landscape to find a young or old specimen and kill it. I say kill, because it is what it is.  You are not saving its life. You are taking it. This landscape is a location with legal parameters that dictates how the animal will be disposed after hunted.

American states don’t allow transport of animal parts from other states due to disease. Countries don’t allow transport of meat, but will allow pelts or other taxidermied parts to be transported to the hunter. This varies from place to place, depending on legalities.

Let us consider the treatment of trophy animals.

There are views that trophy animals are patriarchal or matriarchal animals that live to old age.  The quarry has reached a pre-death stage where a hunter quests to enact euthanasia.  The argument here is: it saves the animal from dying a natural death to its end, no matter how unattractive.  The hunter processes the animal in some pre-determined way. After finalizing the hunt, the animal is taxidermied then showcased in a home, museum, etc.

I thought about a quote I read on a public social media wall. I am not knocking the person it made birth from.  I challenged the content as true or false. I could have copy and pasted the quote, but it seemed irrelevant. Why? I wasn’t arguing the definition of a trophy hunter or the goals they pursue. To sum up the quote: trophy hunter perfectionist acts as euthanasia man to prevent animal from dying under a bush; places on wall.

Is this what a perfectionist would strive to do in reality? How is this considered perfection when it is a severely flawed delusion of the true reality? I also asked the question was the intention of seeking perfection in this trophy acquisition really ending a perfectly lived life to old age in a less than natural way? By natural, I mean without human mechanical means.

I felt if a true perfectionist considered this scenario, it would be beneath them. It would never be perfect enough. Perfectionists tend to start, stop, and repeat without carrying through a percentage of the time because all conditions are not perfect.

I do reread my own writing and question the content because it is easy to fall into the trap of readable appearances. What read as a common sense quote or statement could turn into a questionable contradiction.   

Here is where my thoughts began. It is the way in which we treat perceived special animals and human counterparts. There are several types to consider; humans, trophy, non-trophy, nuisance, laboratory, and domesticated animals or pets.

The trophy represents some experience in the hunter’s life that must be remembered. The animal is held in esteem by prolonging its existence in the form of a taxidermied shell.  What is left after processing is showcased in the home, office, museum, etc.

How loved the processed trophy is treated depends on the hunter’s attachment to the memory. Some hunters love their trophies others move on to the next. Taxidermied trophies tend to be eventually overlooked throughout the day as unconscious home décor. It is always there and passed by so many times in a day. If there is no one to tell the tale to, it gets overlooked often. Dust bunnies start to build up, moisture breeds mold, the fleshy shell begins to crack in weak places, and the animal face no longer holds its fresh appearance. What once was a majestic beast in need of enshrinement now becomes an unsightly eyesore. I will not even go into the aftermath of divorces. There is no telling where the trophy will end up.

What about the other types? Attachment sways the dictation of treatment. How attached is the person to the animal or person? Does this attachment generate from competition and value over the animal? Is it coveted that much as a trophy animal?

I wanted to touch briefly on each type as they were valued and disposed.

For domesticated animals, the intended could be tossed in a dumpster, a place in the woods, or left to lay and decompose. Special pets could be buried in a grave, cremated, or be taxidermied. These beloved pets are elevated above animals people have no attachment to. If it is a cow beyond veterinary help, then a trip to the slaughter house may be prescribed if the meat hasn’t been tainted by medicines and chemicals.

For wild, non-trophy animals, the fate of being gut shot and left to wonder off and die could happen. This could happen with farmers and their crops, nuisance animals where the shooter doesn’t want to deal with the body or cruelty cases where no emotional attachment is exhibited. Hit-by-car wildlife could lie there several days before the road crew cleans the body up. Wildlife can be viewed without interference while onlookers watch animals kill, eat each other, and video tape events.

Laboratory animals are left in containment over a period of time, yet receiving adequate care without emotional attachment. Treatment depends on the experiment they are entered into.

When you consider people, you never see taxidermied humans. I think there are laws against this. There are bodies that have been plasticized for art and donated for scientific study. There are also those deceased peoples, who have supposedly put their bodies in deep-freeze to be re-animated to cure their diseases or live again. For people considered important by society, they are elevated in pop or historical culture.

