It is no longer just the bellowing of the deer that we hear this autumn in the Chaux forest massif, but the roar of wildlife photographers, molt researchers, walkers and residents… Those who despair by noting the disappearance of deer from this massif, located straddling the departments of Jura and Doubs, forests which are among the top trio of deciduous forests in France where a true legend lived, the Vincent deer renowned for possessing the most beautiful European wood. Enough to fuel resentment and distrust towards the ONF of Jura, who is accused of asking the administration for hunting quotas that are too high. Too high, to the point of “threatening the very presence of deer”, assures the collective of Defenders of the deer of the Chaux forest. Everyone sticking to their positions, defenders of the deer and managers of the national forest find themselves back to back over the years, frozen in a galloping incomprehension.
And this is not likely to get better in the months to come. For this hunting season, the harvest quotas for all forests in the massif authorize a total of 556 animals to be harvested between now and the end of February. A “real massacre”, alerts the collective which has been tolling the death knell for recent years and is mobilizing by taking the deer by the antlers. First with the update of a petition posted online two years ago. Petition which has enjoyed real success recently, with nearly 74,000 signatures to date. Then soon, a demonstration in Dole, on November 25. A petition which, however, does not have the hunters of the Chaux forest in its sights, underlines the wildlife photographer Olivier Trible, one of the three founders of the collective. But the ONF of Jura with whom they cross the woods.
However, would like to clarify 20 minutes the ONF of Jura, it is not 556 deer that will be collected at its request from the prefecture, but 400. “We make decisions on state forests only, i.e. 13,000 of the 20,000 hectares that make up the entire Chaux massif, assures Florent Dubosclard, departmental director of the ONF Jura. For the communal forests of the massif, the surrounding forests, this hunting right belongs to its rights holders, that is to say the hunting associations which express their needs to the administration. »
“A balance” highly contested
Having said that, it is therefore well planned for this hunting season to mark the occasion and to take, in total, for all forests of the massif combined, 556 animals. “In recent years, we have observed that this population is increasing in an uncontrolled manner,” assures Florent Dubosclard. This is also the case in 70% of national forests in France. Perhaps because hunting plans in past years have been lower than what deer populations produce,” says the director. A “too significant” presence which, according to the ONF, would however endanger the very regeneration of the forest, as deer are very fond of oak shoots. Hence a return to a certain “balance” with this high quota. A “balance” through the elimination of deer that is fiercely contested by the collective which is demanding the suspension of this new hunting quota.
“Too much” deer, “observed in a scientific way, using abundance indices”, maintains Florent Dubosclard. “With a protocol which is not exhaustive, but allows us to give the trend” by counting the animals on identical circuits from one year to the next, on several dates and over the same period, according to the same process, on several varied sites “and above all, over several years”, insists Florent Dubosclard. “This protocol, approved by the scientific community, makes it possible to count a fraction of the animals and evaluate the dynamics of a population”, although there is “no method which allows to date to define the exact number of deer present on a massif which would be 20,000 hectares,” he concedes.
And that’s where the problem lies. The collective contests these counts, which would be far from the truth in view of what it observes on the ground. Made during periods when deer gather in popular places to find food, in the plains at a time “when there is nothing left in the forest”, image Olivier Trible. The count would be distorted and would not make it possible to define the correct dosage of deer sampling. