travishunter3006
Very Active Member
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Affected by Our Destiny
Throughout grade school we learned about the captivating idea of Manifest Destiny. If
you remember correctly this term is used to describe our overall desire to own our own land, to
be a free people and live where we see fit. This destiny has been the driving force for hundreds
of years, pushing back the wild frontier into more hospitable places. We have taken with no
thought, because none was taught, to protect more fully that of which surrounds us. Urban
Sprawl plays a cooperative and significant role in the decline of ungulate numbers all across
northern Utah and especially the Wasatch Front. Urban Sprawl is the concept of over
populating one place and branching off to develop on the outskirts of town. This movement has
negatively affected the number of deer, elk, moose and other ungulates not only across the
Wasatch Front but across the entire United States.
Many look upon the state of Utah thinking that there are still vast lands in which the
deer may roam freely throughout the year. This idea is implanted based upon false pretenses
and a lack of simple education. We use a grocery store year round but deer and other ungulates
are not as fortunate. They have the need to forage and uncover their food from the snow
during the winter months. Deer winter at elevations between 5,000 and 7,500 feet in the foot
hills and valleys of northern Utah. You will be able to locate deer more easily during the winter
months of December through February because of the lack of food in wider, higher elevations.
Primary winter ranges have been over taken by both commercial and residential
development. Crucial ranges like the one Weber State University is on, the city of Morgan and
the Eden-Huntsville area, have supported wintering deer for hundreds of years but now have
become your front room in their backyard. One of the most important winter ranges along the
Wasatch Front is the stretch between Farmington Canyon and the Federal Heights- Emigration
Canyon area. This also is the most encroached upon winter range in the northern part of the
state.
Many would argue that the ever declining deer population is due solely to barbaric
?Bambi killers? known as hunters. Though hunting plays a significant role, there are 3 other
critical factors in the digression of the deer population; winter-kill, road-kill and predator
related kills.
With the constant battle placed upon hunters and sportsmen alike, we will leave the
political arguments out and discuss what we can specifically do concerning predator control,
winter-kill and road-kill. Leading out with predator control, coyotes have a very minimal impact
of mule deer numbers due impart to hunters and the shear difference in size of the two
animals. Cougars however have a hankering for deer. Studies, research and observations
conducted from the mid west through the west coast have concluding reports showing that just
one cat will kill 30 deer per year consuming about 70% of each kill. There are estimated to be
2,927 cougars in Utah running alongside a herd of 300,000 deer. If each cougar was to keep in
stride with 30 deer kills per year this would result in over 87,000 predator kills from cougars
alone. Only around 90,000 hunters will have hit the hills in 2010 harvesting on average less than
22,000 deer (Utah Division of Natural Resources). The impact that these animals have on deer
numbers is outstanding and none the less remarkable. Road kill accounts for 20,000 deaths per
year as well, says Brett Prettyman of The Salt Lake Tribune. Increased urbanization of rural
areas, a lack of high fencing and a shortage of safe crossing zones are to blame. Motorists are
innocent as they strike a deer bounding from one side of the road to another. This a concern
the Mr. Prettyman addresses with the information that 375,000 dollars have been allocated on
a fencing project through Parleys Canyon. There is some progress being made.
Lastly, Manifest Destiny and Urban Sprawl are to blame for the lack of winter ranges of
which deer rely upon during those cold and food barren winter months. Steps have been taken
to limit the pressure and stressed placed on the animals like certain shed hunting seasons
and specific areas that are closed to the public during these times also habitat protection areas
and water sheds. Though we still see houses being built farther and farther up the sides of the
foothills, certain groups and organizations like Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and The Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation buy local and rural properties with certain ordinances stipulating the
inability to ever develop at these locations. Where can we make a difference? We can choose
to simply not build our future homes on the side of the mountain, we can join forces with
conservation groups and organizations in donating our time and money and we can simply
voice our opinion as we learn more about this topic.
Simply put Manifest Destiny which once began the colonization of such a great nation
has become detrimental to such a precious resource, something that both sportsmen and
wildlife activists can agree upon. In conclusion, It should be our duty to become involved with
one of the many conservation groups with the common goal of preserving these animals for
future generations to come.
