Quote:
Originally Posted by KegRiver
Exactly!
Some have benefited, some have lost big time.
I was shocked to find there are more Moose per square mile east of Hwy 2 then there is in the whole Peace River district. But the Moose aren't a species that have gained or lost due to farming practices or habitat loss.
Their decline has a lot more to do with Wolf populations and hunting pressure then anything else.
But Ducks and Sharp tailed grouse both lost big time due to modern farming practices and habitat loss.
There is never one thing that leads to a population increase or decline as some seem to think. It's always many factors, but a single factor can be the pivotal factor.
Habitat loss and farming practices are two common pivotal factors.
I find it amazing how little some hunters seem to know.
To think that habitat loss is never a factor is unimaginable to me.
All one has to do is count the birds and animals in one field on any day of the year and then count the birds and animals on the same size area of unchanged bush country to see there is no comparison.
The patch of bush will always have many times the number of species and many times the total number then any field under cultivation.
I think people look at a patch of bush as they walk through it and think, there is nothing here. They don't see the ten rabbits sleeping under dead falls and in fern thickets. They don't see the nest hole in the tree next to them or the Warblers nest high in the tree above them.
They don't see the Coyote Den in the hill or the Vole tunnels under the grass.
They are surrounded by dozens or even hundreds of living creatures and they don't see a thing, because those creatures have learned to stay out of sight when anything big is in the area.
But out in the field where there is no where to hide, they see the one bird, or the Coyote and they think there is more life in that field then in the bush they just walked through.
To see what's really there one has to spend hours and hours sitting, watching and listening not for one day, but again and again over years.
I have done that. I started doing that over 55 years ago and still do it today.
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I prefer to see deer and elk over squirrels and marten. Conduct your study in the middle of an old growth forest, and then try it again on agricultural fringe land. If modern farming is leading to the demise all of the critters, why can one ride around the Willmore for 2 weeks and not see a moose or elk?