Deer Hunting and a Booming Bend
As we enter into Fall in the High Desert, chilly mornings and changing leaves remind me of deer hunting season. Hunting mule deer was an activity my family did with my grandparents and our best family friends starting the first Saturday closest to October 1st. We packed warm clothes, good boots, red hats and orange vests into the camp trailer, and headed out of Bend Friday, mid-day to avoid the rush of other hunters. We set up camp and went to bed early. Our backpacks were pre-packed with snacks, water, buck knives, binoculars, and bullets.
(The year I turned 12 and carried a gun for the first time, I forgot my bullets, and it is now a family joke) The alarm would be going off at 4:00 am so we could be settled in a sheltered spot by daybreak.
My parents tell a story of driving to Mitchell, Oregon from Ashland with an almost 1 year old baby to meet my grandparents to hunt. They rented a run down hotel room, got a babysitter for me (the baby) and on that trip my mom shot a buck. That deer fed my poor, college age parents, for the year and was my first hunting trip.
Many families enjoyed this activity in Central Oregon in the 1980’s when I was a kid growing up in Bend. When I moved back to Bend in 2003 after living away for 20 years, I was shocked when there was a crosstown rivalry football game on the Friday before the opening day of hunting season. When I was a kid the idea was floated that we should even cancel school the Friday before opening day and call it “environmental day” because so many kids were absent. Especially football players!
I still can’t believe it....
My mom is the native Central Oregonian. Her family moved here from Idaho via the Willamette Valley in the late 40’s. She came with her parents and grandparents. They were the cowboys and they hunted for fun and food. My mom and dad met in college in Southern Oregon. My dads family is from Portland. They are the fishermen. My dad quickly became infatuated with hunting.
Growing up, my dad would attend fund raisers and come home with guns and art he’d won at the Trout Unlimited auction. We had a cabin on the upper Deschutes that was on private Elks Lodge property. Most photos in our family albums have family, friends and a deer head, elk head, birds or trout.
It was my conservative, NRA supporting dad that first mentioned the decline in Mule deer population. He didn’t say a percentage, but he commented that you can no longer get a tag, head out to the desert, and come back with a buck. He claims the deer are just not there.
We’ve gone hunting in the past 10 years out by Pine Mountain. They are a good time, but we’ve been consistently skunked and you don’t see deer hanging in other camps.
What we do see are town deer, and some are huge bucks. Seeing these deer give us the impression that deer are plentiful. The people who know the true numbers are the hunters. The truth is, mule deer populations are down 56%. Startling right? They are 67% below population objectives. These numbers are heartbreaking to me. The decline is due to many reasons. Urbanization and habitat loss is a big one. Connectivity from one area to another is also a huge factor. Deer migrate seasonally and when paths they have travelled for hundreds of years are blocked with roads and neighborhoods it leads to stress, accidents, and death. Harsh winters is another reason. 2020 was a fairly normal winter, but the Spring was dry, and drought is a reality.
These shocking numbers about mule deer, on the heels of a heart breaking summer of smoky skies, unhealthy air, and low water levels got me thinking about climate change and my longtime Bend resident dad.
My dad loves wildlife and the environment as much as I do. He loves elk and mule deer and fish so much that he will spend thousands of dollars each year to keep their populations up. He has spent a lifetime of vacation days and time reading and planning on what hunting units to apply to and when. He understands the regulations and game management processes. He knows the animals are in decline. My republican dad knows that the fires burn the sagebrush and the healthy grasses that the animals eat, and what comes back quickly after fire is cheat grass. Deer and other animals can not eat and survive on cheat grass.
We have big environmental problems.... The only way to make real change is to get on the same page. To listen to people on the other side and pay attention. I’d like to see an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife table at the Farmers market. Representatives of the Forest Service working with the mountain bike community. Farmers and fisherman communicating with destination resort developers, snowmobiling enthusiasts coming to the table with Patagonia wearing back country skiers. New residents to Bend, should be aware of hunting seasons in the area and the impact population growth, and excessive water use has on our community. More houses, more roads, more golf courses, more people, comes with a price. We need to focus on our shared love of the great outdoors, and not on the issues that divide us.
Please tread lightly, and respect the natural beauty you’ve come here for and the different activities of all who choose to call Central Oregon home.
