Re: Will R5 ever have an end to the 10 Day Closure and Concerns about it.
Originally Posted by
dbergen69
My questions 1) how much mortality is related to hunting? I think I read that it is only 5% of total mortality. If so reducing hunting has little impact 2) What is happening to winter range? This is the key limiting factor and we are losing lots to development.
Hunting as it stands should contribute to higher carrying capacity because it removes the surplus animals. It is supposed to emulate natural mortality. You can have higher surplus because they are removed before winter(GOS). We are however in what is called a predator pit. What seems to me to be a disconnect is that in a natural open system nature controls the population thru predation, starvation,disease, low fertility ect. There is no surplus! In order to have a surplus the mortalities need to be manipulated. Management in a word. There is plenty of current scientific articles that are observing that habitat enhancement and manipulation is not having the effect they predicted. Because the predators just camp on the goods. They may even contribute to higher numbers of predators because high rodent/small game recruitment in burns subsidizes canine/feline diet. Ungulates are choosing marginal habitats instead of running the gauntlet which leads to higher mortality anyway and so the circle goes round.
It is well to try and journey ones road and to fight with the air.Man must die! At worst he can die a little sooner." (H Ryder Haggard)