Sever, I hope you found a little of that consolation here. And you know what, I may be biased since I'm going to marry the guy, but you're right, Nachtrafe is one very amazing person. My cats think so too. ;) [img]smile.gif[/img]

Arnabas, gotta agree with you there. If that's what happened, I think it's reprehensible. There are plenty of places that dig up tourist revenue without screwing up the balance of nature on purpose. Sheesh. Photo 'shoots' are one way I've heard of and I'm sure Alaska has many things it can attract a tourist to besides hunting!

I live in Germany, hunting over here is NOT for sport. It is also not available for every person who can afford a gun like in America. To obtain a German hunting lisence one must first have a perfectly clean record. Secondly they must take a long extremely hard course and pass a colledge level exam. Finally the hunter pays close to 3000 US dollars to be issued his lisence.

Hunting is also controlled by the German goverment and every small town has a person who keeps tabs on the hunters assigned to his area and sees to the welfare of the wildlife in his area of control. Since Germany has no large predators left, we hunters are the only form of population control left. If we didn't "thin the herd" hundreds of deer would starve every winter.

I agree that what the greedy bastards did to the wolves in Alaska was a disgrace, however please do not lump all of us who hunt into that group. I spend many hours every year out in the woods keeping them clean and safe for the animals that live there by cutting deadfall and cleaning up after the hikers and kids who litter. I also have provided clear cuts in the wood with grain and corn for the deer to eat. Since all deer killed over here belongs to the state. I don't even get a chance to eat the meat from the deer I have harvested, unless I pay for it. If I chose not to buy the meat from the deer I have killed AFTER it has been checked by the local förstamt, it is then processed and provided at low to no cost for families in need.

[ 12-04-2002, 06:07 PM: Message edited by: Wurm ]

Aside from the restrictiveness it sounds like you have a pretty good system. There are almost no predators left in the areas I hunt in near to my house either. Car accidents involving deer happen almost daily. Maybe if there was a way to feed needy people extra meat from kills hunters would harvest more deer. As it is , the deer are so over populated that they are starting to become stunted from lack of food. I am afraid that in another few years they will be closer in size to dogs than to deer.

Thats already happened over here.. its a rare thing to take a deer that is over 20 kilos here.

They are about the size of a Collie or German Shepard.