MN Deer and Turkey Population | Teen Ink

MN Deer and Turkey Population

May 24, 2019
By 22ko01 BRONZE, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
22ko01 BRONZE, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

I do a lot of hunting and usually for deer and turkeys. When I am hunting sometimes I just like to sit and watch the deer and turkeys. Normally I hunt over fields. Why? Because the deer and turkeys come to eat the crops in the field. People still say that they don't eat corn or soybeans or any type of crops for that matter. When I sit and watch them sand there and eat somebody's profit. Sitting there watching them eat how much more evidence does a person need. Obviously, if they are eating most of a small field then there are too many. Most people would think that they are cute little creatures and how could they harm or destroy anything. To me though they are destructive mainly in fields and they populate way to fast.

The whitetail deer are known to be all around Minnesota and have adapted to all weather. for the harshest of winters. Witch has killed off many deer in Minnesota especially in the north. What people did not expect is that turkeys would be able to survive in the harsh winters of northern Minnesota. So if these animals can live anywhere in MN then won't there be a lot of them?  Most of Minnesota is Woodland so the deer and turkeys can be anywhere no humans can find them. The only time people can see the deer or Turkey in the woods would be hunting. Otherwise the only time people see them is when they are in fields or occasionally they wander into the city. What would they be doing in the fields? Probably most people would say just wondering but they aren't. They are eating the crops and destroying them.

Like I said for I am a hunter and I love to hunt. To this world there too many pros and cons as I am a hunter because I am also a farmer. Typically these things don't go together, but we shoot the deer and turkeys to try to maintain the population on our land. Minnesota hunters like that there is a lot of deer and Turkey. That means that they were more likely to shoot 1 or have many options in which to shoot. According to the website the Minnesota DNR ", they are often observed foraging for insects grubs and seeds their primary food source. However since they are highly visible they have sometimes been blamed for crop damage that is actually been caused by other animals such as deer, raccoons, squirrels, or blackbirds.” Now deer I know for a fact that they are very crop destructive.

O farmers in the state of Minnesota will probably say that Turkey and deer are very destructive and fields. Especially where the fields are surrounded by woods. According to Linder farm, one network corn cost $3.22 per bushel and soybeans cost $8.02 per bushel. That is a lot of money to lose from deer and Turkey when they keep eating or wrecking it before it even grows big enough to mature to be harvested.

By no means are these animals a danger to society. But male deer have horns to defend themselves and female deer have sharp hooves and make loud noises to protect themselves against predators. Turkeys have spurs and large wings to hit birders period of Bolton these animals at the ability to win against her brokers than the population is not going to go down from predators and it is all up to us humans to maintain a good population in the state of Minnesota.  Granted there are some deer and Turkeys that get taken out by predators such as young deer and turkeys or the sick and wounded.

It is very hard to maintain the population when they reproduce quite rapidly. Turkeys can have 10 to 14 poults. According to the website of the National Wild Turkey Federation, only 25% of the polts make it to 4 weeks. If there are 70,000 turkeys in Minnesota and 50% are female that means there would be about 45,000 hens. Each hen laying 12 eggs and 25% live witch that means 3 live. So 3 times the 45,000 hens which is 135,000 turkeys and plus the 45,000 males and 45,000

females add them together and there are 205,000 turkeys. At least 10,000 male turkeys are shot each year. So that means that turkeys can almost double their population in one year. Deer, on the other hand, don’t populate quite as fast. Even though they don’t populate as fast their offspring has a better chance of living through. The population has gotten to the point where there are diseases now. In 50 years there is a possibility that chronic waste disease could wipe out all deer in Minnesota. That is what could happen to the turkey population if there are too many. When the population is too high there is a higher risk of diseases.

My main point of this entire essay is that there are too many deer and turkeys in Minnesota. Going back to what I said that I am a hunter and having a large population is good for hunting. Being a farmer takes priority over hunting because making a profit is more important. That deer and turkeys are destructive in all of Minnesota. My solution to this problem is to give out more tags. Let people get one more turkey or one more deer. Even though someone might argue with me that there are not many deer or turkeys. Where I live there are way too many and there needs to be more tags for my area and all over populated areas.     



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