A Veterinarian's Perspective on Bowhunting

What Happens to the Animals?

Bowhunters contend that although crippling is undesirable, most wounded animals do not die agonizing deaths, but can quickly recover. They feel that the broadhead arrow inflicts clean wounds that heal quickly. Bowhunters also like to suggest that a broadhead arrow is an efficient killing tool, with brand names such as the Ripper, Penetrator, and Terminator Doublecut.

The pretense seems to be that somehow animals develop hemophilia the instant they are struck; thus, they bleed to death: Stop all body functions with incredible speed—within 30 seconds in most cases, according to The Complete Book of Bowhunting. Contrary to these claims, most crippled animals do not recover from their wounds; rather, they routinely contract peritonitis or a septic infection.

Broadheads do not inflictclean wounds; they generally inflict dirty wounds. The main cause of infection,according to Benke, is today’s multi-bladed broadhead. As these arrows penetrate an
animal’s body, numerous hairs are clipped, often caught in the slots of the arrow blades, and distributed throughout the wound channel. The external wound opening then becomes sealed due to clotting and dried blood-matted hair. The bacteria from the clipped hairs begin multiplying in the wound. The amount of bacterial infection emanating from the wound depends on the wound location.

The animal’s general health is also an important factor affecting the time period it takes for the animal to finally die. Death eventually results one to two agonizing weeks later.




“The exciting Warhead starts with its
bone shattering Tri-Cut Tip … that
explodes flesh and bone away so the
three surgically sharp stainless blades
can open a larger, more lethal
entrance/exit hole.” (From
manufacturer’s catalog)


In order for an animal to bleed to death, its blood-clotting system must be overwhelmed. To overwhelm this system, the broadhead must penetrate the heart or sever one or more major blood vessels. If these are not lacerated, an animal cannot bleed to death— the body’s natural blood-clotting system sees to that.

Benke estimates that 20% to 30% of deer struck by arrows die from hemorrhaging and that 10% sustain wounds that probably heal, leaving 60% to 65% of the deer to die from infections.
Benke asserts: the average time in which broadheads cause death must be measured in weeks or days rather than in seconds, minutes, or even hours. Sadly, it is not only the crippled animals who suffer, but those hit and retrieved successfully as well. According to experts clean kills are a rarity. While the deer who are hit and retrieved successfully are not fortunate, they fare better than those who have been wounded and left to suffer. A comment from an experienced bowhunter who writes in Fins & Feathers magazine

(March 1987) assumes that the elapsed time between the initial wounding of an animal
and the animal’s final death is exceedingly long—even if the hit occurs in vital (heart or
lung) areas. The rule of thumb for bowhunters has long been that they should wait 30 to 45 minuteson heart and lung hits, an hour or more on a suspected liver hit, 8 to12 hours on paunch hits, and follow immediately on hindquarter and other muscle-only hits to keep the
wound open and bleeding. Bowhunting literature serves as its own indictment. The book Bowhunting for Whitetails says: It’s important to give them (the deer) time to stiffen and die - 20 minutes at a minimum, 30 minutes even better... just hang back and have a smoke. There is absolutely no sure way to kill a deer instantly with a bow!

The broadhead arrow is notorious for its inherent inefficiency and singular capacity to
cripple, wound, inflict pain, and prolong the suffering of animals. All 50 states have banned the .22 caliber rifle for big-game hunting because of its inadequate killing power. Given that .22 rifles are far superior to compound bows in terms of killing capability, one can infer that states have failed to institute and implement responsible and consistent hunting regulations.

A Veterinarian’s Perspective on Bowhunting

According to Steve Nusbaum MA, DVM, if the damage to the vital area is less than
severe, and if an arrow nicks an auricle rather than cuts through both ventricles, the
blessing of shock-induced analgesia (a deadening or absence of the sense of pain
without loss of consciousness) to set in can take a long time.

Consider the physiology of the deer who dies by suffocation, choking on its own blood,
or the deer who dies after an arrow penetrates the diaphragm. The presence of a highly
sophisticated nervous system in deer certainly suggests that their nervous systems
perform the same functions as human nervous systems. The presence of the same
neurochemicals in deer as in humans similarly shows that they feel pain as we do.

In recent years there has been a major shift in the way the scientific community
understands the mental life of animals, particularly mammals. Presently, researchers in
a variety of animal-related disciplines generally agree that in addition to being sentient,
mammals are consciously aware and have feelings and emotions; even though they are
more rudimentary than those of humans.

