Hunters help control overpopulation in wild

Indiana's muzzleloader and late archery deer hunting seasons opened Dec. 3 and continues through Dec. 18, 2005 and Jan. 1, 2006, respectively, signaling the last opportunities to hunt the state's whitetail deer this year.\nFor IU senior Joel Pontius, that means there's only one month left to relish his role as a hunter in a special relationship he shares with the woods and its inhabitants until next October.\nIntroduced to hunting by accompanying his father on rabbit hunts when he was 6 years old, Pontius felled his first deer at 13 in the Hoosier National Forest. \n"I love the forest. I've learned all kinds of things from just being there as a hunter, but first and foremost, I hunt for resource management," said Pontius, who's currently pursuing a major in outdoor recreation and resource management.\nConcerned with the overpopulation of deer in Indiana and the problems engendered by the encroaching development and fragmentation of forest, Pontius said the only way to rectify things is as a predator.\n"Since there is no natural predator of the deer, people have to step up ... or re-introduce wolves to the area," he said.\nConservation is also the focus of Indiana's Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish and Wildlife, the agency in charge of regulating hunting practices in the state.\n"Our objective is to reduce the number of deer in the state, as well as provide those who enjoy hunting that opportunity," said Wayne Bivans, chief of wildlife at the DNR.\nRegarding the last segment of the 2005 deer hunting season, Bivans also stressed another major concern for the department: safety.\n"It certainly goes without saying that all hunters perform in their sport as safely as possible and with as much precaution as possible," Bivans said.\nTom Makarewicz, 31, a car dealer from Marne, Mich., ventures south into Indiana for whitetail deer and the quiet time he spends in the forest.\nTaught to hunt by an uncle when he was 12 years old, Makarewicz grew up in a hunting culture, surrounded by family, friends and neighbors who took to the woods each fall.\n"You learn so much about nature by sitting out there," Makarewicz said. "That's what I enjoy the most, the things that you hear and see. It's amazing."\nSportsmanship and ethics, as much a part of hunting as the communing with nature, spurs disagreement between hunters.\nThe Boone and Crockett Club's Fair Chase statement was the first document outlining a code of conduct and ethics for sportsmen, which later became the cornerstone of the current game laws.\nUnder the heading of hunter ethics, it states that one must respect the customs of the locale where the hunting occurs, attain and maintain the skills necessary to make the kill as certain and quick as possible, and behave in a way that will bring no dishonor to either the hunter, the hunted or the environment.\n"One of my pet peeves is hearing multiple gun shots," Pontius said. "One shot kills a deer. Some hunters pull up and take sloppy potshots at deer. There's a level of ethics involved."\nSitting high in his tree stand as the night sky slowly fades into the pale blue of dawn, Pontius reflects on his chosen pastime. \n"It's like an orchestra tuning up, when you begin to hear the birds singing, and animals start to move around," he said. "It gives me a lot of perspective to experience that awakening and know there is a sense of new life repeating itself, day after day"