It’s the height of turkey season and two-legged, feathered game are foremost in the thoughts of most hunters. But North America’s most popular game animal is never absent from our minds, and politics are always in season. Having just returned from the North American Deer Summit, I got a fresh perspective on the politics of deer management, and wildlife management in general.

The guest speaker on the summit’s final morning was Dr. Gary Alt, who knows a little something about the topic. Alt was deer program coordinator for the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) in 2002, when the program went through some substantial changes, largely in the form of mandatory antler restrictions.

Prior to restrictions, Pennsylvania’s deer, and their habitat were in dire straits. “We were trying to sustain more deer than the land could support and it had become an ecosystem crisis,” Alt said. There was virtually no regeneration of preferred browse. Pennsylvania’s forests were no longer sustainable and the state’s forest certification program was in jeopardy, during a gubernatorial election year. Meanwhile, other game and non-game species that require dense understory were vanishing, and many native plants were largely absent. And roughly 85 percent of Pennsylvania’s annual buck kill consisted of yearlings.

Even groups like The National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy were extolling the need for increased hunting. Alt undertook an aggressive outreach campaign across the state. As a result, the PGC fostered enough grassroots and political support to go forward with a three-year experimental program that morphed into a long-term effort.

Looking back on that experience, Alt offered that if left alone, deer can and will destroy their habitat. Kip Adams, director of education and outreach for the Quality Deer Management Association, offered supporting evidence. In his address at the QDMA’s annual convention, immediately ensuing the North American Deer Summit, Adams noted that over six million deer were harvested in 2013. And according to his extensive research, native Americans harvested approximately the same number prior to European settlement. Clearly, human hunters have been the primary influence on deer populations for a long time, and in more ways than one.

Shane Mahoney is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Biodiversity, Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the convention, Mahoney gave an inspiring presentation on the remarkable contribution the United States has made to modern civilization, citing concepts like democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of expression. But the most important legacy, according to Mahoney, is the idea of conservation.

The North American conservation movement was started by hunters, people like Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot and, later, Aldo Leopold. And hunters remain the primary source of funding for all wildlife conservation around the world. They also provide an economic asset for a range of political constituents you might not immediately consider.

If left uncontrolled, deer can have a significant impact on forest ecosystems and commercial forestry, which could in turn degrade public water supplies. In farm country, deer negatively affect agriculture. Throughout their range, too many deer present potential human health risk in the form of auto collisions and an increase in tick-borne illnesses.

Clearly, hunters need to do a better job of educating the general public, particularly politicians and their constituents, on their importance. “If we don’t do it, society will find another way to solve their problems,” said Alt.

For now, the solution exists in participants willing to pay for the privilege, and whose contributions reach far beyond their special interests. Millions of hungry mouths are fed each year by hunters willing to share their take. Our forests are healthier, our waters cleaner, and our rare, threatened and endangered species have greater stewardship and better habitat thanks to hunters. Forestry and agriculture, and the human population in general, benefit from hunters. Consider all that the next time you speak with your legislators or go to the polls.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and registered Maine guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at:

bhunt@maine.rr.com