Killing Every Deer on Catalina Is Bullshit, Full Stop

What’s happening on Catalina Island is not thoughtful wildlife management. It’s a shortcut, taken by people trying to erase a problem instead of managing it. The deer didn’t magically appear on Catalina. They were put there by humans. No migration, no ecological surprise. People introduced them into a closed system, altered the habitat, removed predators, and then acted shocked when the population grew.

Now the solution being sold is total eradication. Anyone who understands wildlife knows that lethal management can be necessary. Hunters accept this reality more honestly than most. But there is a massive difference between harvesting animals responsibly and erasing an entire population because it’s simpler on paper.

What’s completely missing from this conversation is the role hunting could play, both ecologically and economically.

Hunting generates real income. License fees, guided hunts, meat processing, local lodging, transportation, conservation tags, all of it funnels money back into land management and wildlife programs. Across North America, hunting dollars fund habitat restoration, research, enforcement, and long term conservation. That system exists because hunters pay into it and participate in it.

Instead of leveraging that model, Catalina’s approach throws it away.

Even worse, it ignores one of the most sustainable food sources available to humans. Wild deer are not factory farmed. They don’t require feedlots, antibiotics, shipping infrastructure. Harvesting a deer provides clean, local protein with a fraction of the environmental impact of commercial meat. You cannot claim to care about sustainability while dismissing one of the most ethical and efficient ways to feed people.

Killing deer and leaving value on the ground is not conservation. It is waste dressed up as progress.

Then there’s the transparency problem. Good science thrives under scrutiny. It invites debate. It shows the data, explains tradeoffs, and acknowledges uncertainty. What we’re seeing instead is closed door decision making, limited access to information, and an attitude that questions are an inconvenience.

If the plan were solid, it would not need to be rushed. If the science were airtight, it would not fear independent review. Strong management stands up to daylight. Weak management hides behind authority.

And let’s be clear about the ethics. Killing animals to correct human mistakes demands humility. What’s happening here feels more like embarrassment management. The deer are treated as a reminder of past failures that someone would rather eliminate than own.

The damage doesn’t stop on Catalina. When agencies behave this way, people lose trust in conservation altogether. Hunters get sidelined. Biologists lose credibility. The public stops supporting wildlife programs because they stop believing the system is honest.

You don’t fix bad history by pretending it doesn’t exist. You don’t rebuild ecosystems by rushing to the most extreme option. And you don’t call something conservation when it ignores sustainable harvest, economic benefit, and public trust.

And it sure as hell isn’t conservation.

It’s bullshit.

Judge for yourself. Watch the video Here:
https://youtu.be/qCmvwWMaFW4?si=aKylWSJHVRZeccaC