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Sen. John Proos: Hunters helping farmers would help protect crops
Published 9:31pm Wednesday, June 20, 2012Agriculture is Michigan’s second largest industry, yet each year hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of crops are lost due to nuisance deer. The problem has been exacerbated over the years as the number of deer has increased.
Farmers and other landowners may soon be able to enlist the help of hunters to manage the number of deer on their properties under legislation recently sent to the governor.
Senate Bill 717 establishes a “Hunters Helping Landowners” program within the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to allow hunters to assist our farmers in the protection of their crops.
Individuals willing to help hunt nuisance deer would submit an application to the DNR and indicate up to two Michigan counties in which they are interested in hunting. Landowners who feel they need additional antlerless deer harvested on their property would contact the DNR and request a list of those who have expressed interest in hunting in their county.
I sponsored this measure to connect farmers experiencing crop losses and potential hunters who have expressed interest in helping reduce the number of excess deer.
Modeled after an Indiana initiative, it is designed to complement an earlier reform that gives landowners with significant crop damage more flexibility in managing deer on their property.
My earlier reform, now Public Act 65, allows an individual with a DNR deer damage shooting permit to include up to 15 authorized shooters to implement the permit. The bill became law in March.
Southwest Michigan families know about the importance of agriculture to our region and way of life. I worked to enact both of these common-sense measures because they will allow our family farmers to protect their livelihoods and the crops that fuel a multibillion-dollar industry and support thousands of Michigan jobs.
Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph, represents the 21st District, which includes Berrien and Cass counties and most of Van Buren County.
Tags: Sen. John Proos
I don’t understand what the point of this is. Now it’s been about 20 years since I’ve had anything to do with folks hunting, however, I do remember that when ‘the guys’ were ready to go out in the autumn the first thing they would do is contact some of the farmers they knew, or farmer relatives they knew, or just called a farmer to see if they would allow them to hunt their property. They always found a place to hunt, and always came back with deer. I wasn’t aware that ‘measures needed to be enacted’ in order to do this. The DNR is supposed to do a count of the deer every year and know just how many need to be culled — or NOT — in order to keep a wild population healthy. But that was twenty years ago, maybe farmers were just more available or approachable back then. And (thought I’m not a tax attorney) I would think that farmers would be able to determine a percentage of crop damage by animals, (not only deer but raccoons, rabbits, birds)and take that percentage off their tax returns as a loss. Yes? No? I don’t know. I’m not against appropriate hunting, but I don’t see why there is a big ‘ToDo’ about this. People already did this. Mr. Proos just ‘made it official’. Odd that a republican wants to REGULATE this.
I don’t understand what the point of this is. Now it’s been about 20 years since I’ve had anything to do with folks hunting, however, I do remember that when ‘the guys’ were ready to go out in the autumn the first thing they would do is contact some of the farmers they knew, or farmer relatives they knew, or just called a farmer to see if they would allow them to hunt their property. They always found a place to hunt, and always came back with deer. I wasn’t aware that ‘measures needed to be enacted’ in order to do this. The DNR is supposed to do a count of the deer every year and know just how many need to be culled — or NOT — in order to keep a wild population healthy. But that was twenty years ago, maybe farmers were just more available or approachable back then. And (thought I’m not a tax attorney) I would think that farmers would be able to determine a percentage of crop damage by animals, (not only deer but raccoons, rabbits, birds)and take that percentage off their tax returns as a loss. Yes? No? I don’t know. I’m not against appropriate hunting, but I don’t see why there is a big ‘ToDo’ about this. People already did this. Mr. Proos just ‘made it official’. Odd that a republican wants to REGULATE this. The article is titled “Hunters helping farmers to protect crops”. Nothing new here. Hunters have ALWAYS helped farmers with deer problems.
Not much of a jobs program? Thanks John