THE DEER MENACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20554, 3 May 1930, Page 14

THE DEER MENACE.

Sir,—Deer in small numbers are not a menace to our forest, but a great help in keeping the forest in a healthy condition. They will not harm any of the many kinds of ferns. The chief food of the deer is a plant commonly known as five-finger and the unsightly bush grass. The five-finger grows with the rapidity of' our multiplying onions. Cut it down this year and it grows up in greater abundance the next. The bush grass, if allowed to grow, will smother small plants and ferns alike, the same as weeds, if allowed to grow, will smother the plants in the garden. I have been in places in our New Zealand bush where no animal has ever been, and seen acres and acres of this grass and not a fern or plant growing among it. I have gone into country where I know deer were fairly plentiful, and noticed the absence of this grass. Where i> was growing it was cropped off short by, : the deer. I am strongly in favour of dulling the deer out to what they were some years ago, but when we speak of' total destruction, we have the sportsman to consider. If deer and other game are destroyed, what attraction have we in this line of sport to induce overseas sportsmen to visit us, except for a stoat or weasel hunt, which, I am afraid, would not appeal to many. New Ze a lander.