DNR's Dumb Idea of the Week

The DNR took a lot of heat after last year's annual cervinicidal season. Hunters were in a rage because they felt the DNR overestimated the size of the herd and allowed it to be over-hunted. They were mad because they wanted to kill something, dammit, and there wasn't enough deer for them to kill!

Anyway, the DNR came up with a plan on how to deal with getting an accurate count of how large the herd is. It had to have been dreamt up by some bureaucrat:

State wildlife officials want people to report every deer they see over the next two months.

The Department of Natural Resources' Operation Deer Watch will run from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30. The agency will use the observations to help determine population estimates going into the fall hunting seasons.

I can see it now. Drunks will be reporting at least twice as many deer, since they're seeing double. People will be reporting the same deer numerous times, making the herd look larger. Hunters will report seeing nothing, whether they see anything or not, to maximize the herd so they have more to kill.

No matter what, I seriously doubt that they will get anywhere near an accurate count again.