With human beings, we tend to entomb in a mausoleum, be cremated, or buried up to three coffins deep. Given these three options, the body is initially on display before burial, if possible. Once the funeral is over and the coffin is buried, the only thing left are pictures and a headstone.  Where a beloved trophy is hanging on the wall, Grandma Moses is out of sight, ten miles away and well under the ground. Most people do not even go to the cemetery, once the body is buried to refresh the flowers. To be fair, this is not true of all people. There are families that tend their dead vigilantly, depending on the culture and country. They elevate their ancestors above the animals they hunt. Others see the animals as their ancestors in another form. Other cultures see dead human bodies as empty shells that can be possessed by the damned.

With hunting quarry, there are views that the animal shouldn’t be left to die an unsightly death at the pickings of vultures. Yet for humans and unloved animals ,we bury them well out of sight or discard them with little care to the treatment of the remains. Animal and human alike are shoved in a trashbag without prejudice. 

When you look at the relationship between the trophy hunter and the trophy, the pivot seems to be the level of attachment the hunter projects onto the animal, circumstances and memory. Culture could play a part where applied. There exists in equal parts the action of the hunter to the hunted.  After learning about cultures and their treatment of the dead and animals, it is not difficult to believe the why or because of trophy hunting. It is still incredible to me, the way in which humanity categorizes creatures of value versus creatures perceived to be less or no value.

 

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Work With Me

Interested in working with me? First, you should know I am from South Carolina.  It is obvious what kinds of activities I get invovled with. With that being said, I expect your best manners, good taste, and if nothing less than excellence. I don't believe in perfection because that is up to God or the Universe. I hope we can work together in many ways. I believe in honest critiques, which will improve your services and products. You don't have to be a high-profile entity either and if it's made in America; bring it on.  If there is something you would like to suggest that is not on the list please feel free to email me and we’ll discuss options. Just keep in mind it needs to be relevant to my blog. It has to be a good fit for myself, and my readers. I would also be interested in working with non-hunting entities if the products and services were a good fit. Life is faceted.

Advertise: There is a wide variety of ad options. Please contact me for rates at: aestheticfemalehunter@hotmail.com.

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Writings: If you are an author that values your work and does not want it stolen, we would be happy to do a reading and give suggestions if you are having a momentary lapse of writer's block.

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Please contact me at  aestheticfemalehunter@hotmail.com  to discuss the variety of opportunities available. I look forward to hearing from you. Please contact me at : aestheticfemalehunter@hotmail.com.


Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

The Jungle Cat

Remember this: The jungle cat is on the prowl.

In the beginning, there was grass. In the grass crawled a predator with keen senses like a black panther. Stalking its prey near a flowing sea of green, the beast slowly made its way across the grasslands. Thunder echoed from miles away. Danger was at every turn. The horses stared at the simpleton in the grass, wondering why their owner was scurrying so low to the ground and pretending to be a mouse. With every twitch of the doe's ear, the predator knew that it could be discovered. It lowered itself along the dirt like the black snake then moved as silent as the grave to the strike zone. The beast realized the grass was giving her the mad itch. She let out a low growl. Maybe a painful groan, before proceeding. Stretching her body out and moving with silent agility, the black panther finally reached a point to spy the prey. The deer were standing to attention. The tattletale horses had given the beast away. The horses ran away laughing, while the deer stood by the trees pointing at the idiot in the grass. The beast was bested this day and shook her fist, "I shall get you."

I wanted to get some photographs of the deer herds before local hunters mobilized , guns ablazing, for the upcoming deer hunting season. I went about my rounds but the day was humid. I could hear thunder and periwinkle clouds were above the trees. I didn't realize till much later that I had left the only battery to my camera in the house. I went to feed the dog when I stared off near the trees. Out in the field were a small  herd of deer. I didn't have time to go and get the battery. I decided to be a sneak thief and take these photos with my cell phone. If the quality is not that good let us chalk it down to Barney's shakey trigger finger.

I thought I would be slick and just walk out there to them. The wind was blowing away from me. I strolled straight out to the field and hid along side a paint mare. I had her walk towards the deer. The deer seem too enthralled in eating the soybeans. I moved closer. I realized I would not be able to hide behind this horse much longer. I got to the edge of the pasture then dropped down on my stomach.  I wanted to get as close to them, without spooking them, as possible. I crawled on my stomach for what I thought was three or five long minutes.  It could have been eternity. It felt like it. I would stop and look over the soybeans to see if they were still there. I was sweating bullets because it was getting more humid by the minute. The wind began to blow up my back toward the deer. I figured this would compromise me and drift my smell over to them. I laughed about this, snorted and thought, "I smell like roses." I crawled on.  Old horse poop land mines lay at every turn. I chalked this one down to my doctor prescribing exercise and this helped me to the pain medicine hours later. Crawling should be in your exercise regime for hunting. You never know when you have to stop, drop, crawl, or roll. Unfortunately, I can't ever run again. I would have to just sit there and be eaten by a bear; maybe dash salt and pepper on myself for good measure.

I stood up and took some photos, which I was closer than these appear. I chuckled all the way back to the house. I am definitely paying for it now. I thought I would share my shenanigans and give you a laugh because I am tons of fun. I think there might be some leprechauns hiding out in all that green. No one shall find my gold.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

A Very Curious Fawn.

Remember this: You never know what you'll see. Get outside.


It was extremely hot this afternoon. I wanted to take my father's dog for her evening  ride out to the watermelon patch. We sit out in the middle of a horse pasture eating watermelon. The watermelon row is short but the drought, then flood of water, has cause the melons to stunt. Some rot in the field before they even turn ripe inside. It's a hazard, along with the out-of-control grass. I am just glad I have snake boots. I decided to see what the state of affairs were in regards to flooded areas that needed to be bushhogged. Everything is a hot mess. High grass is everywhere. I shook my head. My son would have to wait to cut the grass.

While out riding around, I came across this pair of fawns standing in the soybean field. This little fellow posed up a storm instead of running off in the treeline. First it stared, then whipped its tongue out several times tasting the air. The fawn started to come over to me, but I didn't want it to. The fawn decided it would be best to walk off into the bushes. I was glad. These were well fed fawns as you can see. Usually, when I am messing about in the woods with my plants, little deer will become curious and come just close enough to you. I take a look then ignore them. If you act like you don't see them, the less scared they are. By the time hunting season comes, shooting puts the fear of God in them fast enough; sadly to say. The only thing trying my patience is the fact my camera is malfunctioning. On the distance setting, the image doesn't stablize and looks somewhat blurry. It also jumps back and forth between options on the option button; drives me batty. If it breaks, I will not be able to get a better one. It has been a good camera.

One other time, I became ecstatic seeing a huge turkey poult.  I got a photo of one of the little turkey birds. I warned the neighbors to watch their dogs, become one of them has a mean little dachsund and a red nose pit with no training whatsoever. Domestic pets menace them just as much as wild animals.

When I see these little babies I am so happy. They give you hours of fun when you watch them because they play alot. Even though they are eating machines, I still like them.

A week ago, a white plane was pretending to be the Red Baron over the woods behind the house, which annoyed me. The pilot seemed to be running the deer. Whether this was on purpose is unknown to me. I didn't know who it was, but the plane spooked the deer so badly they would not come out the woods for a week. I almost thought the plane was going to crash in the duck pond. You just never know with people anymore. Maybe they were looking for hidden marijuana fields. I am sorry to report  I have none, unless you want some oleanders bushes.

I did want to share this picture because it is just darling.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

The Boyfriend.

Remember this: Your comedy is sublime.

Phil Robertson made the saying, "if your boyfriend doesn’t know how to hunt or fish, then you have a girlfriend" popular. This has also become a popular meme on the internet posted by male and female hunters. It seems to be intended for comedy. I take it as comedy and do not get offended at the lack of political correctness.

Depending on how each individual male is raised determines the way in which he turns out or what activities he chooses, unless he goes lone wolf. Some men like to beat each other up with ribbings and insults to encourage their brethren to be as manly as each individual in the group.  This also could have been a form of encouragement to other males.  That would bid the question: is it better to build a façade of manliness or actually be a man?

I wanted to dissect this phrase because of the sublime message hidden in the meaning, if you took it literally.  Sublime messages intrude from every place. Bringing awareness to issues of gender treatment in the outdoor sports should be a consideration as the horizons broaden.

Just as someone could get offended at this phrase, the people that float it around the internet might get upset that I am writing about it because they feel their right to pass such a thing along has been attacked or suppressed. That is not my intent but I am not apologizing for writing about it either. I figured if people could pass this post around, then no one should have a problem when I dissect it. Someone’s sensibilities are being insulted, either way.

The initial point is: the derogatory nature of what being a non-hunting male was defined by in the phrase. If you didn’t hunt or fish then you were a girlfriend. There are a lot of people that know how to hunt and fish but are horrible people, inside and out. I would think that what define a man are virtuous traits like character, honor, humility, the ability to lead or follow for a sensible cause, and acting like a decent human being. Hunting and fishing are activities not characteristics.

The second point is: the derogatory nature of what being a girlfriend is as defined by the phrase. For the male to be considered lacking, it was referred back to the feminine and the inability to do an outdoor activity. Somehow being feminine is a negative aspect of the person. There is something wrong with being female or at least it is sublimely implied.  

Big companies and small business women educate the general public this ideology is incorrect. There is nothing wrong with being a female. There is nothing wrong with being a male. There is something wrong with callous bad behavior when it is broadcast in an intentionally derogatory way. Contrasting this, is the idea female hunters posting this phrase were once girlfriends, singletons, and married women, who do or do not hunt yet were poking fun at a non-hunting male that was lowered to the standard of the perception of what it is to be a female, a girlfriend, or a married mother. You were demoted to a lesser class of citizen because of the lack of participation in an activity. The female hunter equated the male that couldn’t hunt or fish as undesirable. The female hunter didn’t recognize this fallacy while hitting the post to profile option.  Now that is comedic; the blind leading the blind. The humor grows as this phrase is posted over a young girl with a bow who could be someone’s girlfriend, singleton, or wife. Once again, it is the idea that a particular individual is completely separated from the image, its meaning, or the responsibility of promotion. Girlfriend is treated as a sexless word but still degrading even when clearly feminine.

There are people that take part in the mistreatment of other people and promoting messages while separating themselves from the message defining, or being applied to them when in fact it does. Somehow there exists for them immunity.

In retrospection, I thought of myself. I was a female who hunted, fished, and did other things. These were activities, not things that denoted who I was as an individual. If this was the case, maybe I should ask the next man I date whether he wants a boyfriend or a girlfriend. What a pickup line! If he wants a girlfriend, then I shouldn’t bother with him because he clearly wants a boyfriend. I am floating in a sexless void with no identity based on my reproductive organs. I am a boyfriend with female parts. This seems to be more acceptable.

 

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~  

The Mystery of the Missing Muleys.

Remember this: Sometimes you have to deduce in Sherlockian fashion, just for fun. This is a definite conversation piece. 

Recently, I saw a post by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife stating a summit was held to encourage citizens to add input on the declining mule deer populations of the Western Slope. The Western Slope, being the mountainous terrain from the Continental Divide to the Utah border. This is the side of the Rockies where large sheets of glacial ice once existed but now are slowly melting. This area is comprised of alpine meadows, canyons, plateaus, and high deserts. There are two zones to consider. The first zone is supported by trees and one indicator species while the second zone has no trees, with plains and alpine tundra.  I did go to other sources for answers. I referred to dated information using the Modeling vegetation distribution of MAPPS. With fire, the outcome would be grasslands. The MC1 dynamic general vegetation model indicate by 2095, this area will be largely grasslands out to the line from Louisiana up to the northern border of the US.

A mule deer crisis! I scrolled through the comments on the CPW social media page. Comments ranged from charging the CPW with misleading the public in regards to mule deer populations, denial of the mule deer problem, to blaming the decline in mule deer populations on predators and so on. I mulled over this difficulty while watching the old version of The Wolf Man.

I laughed at the idea the surrounding states were working on their own inflated habitat to lure the mule deer to their area to cash in on the big bucks while Colorado was trying to figure out where the non-existant or missing muleys had escape or disappeared to. Maybe it was migration? I also kept seeing a mule deer being beamed up and carried off by Aliens. Why? Because the History Channel has a good argument for it with Giorgio A. Tsoukalos and his wild hair.

Once you get past the list of who-dunnits such as accidental death, spontaneous abortions, birth control, disease, outbreaks of hemorrhagic, chronic wasting, inability to do a decent count on a mobile animal, predation, and questionable habitat management, and migration away from the area; things don’t seem so clear for sure.

The main concern was the number of mule deer population based on adult males, females, and progeny. There had to be breeding with viable progeny that could live long enough to be included in a study count. The factors possibly affecting this is adult animal sterilization through genetics, structure malformation or function of reproductive organs and output, disease, food and water sources, or inflicted wound, etc. There was the belief that fawns were not making it to adulthood due mostly to predation or some other factor. I also wanted to find a study where female mule deer milk was assessed during lactation for water content or nutritional value. What if they just had bad milk? Also again, what if the breeder buck was flawed in some way or enuched and unable to produce, or poor quality sperm?
 

I did read an interesting bulk of dated information contrasting the difference in white-tail deer and mule deer. Yet as I was reading the current narrative, the only two players concerned were the mule deer and the elk. What happened to the white-tailed deer? This is why I ask. The issue of competition for food sources between mule deer and elk were a little strained. When I contrasted the white-tailed deer with the mule deer the behavior and food source kept the other from over browsing on each other. There was a mutual benefit of the two species overlapping and sharing territory for limited times. There was also the concern elk were driving out the mule deer or taking more than their share of the grub.

In regards to fawning, the white-tail deer favored a different cover than the mule deer which made it easier for cougars to prey on white-tail instead of mule deer. To some degree the mule deer used the white-tail as a sacrificial cover to save their young from predators. There was also the evidence in that particular work of a difference in timing of fawning between white-tail and mule deer by several weeks that benefited the propagation of mule deer due to moving progeny up into the higher elevations away from predators while white-tail moved to lower elevations and chose softer and more accessible cover.

I can’t find my notes on this but it was interesting to find a plant-based reason for the decision-making of ungulates and how this decision played itself out in the consequence of its endeavors to life. If I find it later I shall add it in here but Ididn’t want to totally exclude this information.

I did find evidence that female mule deer required more water during pregnancy and lactation even though throughout some of the studies, water sources were dismissed due to the mule deer’s ability to regulate water. I then thought of the access to water on the glacial side of the western slopes during seasons where mule deer tend to migrate to higher elevations. During colder seasons, water requirements increase. Yet there was disregard to providing water sources to mule deer during times when water supplies were scarce because the mule deer were considered to tolerate the deficit in droughty times. What about the fluid needs of pregnant females who tended to stay closer to water sources that gave predators the opportunity to capitalize on the immobilization of birthing fawns? How would providing more water sources improve overall health of fawn during pregnancy and lactation? This might give the doe more areas to migrate to in a space while avoiding a predator during fawning. Think of it as moving the chess pieces around on the board. If prey had more options, their habit or decision-making ability may shift daily to have a broken routine if menaced by a predator. There would also have to be an action plan to artificially landscape these areas with the particular cover the mule deer requires during fawning and foraging. The problem with this is the diverting of water to the eastern slope and down to other states with water compacts that are experiencing water deficits. Lots of water is being diverted away from its normal location for human consumption and use. At this point, desertification is an issue looming at the state lines.

What about some kind of artificial cover? Of course, you don’t want mule deer falling in a manmade hole to drown. My personal experience has been with World War fox holes. I find a lot of my female deer inside open ended, well drained canal ditches with thick thorny briars and trees lining the canal edges. They tend to use these as walking tunnels, if deep enough, to avoid detection and use it as a water source. They find these perfect places to hide and will burrow under the roots of oak trees on the side of woodland ponds with raised pond borders. They will realize in a low area with a raised section, the predator will go upward for better visibility so they get low and hide under something below and out of sight. When you watch a deer get on its belly and crawl like a marine…then you have lived my friend.

I  researched into some hydrology issues where damming was performed and large amounts of water were being diverted to eastern Colorado via the Western Slope. There was also the issue of extraction and irrigation practices that could have impacted the mule deer. This brought forth the issue of decreasing the effect of moisture in an area that already relied on the moisture in the soil to dictate to some degree what kind of plant flora would grow from the soil. If the soil moisture was too little then grasses would grow. If the soil moisture increased there would be woody shrubs and understory. As the precipitation increases, there begins more tree canopy growth, which is not what the CPW would like. The requirement seems to be like an unstable desert-type area.

I wondered if this was a situation where a landscape was artificially manipulated in favor of a certain vegetation to feed mule deer and turn it away, long term, from what it would have been otherwise. I think here of forcing a kid to eat broccoli when the child hates the stuff. He’ll chew and swallow but eventually will feed it to the dog under the table. You can only press back a landscape for so long especially when you are doing the juggling act of keeping it in just the perfect equilibrium when all it wants to do is roll out to chaos.

After reading one mule deer related article, I thought the Colorado Parks and Wildlife should have sliced the issue with at least one razor's edge.

Let's first look at the most obvious act on the part of the CPW; asking the public for help or including the public. Either way, it seemed the CPW needed help. From what I was reading, the return response was not littered with solutions. I did read that the meeting was more practical-minded in its generic solutions.

When you take into consideration the amount of land that is managed by the CPW, there is a substantial amount of private land that they cannot control. In asking the public for help, I thought that would be a way for the CPW to suggest how to include private owner land into a management plan that would improve habitat for mule deer populations. The main factor in circumventing this hope was expense, allotting and monopolizing private land for CPW projects to treat mule deer issues. Even when the cause is beneficial to a private landowner, some people don't like being ordered about on their property for any reason. I could see where the CPW walks a tight rope.

Most of the time when I see state agency asking the public for help it is because they have reached the boundaries of their capabilities while trying to avoid upsetting citizens. Citizens tend to relocate the duty of dealing with biological issues of their state onto local department of natural resources. When it comes to asking for solutions to problems, they are willing accepted, but the average layman is not going to be allowed to interfere in the process once the plan is in play. The agency will do that and review the ongoing outcome while reassessing the problem. The layman will go back to his home and job while hoping everything will turn out for the best. There is a certain amount of trust in this. The citizen trusts the agency to find out the problem and deal with it. 

Finding some kind of incentive program would prompt people to act. I thought of a couple that might be considered. If the owner has to pay-out-of-pocket, then allot property tax deductions for X amount of acres that are contracted out by the land owner. That contract would define what the land owner would be willing to do to help contribute to habitat landscaping. If there  were a charge for a service or agency coming out to do prescribe burning then give the land owner a discounted rate that is supplemented by federal or state funding. If a certain type of vegetation is to be propagated, supply land owners with small business loans to purchase needed supplies, seeds or grafting.  The land owner would report to a wildlife botanist or biologist once established, while enlisting interns to work for school credits and graduate research. These would be overseen by a lead scientist. This ensures replacement vegetation, vegetation research or modification to improve tolerance to habitat conditions, education to students that champion the cause of promoting mule deer populations in Colorado through programs that encourage participation. I had other ideas but I missed placed my notes in that barrio I call a bedroom.

I read The Colorado Mule Deer Story and The Draft for the Mule Deer Strategy put forth. This information seemed to cover the necessary issues you would find in this particular problem. I then called Colorado State University to speak to Manier or Hobbs because I had questions. I have yet to receive a return telephone call and penned this deficit down to one or the other being busy. I looked for answers elsewhere. 

I did want to include this snippet from the online Hobbs-Manier release for its relevance to the problem.

