Japan's Deer Problem

I live and work in the heart of deer country in the mountains of central Japan. I hunt deer and also help out with a government sponsored culling program. On average I put about 15 to 20 deer worth of venison in the freezer every year. Since starting to hunt here in Japan about 6 years ago I don't think I've purchased red meat at the super market more than 2 or 3 times. Needless to say, I eat a lot of venison. I also give away lots and lots of it to friends. There are no licensed processing plants nearby so commercial use of the meat is impossible. This past year we did start to supply a local startup with culled venison that they use to make dog treats and it is growing, but is still only a drop in the bucket. The culling operation I help with is focused on a prefectural park area that is not open to general hunting. It is a bit over 3,000 acres in size and each year we cull close to 200 deer! Of those, perhaps 20 go to the dog food guy. I personally harvest meat from another 10 or 15. Sadly the rest are all disposed of. I come with a somewhat American hunter's perspective of not wanting any wildlife to go to waste so it's hard to watch. At the same time, the infrastructure for utilizing more of the meat simply doesn't exist here. Thanks for the balanced coverage of our problem.

Whoaa. I didn't expect nokotan friends are that destructive.

Shikanoko anime really made look up this video.. and now I understand why she's so destructive xD

Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan

Huh, i for sure thought somebody was gonna comment that shikanoko meme thing here

reminds me a lot of yellowstone, after wolves had been hunted to extinction there. the people who lived there found, over time, the elk and deer ate away the underbrush and bark unfettered, had large population booms, which gradually began to eat away at the forests themselves. birds went away, small game left or was overhunted by coyotes, which similarly had population booms, and the landscape was becoming more barren to favor the deer and elk. when wolves were re-introduced... the problem fixed itself. sadly the japanese wolf is no longer with us, so it probably wouldn't be wise to bring european or american wolves to japan. edit: man. this comment section is turning into a drinking game. comment from someone who just didn't watch the video? drink. comment from somebody who takes this comment and spins it into some political diatribe? drink. calm down folks.

This is not an uncommon story - where the apex predator no longer exists, and a herbivorous animal decimates plantlife as a result. Its good that this video (among others) is helping to bring awareness of the issue. In Australia, there is a similar issue with the Kangaroo - and similarly, there have always been efforts to reduce 'waste' from the resulting culls - whether by selling kangaroo meat (often used as pet food, but also for human consumption), or use of its hide (it turns out kangaroo leather is incredibly durable). So, it is truly unfortunate when "animal lovers" campaign to ban kangaroo products (as has happened in some US states), because they don't want cute animals to be culled - without any appreciation for the fact that the culling must take place to preserve the sustainability of the broader ecosystem.

I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that half the comments are helpful and empathetic hunters talking about deer populations and solutions in their homelands, and the other half of the comments are Noko-posting.

Shikanokonoko koshitantan

I went into making this video knowing that Japan had an overpopulation of deer and had come across the idea (in several places) that eating more deer could be a more humane way of controlling the population. I learned that doing that is easier said than done and that it could never be a 100% solution. I'm guessing that hunters and environmentalists probably already knew this. What do you think about the whole deer problem?

Shikanoko noko noko koshitan tan

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This is almost the exact same situation we have in Appalachia. Ideally, we would recover the native red wolf population and they would keep the deer in balance, but the red wolves are so close to extinction that there are only a few dozen left, so it's very hard to get them to a large enough population to make an impact.

Here in Germany, hunters are allowed to process and sell their own game meat. It's commonly served in restaurants, but usually sold on a small business level only - the stuff in supermarkets is usually farmed (often imported from New Zealand). The whole country is split into hunting grounds which are leased out to hunters or groups of them. There's quotas and regulations (given that this is Germany, tons of them) and stuff to manage game populations, and you can even study to become a professional hunter. According to Wikipedia, 1 in 235 Germans is has a hunting license (0,43% of the population), so there's roughly 1 hunter per km² in Germany... Sounds like the main issue keeping Japan from just eating their deer problem are over-complicated legislation and a lack of marketing, really. It's not like there aren't loads of templates for other post-natural cultural landscapes and their handling of game already out there, either.

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SHEEEEE KA. SHIKSHIKA!

For the hunting/processing issue: Hunters in the US for wild hogs had ran into similar problems of not being able to sell harvested games, and had taken to trapping the animals live so they can be brought to a certified processing plant for harvesting. Some places also operate these Mobile Slaughter Units that go from site to site to cut down the hassle of those needing their games processed.

Deer lore is cool and all but can we get a video on those gerbils in the graph. I didn’t know japan had wild gerbils, let alone they where the 2nd threat to japans nature 🐱

Shika Noko Noko Noko Koshitantan

It's good to see that the people here retain a respect and appreciation for the deer while also seeing the problem of the deer population being enormous. It's really too bad that the Japanese wolf is gone forever, and now people have to play the part of balancing a delicate ecosystem.