Oh Deer!

    In a recent news article that I read in the Raleigh News and Observer, I found a perfect example of how government fouls things up. This example involves deer farmers. There are a groups of deer farmers and potential deer and elk farmers who are crying foul to the legislature.

     Currently in North Carolina, the deer farming industry is very limited and in fact almost non-existent. The current regulatory body that oversees these enterprises is the State Wildlife Commission. The commission may be a friend to the spotted owl, but not to the deer farmers of North Carolina. The industry is pushing for less restrictions. They are also pushing for a reclassification of their industry from being classified as "wildlife" to "livestock". The reclassification would remove the wildlife commission from the equation and put the deer and elk farming enterprise under commissions on agriculture and such. 

     The wildlife commission and environmental groups claim that less restrictions will result in inhumane treatment and disease. This would cause irreparable damage to the deer community, according to the commission. Of course the excuses the wildlife commission come upmwith are not new. Any time a capitalist tries to make money or use their God given freedoms, they discover that there is rare goat weed or salamander sporing or squirming about that needs protection. 

     I am not a hunter. I would look at those wide black eyes and think of Bambi everytime I picked up a bow or a gun. I am a softy when it comes to animals. I do have family and friends who hunt. They are sportsman and they do it in a sporting fashion. So I am looking at this with unbiased eyes. Government needs to stop trying to get involved and run so many things. 

     From what I can gather, these farms are good for the economy. These farms attract tourists who are interested in hunting. They will spend large sums of money for the chance to hunt. They will stay in local hotels, eat local food, and pay local and state sales tax. 

     It's in the interest of these farms to have healthy stock rather than diseased stock. The argument that raising deer will result in a super disease that will kill the white tail deer population is absurd. Disease is not exclusive to farms. Disease and bacteria are in nature. The possibility of disease is there with or without the farms. In fact you could argue that we would rather have deer fenced up rather than running about and smashing automobiles. That was a joke but the arguments that the wildlife lobby make no sense. 

     If they have excess stock they can be donated to the poor and the homeless for food. Now where is the bad side to this. The government gets out of the way and allows responsible people to exercise their freedoms. The economy of North Carolina will benefit. There could be more food resources for the poor and the homeless. What is wrong with that. Oh right, it will make the tree huggers angry. Well, actually that is a reason to allow it in of itself. 

     We have real issues in this state. We need to continue to improve education. We need to rebuild or old and delapidated infrastructure. We need to harvest and utilize our natural resources. I think we can leave the deer farmers alone. There are bigger fish or in this case deer to fry. In the final analysis, I hope the legislature will continue to follow the conservative pattern they are on. Ease the restrictions on the farms. Reclassify the industry to be under the commissions on agriculture, and allow North Carolina to take a step in the right direction. More freedom and less restrictions is a winning combo for North Carolina. Even when it comes to the deer farmers.