Hobbs and Manier issued a release that suggested lack of fire to be a factor in the decline in mule deer populations. To quote Hobbs, “We're not seeing a single stress that's causing the slowing of growth among the deer populations, but there has been a definite change in the quantity and quality of habitat for this particular species.” Manier and Hobbs stated, “that fire suppression, which led to a gradual increase in forested areas in the region, caused an acceleration in canopy coverage in the area that was studied. The increase in tree cover caused a reduction in grazing areas.”

http://www,news.colostate.edu/Release/2818

I looked around for prescribed burning articles in accord to mule deer populations and habitat.  I did read somewhere when the wildfires burn off woody shrubs, cheatgrass and other noxious weeds would endeavor to take over. This caused grasslands to become riddled with invasive species and be less nutritious. Here we have the issue of fire suppression and increase growth on a habitat.  In other places, tree cover began to increase and crowded out shrubs, so you can see the delicate balancing act when playing with matches.

If Hobbs and Manier do believe prescribe burning should be implemented then this would be a good time to do a study on the areas of prescribe burning. If there tends not to be a benefit to prescribe burning through increases in soil nutrients or plant species this might not be the answer. To do prescribe burning there has to be a marked benefit to the outcome. If not that road is a dead end or at least not the cure for the problem.

I looked on Google Books to find this title, "Environmental Mafia", circa 1 Jan, 2003 authored by Richard O' Leary. So this information was at least eleven or twelve years old. I felt like John Oliver, doing the rope motion with his hand, while yelling, "What is this? What is this?" This was an interesting read. Just go straight to Chapter Ten, Watch It Burn for more reading. If the worry is out of control wildfire the reasoning here to do prescribed burning outside of fire season while being monitored by state forestry agencies would be a good idea.  Cascading events in the form of an overall plan to prune and rebuild habitat to suit the mule deer would be effect with vigiliant monitoring. Yet the nagging questions are: Will the mule deer breed enough to have fawns on the ground? Will those fawns live to be counted? Can we make quota?

This information validated the parallels to the issue of Priority One and weed control from the CPW's strategy plan.

I wanted to understand the numbers game. I do realize, when dealing with quotas,  the number counter can become so obsessed with the maintenance number then freak out over a deficit. This is probably because the standard has been set so high there are no allowances for deviations from that value which cause the mental crisis, when it is not a problem. It is just a variation due to factors influencing the numbers. Usually one would take the high known value and the lowest known value and find a median number to go by. This is your working value that is not set in stone like the Ten Commandments. If mule deer populations diverge by 250,000, mule deer apocalypse will be at hand.

I referred to the CPW's handouts and articles. The key goal to indicate a healthy population of deer by the CPW standard is 525,000 to 575,000.  I then investigated the information on what defined a deficit. In 2006, there were a total of 600,000 mule deer that declined to 408,000 in 2012, then 390,000 in 2013.  This 2013 number subtracted from standard 575,000. The difference totaled was 185,000. Sure this is a huge number but not near half the total. Considering what constituted mule deer populations all-time-low, I thought this was a bit of running to fear but yet there it was. Given these numbers seem to fluctuate per article.

I wondered why there was a race to action to improve what appeared by the numbers, to be a dwindling mule deer population. Or is it?

Mule deer do represent an animal on a landscape as part of a bigger ecosystem. They also constitute money on four legs.  Given the big business of hunting, tourism, and people wanting to keep their state jobs, it seems to me the mule deer was a linchpin of sorts in the states economics. I am not questioning an agency's general truth to be re-establishing numbers for a healthy populations but you have to consider everything; even the unsightly reality of things. If my money was slowly disappearing, I would be worried.

I wanted to talk to other hunters that hunted the particular area but reading comments, figured that would be a dead-end unless I found the right guyor gal.