Mammals, including deer, are presently understood by scientists to have the capacity to
think. Numerous studies indicate that the mental harm that is done to an animal placed
in a stressful situation may be more injurious than that done to a person in a similar
situation because the animal’s mind, in varying degrees, focuses more on the immediate
than the distant. Thus, an animal, unlike a person, is less aware that the present anxiety
it is experiencing may be temporary. Not only does bowhunting cause real physical pain and suffering, the deer’s mental suffering is just as real, and in its own way, may be just as painful.

Bowhunting as a Deer Management Tool

The use of bowhunting as a method to control deer population densities is ineffective:
*In a February 1988 report on bowhunting at Rock Cut State Park in Illinois,
Department of Conservation biologist Tom Beissel, states: …this report recognizes that bowhunting has never been an effective tool for deer control…
* In Texas, which has more deer than any other state, Parks and Wildlife biologist
Horace Gore comments: You cannot call bowhunting a population control
measure, it is a recreational pursuit. In fact, he adds: We do not advocate
bowhunting when the objective is controlling the population.
* According to John Parker, Area Wildlife Manager for the Minnesota Department
of Natural Resources, only 3 deer were killed from the 29 bow permits issued in
the 1989 bow hunt in the Minnesota River Valley Area.
* Larry Gillette, Wildlife Biologist for Hennepin Parks, acknowledges that
bowhunters fail to retrieve a substantial number of deer they shoot and does not
advise the use of archery hunting to control deer populations.
* The Eagan City Council decided in 1993 not to allow bowhunting. This was
largely due to FATE’s (Friends of Animals and Their Environment) efforts. An
article in Bowhunter’s Hotline (Sept. 1993) regarding Eagan’s decision reported
that the Mayor of Eagan had supported bowhunting in the past; however, his
mind was changed about the sport due to the information provided by FATE.
The Mayor of Eagan, Tom Egan was quoted in the article as saying: FATE
provided me with a lot of valuable information, and I have always supported
bowhunting, but I no longer feel the rationale that it’s an efficient management
tool outweighs the safety and cruelty aspects. Also, the Mayor was reported as
saying: I think if we set loose every bowhunter in Eagan, we still wouldn’t reduce
the deer population, and the city would be less safe. He added: It isn’t feasible
for every bowhunter to shoot and retrieve five deer. They might each shoot and
wound five, but not shoot and recover five.

The above listed items clearly show the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of bowhunting
as a population control method and deer management tool.

The Inescapable Conclusion

Those who indulge in the antiquated bow-and-arrow type of hunting knowingly commit
each living creature they hit to lingering agony, and this is true whether the wound is
eventually fatal or not. These animals endure prolong suffering before they collapse and
die.

As this report has shown, the following facts about bowhunting are inescapable:
* Bowhunting is inhumane and wasteful.
* Bowhunters do not want to talk about the wounding issue and archery wounding
is the most denied problem in bowhunting.
* Wounding and crippling losses are inevitable.
*Shot placement is, for all practical purposes, random due to the difficulty in
shooting arrows accurately. There is absolutely no sure way to kill a deer
instantly with a bow
* More often than not, poorly hit deer are lost and not recovered.
* The main cause of infection in the wound is today’s multi-bladed broadhead
arrow
* Almost all abdominally shot deer die a slow death from peritonitis with the
average time of death measured in agonizing days or weeks rather than in
minutes or hours.
* The use of bowhunting as a method to control deer population densities is
ineffective. Bowhunting is not a population control measure; it is a recreational
pursuit.

Humans are provided with the capacity to imagine for a variety of reasons. And we have
the capacity to imagine empathetically for a singular reason—we can appreciate the pain
of others without experiencing it firsthand. Balancing the needs of humans and animals
is a difficult and complex task. If communities decide that deer herds must be managed,
it is reprehensible to reduce the taking of animal life to a recreational activity for
bowhunting enthusiasts. Instead, a truly humane solution must be found—whether that
solution is to hire professional sharpshooters to observe the herd, taking the old and
infirm, or to implement an immunocontraception program for the herd.

About the Author: This report was compiled by Linda Hatfield, a Minneapolis resident and current ExecutiveDirector of HOWL (Help Our Wolves Live). She has extensive experience with wildlife and wildlife issues, including working with the University of Minnesota Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and most recently The Raptor Center to rescue and release birds of prey, working with FATE (Friends of Animals and Their Environment) on hunting and deer management issues, and as a former lobbyist on wildlife issues with the Minnesota Legislature. She has testified about deer management issues and other wildlife issues in many communities and has served on many citizens’ task forces.

