February 23, 2005

Mary Lou Freeman

STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Fifty-Second District

Statehouse: (515) 281-3221

e-mail – mary.freeman@legis.state.ia.us

HOME ADDRESS

203 Villa Road

Alta, IA 51002

Home: 712-732-3781

House of Representatives

State of Iowa

Eighty-First General Assembly

STATEHOUSE

Des Moines, Iowa 50319

COMMITTEES

Natural Resources, Chair

Commerce, Regulation & Labor

Human Resources

APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Economic Development

FREEMAN FOOTNOTES

February 23, 2005

Oh Deer!!

Deer continue to be the primary focus of attention in our Natural Resource Committee. I don’t believe there is one member in the chamber that does not realize the need to reduce the size of the deer herd in Iowa; however, the old adage “the devil is in the details” is true as we seek ways to achieve that goal.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) maintains that they are “on course” to reduce the deer population by 25% within the next year. There are many who challenge their assessment of that prediction. Last week we heard a presentation by two gentlemen from Mount Pleasant who had lost a friend in a motor vehicle collision with a deer. One of them presented a scenario to the committee which was based on the DNR assertion that the herd would be reduced by 25%. The scenario went as follows: You’re driving along and you see four does standing in the middle of the road. Next year you’re driving the same road and see only three does standing in the middle of the road……..a 25% reduction…..right? Now, add to that the fact that each of those does will give birth to anywhere from one to three fawns this year and you can realize that we are “swimming upstream” in the effort to control the deer population in the State.

We are working in conjunction with the Senate Natural Resource Committee to address the issue of deer crash/insurance issues by working off of a companion bill that addresses the increase of hunting opportunities in the State, as well as some secondary issues. As this bill is being discussed in sub-committee, we are also working on several individual bills that would help reduce the herd. One such bill will allow for a special season hunt in those counties that do not sell out all of their additional antlerless licenses. The special season would be available to Iowa hunters first, and then would open up to non-residents after December 15, 2005. Most of the counties who do not sell out their additional tags are in southern Iowa and extreme northeast Iowa.

One other way we will encourage special hunts is to encourage the League of Cities to make it possible to have hunts within city limits of towns with high populations of deer. Special caution is taken under these circumstances to provide safety for residents.

I can be reached via email at mfreema@legis.state.ia.us or mfreema@iw.net ; phone 515-281-7481 (weekdays) or 712-732-3781 (weekends).