Unless you have 24 hours a day to sit and watch the corn grow you are going to find that deer and other animals don’t show up at the same time every day or stuff themselves for hours on end. In fact, most depredation occurs in short bursts that may occur at dawn, dusk or any time in between. I recently sat over a heavily-depredated corn patch mornings and eve- nings for a week before I saw the first animal. Turns out the deer were showing up at midday after the morning’s picking was completed. In one field my traps sat empty for several days until one night when raccoons ended up in all six traps. Expect to spend some time learning the depredating
animals’ patterns and habits. Crop raiders seem to know when the Swiss chard, lettuce, corn or beans are ready to pick. They’ll show up one night early and clean out several rows. But, they may not return to that area for a week or more, instead focusing their energies on other crops or foods that may be ripening at different times elsewhere on the farm. You may not fire a shot for days on end but your pres- ence will still have a positive effect and the farmer will notice it. When I begin working a farm for pests I have good luck the first day or two and then the animals respond by disappearing for short periods, perhaps robbing other farmers nearby. But every day I keep them at bay puts more profit in the farmer’s pocket, and that’s what he wants from me.
Take your position as Depredation Specialist seriously. Show up several times a week and make every effort to pro- duce results. Remember once again that this is not a sport hunt, it’s depredation shooting, and the farmer expects to see a reduction in crop damage. THE ETHICAL QUESTION
Most traditional hunters recoil at the thought of shoot- ing deer in April or trapping raccoons in July, and some of my hunting friends even complain that I am stealing “their” deer by shooting them during the off season. Even the fact that I eat the deer and harvest the hides of trapped furbearers doesn’t assuage their sense of sporting outrage. Truth be told, crop depredation permits are issued year-round and most farmers simply shoot and discard the animals, folding them into compost piles or dumping them in their farm offal pits. There is far less waste of game when a licensed hunter does the shooting and utilizes the animals he harvests. And for the record, July deer are as tender and flavorful as the best November venison!
Perhaps of most interest to the hunting brotherhood is
that many farmers raising vegetables and organic crops kill hundreds of rabbits, raccoons, deer and other animals each year using depredation permits, an interesting concept con- sidering that many of their customers are vegetarians who do not eat meat and don’t “believe” in hunting. What a shock to find that the culinary demands of devout vegans are the root cause of the annual wholesale wanton waste of wild animals and birds. In any case, depredation hunting is here to stay and there are opportunities to participate wherever commercial crop farming occurs. Visit local farmers or check with your district game warden and get the ball rolling in your area. There is no reason to hire “professional sharpshooters” when willing hunters will happily do the job – for free!
Caught in the act! This raccoon was trapped while he was raiding a commercial farmer’s ripening corn crop.
www.varminthunter.org Page 173
Deer are among the most common crop raiders, especially where corn, apples, vegetables, grapes and other fruits are commercially grown. They must be in the crop field doing damage before they can be removed.
Smaller animals and birds can be taken with pellet rifles, light shotguns, bows or 22s to reduce noise and ricochet threats in close quarters.
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