WHAT IS COMPENSATORY REBOUND EFFECT AND WHY KILLING DEER WORSENS DEER POPULATION?.

Hunting Can Increase The Severity Of Wildlife Disease Epidemics

One reason the policies failed, Choisy and Rohani said, is that they didn’t take into account an ecological principle known as compensation. When a portion of the animal population is reduced, those that survive are left with more resources such as food and shelter. As a result of the newly plentiful resources, the death rate decreases and the birth rate increases, compensating – and sometimes overcompensating – for the loss."

From a website on PZP (Immunocontraception)


"What is reproductive rebound?

Reproductive rebound is a well documented population dynamic in deer and other mammals. Deer conceive multiple embryos but the number of fawns actually born is determined by a number of complex factors including nutrition and herd density. With competition for food reduced by a sudden drop in herd numbers, younger fawns will breed and females will give birth to twins and triplets instead of single fawns.
In its 1990 report, "An Assessment of Deer Hunting in New Jersey," New Jersey Fish and Game offered a detailed example of this process. Its report shows that even during hunting seasons in which killing female deer was the objective (antlerless seasons), the remaining females had increased birthrates that not only replaced the ones killed, but increased the overall size of the herd."

From the PA Game Commission website




Game Commissions knows about "compensatory rebound", read on...

"Some people disagree with shooting antlerless deer; they reason that protecting them -- thus maintaining a maximum breeding base -- will assure large numbers of antlered bucks because terrific numbers of deer will be born each year and button bucks wouldn't be harvested. But bear in mind, a smaller herd in balance with its habitat can produce as many fawns as an oversized herd on poor range. Does have fewer young when habitat quality is lacking."

*(That means mass killing of deer and sudden drop WILL result in more deer in time for the deer killing season and the vicious cycle continues).

What else do they have to say?

"We strive to maintain a deer herd that each year that can provide quality sport to more than a million hunters. "
(I thought it was about "reducing" deer population)

Lets look at ANATOMY OF A "DOE" HUNT:

How Killing Female Deer at the Watchung Reservation Increased Birth Rates and Reproduction

The Watchung Reservation in Union County was the first area to use "Community Based Deer Management". From 1993 to 2001, more than 1,000 deer were either killed or wounded in the Reservation. In 1994, an infra-red air count of deer showed only 139 deer on 4,600 acres of land, 2,000 of which was the Reservation. That means that there were less than 100 deer in the Reservation itself when the hunts were initiated.

The deer in the reservation lived under non-hunting conditions for nearly a century before hunting was initiated, and had only reached a population height of 100, yet, in nine short years, more than 1,000 deer were produced and killed, and dozens, perhaps hundreds of others, were created and immigrated to other neighboring areas. How is such a thing possible? This the effect that hunting has on deer, and, thanks to the reports produced on the Reservation hunts, we now have the evidence that proves it.

The Watchung Reservation deer hunts targeted females and were designed to kill as many females as possible. After each female deer was killed at the Reservation, her womb was cut open and the fetuses, still alive, were removed. The study detailing the results of this can be found on page 25 of the 1997 Union County Parks Department report titled "Deer Management Program For Watchung Reservation".

All of the pregnant females killed during the first hunt had only one fetus in her womb. No twins or triplets were recorded at all. After the second year, 57% of the pregnant deer that were killed had twins in their wombs. After the third year, 60% of the pregnant deer killed had twins, and 8% had triplets. From this point on, the overwhelming majority of deer that were pregnant at the Reservation were producing either two or three offspring. In other words, as soon as hunting was introduced, the deer reacted with a massive increase in offspring production.

This is the heart of the matter: Before being hunted, female deer gave birth to only one child. Afterwards, it was double or triple that. This is what hunting does to deer. It is the reason why killing deer, female or male, doesn't reduce deer herds

Here is what an Anti-hunting organization wrote back in 2001 while hunters accuses them of "propaganda" because they fear the truth being exposed to the public

"Why do states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, PA, GA and TX which have the most hunters also have the most deer? Why have deer populations in these as well as other heavily hunted states steadily risen in the past three or four decades? "


NOW - WHICH STATES HAVE THE HIGHEST DEER VEHICLE ACCIDENTS? List from 2005-2006 even today many of the states still listed.