Regurgitating facts from the CPW handouts, in 1921-22 there was a winter feeding campaign and in 1932, Pittman Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act funded the first federal money for research and nutritional requirements for mule deer.  There was pelletized feed at feeding stations during 1983-84 but this didn't help fawn mortality. Here there was the effort to supplement mule deer diet but a poor outcome to fawns. I guess Bambi was shouldered out at the feeder. Predators could have realized this was a food source for prey and just waited until feeding time to pick unsuspecting prey off. I would guess that is the lay way to hunt as a predator but effective. It’s a thought towards decreased numbers especially if you wanted to blame it on cougars or other animals. You lead the mule deer right to the slaughter but what else is there to do? Let them starve? It's a chance you have to take.I did read another article that related the problem of causing a density in one area where the foliage was stripped on top of the feeding. Once again, it is import to think spatially when promoting any kind of plan. Yes, it would be small section of habitat to work on but not in the same spot but evenly distributed for an increase in mobility, especially at fawning season.

Priority One on the strategy was to landscape-scale the habitat to improve its quality.  I would assume this would be a good idea because it included the private land manager. If I were a land owner at a meeting like this I would ask that all important question. How much is this going to cost me? Who is going to come up with the plan for my private land?  Is it going to cost me to do prescribe burning and who will do this? Where am I going to get seed from to do forage restoration and is it going to cost me? Who and where is the money for weed management going to come from?

After this, I just lost count of priorities and started asking questions.

Priorities aside, the main issue that stuck out for me was the food source.  Here you have an area that was once covered with some vegetation then it was cut down or removed for agriculture and domestic livestock. Once that issue was phased out to some degree then the area was left to heal itself. Invading or migrating species of plants moved into this untreated area. The problem with this was found in a study that explained the event as a limited species, able to survive and persist, but may not be the best fit for the environment. The food source appeared and the mule deer followed. Here you have the conundrum of trying to maintain a habitat’s flora that has a limited time span in the area based on its ability to adapt to the fluctuating environment it has migrated to. Some of these plant species, if you research are possibly not native species yet as that awful word of climate change is tossed around, the shifting environment may not be able to maintain those particular plants.

I thought selecting areas where the rate of success is higher given the location could be strip landscaped where small sections are blocked out to foster those things needed for the propagation of vegetation for mule deer and maybe an improvement in bulk vegetation to divert away elk from the area the mule deer would browse. How well this would work is a mystery. This could be done over a period of time and would take up less space on a private land owners property. The land owner can designate how much he or she is willing to put aside for a certain amount of time for mule deer recovery. Once again, an incentive program should exist to encourage land managers to participate. Participation is the juice from the lemon so communication is pertinent where information is deliver to the layman in a way trust is not broken, questioned, or influenced.

The firm belief amongst hunters is predators. When you consider the idea predators can have up to three or more progeny, then their numbers could out breed the prey. This is not the case due to hunters culling predators that prey on the mule deer. When you consider the number of 525,000 without regard to hunter participations, that is a lot of deer to predators. What if the differential were the number that would feed the predators as a whole? Does an allowable amount of mule deer numbers, rellocated to predator food sources, play into the plan of the CPW for its healthy mule deer statistics? If you have 3000-7000 cougars with a herd of 575,000 mule deer, how much do the cougars get? Or is that figured in? This excludes other sources of food such as wild sheep, white-tailed deer, etc. How much are bears allowed? It's not a pet, but you are still responsible for its food source. Does this number only involve the exclusivity of human predation on mule deer as our supplemental food source?

The more I read these islands of information, the suggestion from other sources are: this whole circumstance has not been thought out well, the information provided is dated and questionable, and  dwindling trust issues.The mismanagement of the issues and sources are undermined by lack of effort to do a full-on scale current study into what is actualy going on at the Western Slope. This extends into human habitation and how poor decision-making is slowly creeping up on citizens by undesirable outcomes. Long-term, mule deer population numbers are not going to be your only problem. Wait until the water shortage becomes an undeniable truth.

I know when we see problems, we would like a study implemented that would point out the one guilty culprit but that is not always the case. It is several criminals that add up to a much bigger picture or small field of view. If there is a suggested solution, the solution should be tested then assessed for results. In this case, it would not be unheard of that the area would fluctuate between grasslands and shrub forests throughout time until finally it would go barren or the forest takes it. If not, then move on to the next possible thing. Better foliage, more water, and fewer predators. My all time favorite is critical thinking for a better plan.

 

Written by: W Harley  Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~