Certainly hunting is something good people in the club have different 
feelings about.  Hunting deer with center fire rifles may be in the same 
category.  This is a good study in the workings of a government agency.  
We hire well qualified government employees with expertise to plan 
highways, manage commerce, etc., and manage wildlife.   Left alone, the 
DNR faces enormous pressures from farmers, insurers, nature lovers, and 
hunters concerning deer numbers.  Some want more, some want less.  Good 
government is always about seeking compromises.  Then people call 
goverment stupid for not doing everything that they think is right.   
Now, the politicians have jumped in with both feet.  In my expereince 
that is where most "stupid government" comes from.  The professional 
government employess likely go home at night feeling like ripping their 
guts out at the superficial "fixes' imposed by shallow and superficial 
politicians.  In my follwing of wildlife and hunting issues, I can't 
think of few issues that were made better by political meddling.

I was talking to a guy from Indiana and he was spouting all this stuff 
about stupid government.  He paused and then thought to ask, do you work 
for government.  Yes, I do.  It seems his issue was a highway in Indiana 
where the safety and traffic flow was all screwed up by the stupid 
government.  I asked if there was any political meddling in the 
problem.  Yes, it seems.  A politican got impatient with the time it was 
taking him to drive from his home to legislative meetings. He inserted a 
measure into a highway bill that said for every stoplight that highway 
planners put on the road, they had to take out two stoplights.  I tried 
to explain to him the difference between professional government 
employees and politicians.  He said he could see no difference.

I think deer management in Iowa is somewhat in the same boat, with 
political meddling to please special interests.

Lanny Schwartz

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