According to State Farm's claim statistics, the 10 states with the most deer crashes between June 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006 account for more than half of all such claims. (all big hunting states mind you)

Pennsylvania
Michigan
Illinois
Ohio
Georgia
Virginia
Minnesota
Texas
Indiana
South Carolina
Also included in the list is
NJ
Wisconsin

I HOPE THE PUBLIC REALIZE THAT HUNTING IS NOT ABOUT "REDUCING" THERE IS TOO MUCH BLOODY PROFIT TO ME MADE IN THE EXPENSE OF INNOCENT LIVES FROM HUMAN TO NON-HUMAN ANIMALS.

From an Anti-hunting website

" Game management is designed to insure a bumper crop of replacement "targets" each fall. Lots of "targets" means lots of hunters. Lots of hunters mean revenue for the state and federal wildlife management coffers. Consequently, deer populations are tied to and explicitly managed by permits. That is the nuts and bolts of deer management in America. The problem with the agenda is that it is working too well. Many game managers will freely admit that white-tailed deer exceed prudent carrying capacity in many areas. This is often used as a ploy to promote hunting, but often when we tamper with nature it can backfire. "





Plus State Wildlife Agencies continues to reject deer birth control because they need the abundance of deer for hunters.

State Wildlife Agencies DNR/DEC will all try to tell you its the deer's fault and how the hunters are the one to "help control" the Deer Vehicle Accidents. Article from Ohio DNR.




Quote from Ohio's DNR

"It’s no accident, however, that this time of year is also one of Ohio’s most popular hunting seasons. From early October through late January, thousands of avid outdoorsmen and women take to the fields across the state in pursuit of white-tailed deer. In fact, Ohio deer hunters play an important role in keeping these roadway accidents from being more common."

(YEAH RIGHT!)

They did not mention a thing about how hunters (to protect the hunting industry) are in the woods spooking the deer . Deer Vehicle Accident is still high today in Ohio so I guess hunting did nothing to "control" it.

Here is some fact about hunting and Deer Vehicle Accidents.

Facts #1

Deer Vehicle Accidents are the highest during hunting season Oct, Nov, Dec.

Fact #2

The report also confirms that most wild animal collisions occur during early morning (5am-7am) or after sunset (5pm-11pm). Deer hunting is permitted one half hour before sunrise and one half hour after sunset.

Fact #3

"Hunters scare deer out of the woods through a common practice known as "driving" the deer. One group of hunters will walk through the woods, driving the deer towards another hunter or group of hunters on the other side, who are waiting to ambush and kill the deer. Of course, this means the deer are running to escape the hunters, which causes many of them to run onto roads."

Fact #4

The DNR and Wildlife Agencies provides deer for hunters recreational purpose.

"We strive to maintain a deer herd that each year that can provide quality sport to more than a million hunters. "

Fact #5

They not only reject deer birth control and fear it like its the plague, but deceive the public on deer birth control facts..

Fact #6

They know that mass killing deer is only temporarily because of compensatory rebound effect there will always be an abundance of deer ready for the next deer killing season and why DVA's starts to rise after the summer when twins and triplets are born and of course peaks in the late fall and early winter from hunting and rut. But rut is part of nature where hunting is NOT.

Fact #7

Remember this quote from the PA. Game Commission?

"will assure large numbers of antlered bucks because terrific numbers of deer will be born each year"

So that means that more buck deer in a rut running to find mate in the Fall, the buck deer population created by the State Agencies for trophy hunters which is the main reason hunters buy their killing tags.

DNR and Wildlife Agencies know ALL of it yet lies to the public. Remember that Deer Birth Control is the ONLY solution we have today and if the public wants to continue with deer problem and deer vehicle accidents then use the hunters to kill the deer because that's what they love to do. After years and years of Deer Vehicle Accidents and same lame excuses its time the public wakes up to reality that hunting is NOT the "SOLUTION" but the PROBLEM!

*****

Even the Wildlife Conservation Agents says this about hunters in the forest causing DVA's

"Again in November, during rifle season, which runs from Nov. 10-20, deer on roads will be a common sighting.
With a lot of hunters in the woods, they will push deer out of wooded areas, making them run across the road,” Missouri Department of Conservation Agent Dan Akin said."

One last thing - Hunters kill deer natural predators (wolves, coyotes and bobcats) so that all the more ensures abundance of deer for killing opportunities.

Here is what YOU can do to help appose deer hunting in your area right now. click here


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The most important thing I forgot to mention is the hunters also kill deer's natural predators ie. Wolves, coyotes and bobcats so that way the hunting organization can keep the deer population abnormally high plus habitat is manipulated (burning vegetation, timber-cutting, etc.

Overall Deer "management" is a sham!