In a letter to the editor on Dec. 22 Gary Miller states that he can’t see deer on Douglas Island. Yet I see deer tracks every time I hike on Douglas. So deer can’t be so very rare over there. If he fails to see the animals that make these tracks, it may mean the deer are better at hiding than he is at seeing them.

[Prince of Wales wolf hunt numbers set]

He also attributes the seeming scarcity of deer to predation by wolves. But I have seen six or more deer hunters above Eaglecrest Ski Area on Douglas in a single day — and that doesn’t even count the number of trucks parked alongside the road, whose drivers were off in the forest. The depredation of human hunters probably has a bigger impact on the deer population than the few wolves that try to make a living there.

It is unreasonable to blindly blame wolves for a perceived scarcity of deer.

Mary F. Willson,

Juneau

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• My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.

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