To the Journal editor:

Over the past weeks, we have all heard the same old comments, “Where are all the deer?”

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources blames the hard winters and a multitude of other factors.

They have commissioned a 6-year predator prey study. I have heard the last three presentations on its findings. The first was what an where they were going to do the study. The next two were on what they found in the low an mid snow fall zones. They took great pains to exclude the the wolf. It was bears, and they do take a lot of fawns, bobcats and coyotes and winter cold and snow.

If you believe this (stuff), well Elemers has Cool Aid on sale.

Now let me tell you what I know.

I own 39 acres 5 miles past LaBranch on M-69. I have owned this property since 1983. At that time, we had a good deer herd and hunting was great.

If I remember, we had hard winters back then, also. After a bad winter or two, we would lose half the deer. Then, they would cycle back to where they were. This went on over an over.

Back then, we had all the factors that are blamed now for no deer except one, the wolf. Now, when we have a hard winter, we lose deer but they don’t rebound like in the past. And they won’t ever until we control the number of wolves we have.

If you didn’t like the last few seasons, I have a Fox News Alert for you: “Your not going to like the next few.”

Now the DNR have three or four ideas for the upcoming season. That should be interesting.

Richard Hodgins

Perronville, Michigan