Aldo Leopold and Hunting
Aldo Leopold was a hunter
Aldo Leopold, associate director of the forest products laboratory at Madison, Wis., and formerly assistant forester in charge of operations at Albuquerque, is proceeding from Magdalena to the N--bar ranch in the Datil forest big game preserve to hunt.
Mr Leopold will hunt deer with the bow and arrow. He is rated as an expert marksman.
Hunting on the N-Bar Ranch, which was owned by his wife's uncle.
Balance
Aldo Leopold wrote about wildlife numbers increasing while range resources decreased.
In Wisconsin, 1942
Pheasant production is going up because the species was recently introduced, and has just finished occupying its available range. In the vicinity of good wintering marshes, there are now too many pheasants, as evidenced by large-scale corn-pulling last spring. These spots need trimming down, but if we plotted all of them on a map we would find large blanks between. As yet we lack any device for shooting the blanks lightly and the spots heavily.
Like the pheasant map, the deer map is spotty ; excess deer exist only near good wintering swamps. As in pheasants, we lack any device for shooting the spots heavily and the blanks lightly. ... The real trimming of the deer herd is done by violators who shoot does illegally. There is a grim humor in this predicament.
ALDO LEOPOLD WAS IN FAVOR OF MIGRATORY BIRD ACT
Federal Government to establish migratory bird refuges interstate
Management means adequate control, and restoration of a favorable environment for wild life by the control of water, food, cover, and where necessary, predatory enemies.
Aldo Leopold considered owner's rights
Ten Thousand irate farmers have had what goodwill they harbored toward the sportsmen rudely trampled by gangs of bushwhacking hunters who ruthlessly violated every element of privacy and consideration of owners' rights
Dead ducks lay no eggs
And restoration is now the new battle cry. Everyone, munition makers, sportsmen and conservationists, have suddenly discarded their sectional bickerings and quarreling over methods, and are uniting in one grand effort to bring back to life a glorious sport which they have, themselves, assassinated. They are locking the barn after the horse is gone but it may not be too late
Do away with predators
And here lies the question? Do away with all predators, some predators, no predators?
What would the science say?
Land Economics
Thinking Like a Mountain, A short Essay by Aldo Leopold
I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer.
Aldo Leopold and Range Management
