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Opinion: Let’s manage Douglas for deer

Published 3:00 pm Saturday, December 22, 2018

A young Sitka black-tailed deer finds fresh greens to eat along Glacier Highway on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
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A young Sitka black-tailed deer finds fresh greens to eat along Glacier Highway on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

A young Sitka black-tailed deer finds fresh greens to eat along Glacier Highway on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
A young Sitka black-tailed deer finds fresh greens to eat along Glacier Highway on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

It is time for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to stop managing Douglas Island for wolves and manage it for deer.

Douglas Island is where people who don’t have a boat and can’t afford to charter a plane to a remote site hunt for their venison. The wolves have decimated the deer population, despite our having several mild winters in a row.

Fish and Game personnel need hike over the top of Douglas in late July and count the deer they see. In the 40 years I have hunted Douglas Island, there were times that I would see as many as 20 to 25 different deer on top in one day. This year, I did not see a single deer on top. There was almost no sign. Other hunters I have talked with have said the same thing — lots of wolves and very few deer.

Gary Miller,

Juneau

My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.

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