Attribution: John Davis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in acknowledging the fact that sharing Wisconsin’s varied landscape with tens of thousands of white tail deer produces a daily mix of pleasures and woes. There is the constant traffic competition with thousands of deer and an occasional driver killed in the collisions. There are the seasonal clashes between farmers and crop gobbling deer, and between the army of trophy-seeking hunters and the herd each fall.
Now in the UW Arboretum in the middle of Madison the deer-people competition comes down to hired sharpshooters occupying tree stands as night comes on to shoot deer baited into range with scattered corn.
In a policy that was born in a flurry of opposition way back when the keeper was doing outdoor stories for the Wisconsin State Journal in the 1960s, there is now in place an accepted management program to put a lid on the Arboretum deer herd before it expands to devour much of the rare and valued Arboretum plant life.
The Arboretum is looking to expand its “sharpshooter” crew to keep up with the prolific nature of the white tails. The keeper will not be applying for the job as Phyllis is not that high on venison.
