I disagree with Bill that hunters alone cannot control a prey 
population.  Here in Black Hawk County we have had urban archery hunts 
for deer for the last 15 yrs or so.  Deer densities are down nearly 90% 
if I remember the numbers I saw.  Iowa City uses sharpshooters and 
greatly reduced deer numbers.  Information on the Iowa DNR website shows 
Iowa with a peak deer population of 400,000 in 2005-06.  They project in 
two years the Iowa deer herd will stabilize at their goal of 175,000 
deer.  Sorry Bill, that decline has not been brought about by animal 
predation.  I sat for 2 days during shotgun season in a blind in 
Winnesheik County and saw two does in the distance.  That is a far cry 
from the dozens of deer I saw a few years ago.  For the last several 
years the DNR has made 3,500 extra doe tags available each year for that 
county, and I can guarantee that the deer population is way down.  
Colorado is relatively (elk) predator free and they successfully control 
their elk populations with hunting.  If hunting can't control animal 
populations, why do the anti-hunters always claim that hunters are 
threatening animal populations.

Just to be clear of my previous point, as an ecologist I talk to my 
classes about a carrying capacity for a population.  This is a largely 
conceptual or even imaginary point of a stable population that persists 
at a level for a long time--examples in nature are nearly impossible to 
find.  Game managers all over the world have to deal with a practical, 
socio-economic carrying capacity.  How many critters can us humans 
stand?  Wisconsin has higher tolerances for deer densities than do 
Iowans, Willy Suchy tells me.  When it comes to the socio-economic 
carrying capacity for wolves and mountain lions, any number you name 
will be too high for most folks.  The cost to the conservation movement 
and the Sierra Club is simply too high to promote a large predator in 
Iowa.  Lanny Schwartz

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