Troubled by DNR's management policies

To the Editor:

In review of our Michigan Department of Natural Resources game biologists, I am sorely dismayed at how they have managed our wildlife populations, especially deer and turkey populations.

We have had two killer winters that took 50 percent of our deer and turkeys and a wolf population that is basically not managed but rivals most Canadian provinces per square mile. Meanwhile, our biologists continue not to make any adjustments in harvest quotas or shortening of season dates.

The two buck per year has degraded the age class of our bucks to the point where there are no 4-year-old bucks around anymore. There will still be a fall hen turkey season, even though we experienced heavy losses of these birds last winter.

These are indications that the state is more interested in selling tags than doing proper wildlife management.

The Presque Isle River Flowage — which is one of the top ecosystems in the western U.P., which has hundreds of wild birds, mammals, and once a great fishery — sits idle and dry for a second year in a row while the state continues spending sportsmen’s dollars radio collaring an overpopulated wolf population.

My advice sportsmen out there is if you’re not happy with wildlife management here in Michigan, maybe we need to start hunting in Wisconsin where their governor is more proactive in wildlife management and doesn’t believe that their wildlife is just a cash cow.

Joe Allen

Marenisco