Throughout grade school we learned about the captivating idea of Manifest Destiny. If
you remember correctly this term is used to describe our overall desire to own our own land, to
be a free people and live where we see fit. This destiny has been the driving force for hundreds
of years, pushing back the wild frontier into more hospitable places. We have taken with no
thought, because none was taught, to protect more fully that of which surrounds us. Urban
Sprawl plays a cooperative and significant role in the decline of ungulate numbers all across
northern Utah and especially the Wasatch Front. Urban Sprawl is the concept of over
populating one place and branching off to develop on the outskirts of town. This movement has
negatively affected the number of deer, elk, moose and other ungulates not only across the
Wasatch Front but across the entire United States.
Many look upon the state of Utah thinking that there are still vast lands in which the
deer may roam freely throughout the year. This idea is implanted based upon false pretenses
and a lack of simple education. We use a grocery store year round but deer and other ungulates
are not as fortunate. They have the need to forage and uncover their food from the snow
during the winter months. Deer winter at elevations between 5,000 and 7,500 feet in the foot
hills and valleys of northern Utah. You will be able to locate deer more easily during the winter
months of December through February because of the lack of food in wider, higher elevations.
Primary winter ranges have been over taken by both commercial and residential
development. Crucial ranges like the one Weber State University is on, the city of Morgan and
the Eden-Huntsville area, have supported wintering deer for hundreds of years but now have
become your front room in their backyard. One of the most important winter ranges along the
Wasatch Front is the stretch between Farmington Canyon and the Federal Heights- Emigration
Canyon area. This also is the most encroached upon winter range in the northern part of the
state.
Many would argue that the ever declining deer population is due solely to barbaric
?Bambi killers? known as hunters. Though hunting plays a significant role, there are 3 other
critical factors in the digression of the deer population; winter-kill, road-kill and predator
related kills.
With the constant battle placed upon hunters and sportsmen alike, we will leave the
political arguments out and discuss what we can specifically do concerning predator control,
winter-kill and road-kill. Leading out with predator control, coyotes have a very minimal impact
of mule deer numbers due impart to hunters and the shear difference in size of the two
animals. Cougars however have a hankering for deer. Studies, research and observations
conducted from the mid west through the west coast have concluding reports showing that just
one cat will kill 30 deer per year consuming about 70% of each kill. There are estimated to be
2,927 cougars in Utah running alongside a herd of 300,000 deer. If each cougar was to keep in
stride with 30 deer kills per year this would result in over 87,000 predator kills from cougars
alone. Only around 90,000 hunters will have hit the hills in 2010 harvesting on average less than
22,000 deer (Utah Division of Natural Resources). The impact that these animals have on deer
numbers is outstanding and none the less remarkable. Road kill accounts for 20,000 deaths per
year as well, says Brett Prettyman of The Salt Lake Tribune. Increased urbanization of rural
areas, a lack of high fencing and a shortage of safe crossing zones are to blame. Motorists are
innocent as they strike a deer bounding from one side of the road to another. This a concern
the Mr. Prettyman addresses with the information that 375,000 dollars have been allocated on
a fencing project through Parleys Canyon. There is some progress being made.
Lastly, Manifest Destiny and Urban Sprawl are to blame for the lack of winter ranges of
which deer rely upon during those cold and food barren winter months. Steps have been taken
to limit the pressure and stressed placed on the animals like certain shed hunting seasons
and specific areas that are closed to the public during these times also habitat protection areas
and water sheds. Though we still see houses being built farther and farther up the sides of the
foothills, certain groups and organizations like Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and The Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation buy local and rural properties with certain ordinances stipulating the
inability to ever develop at these locations. Where can we make a difference? We can choose
to simply not build our future homes on the side of the mountain, we can join forces with
conservation groups and organizations in donating our time and money and we can simply
voice our opinion as we learn more about this topic.
Simply put Manifest Destiny which once began the colonization of such a great nation
has become detrimental to such a precious resource, something that both sportsmen and
wildlife activists can agree upon. In conclusion, It should be our duty to become involved with
one of the many conservation groups with the common goal of preserving these animals for
future generations to come.
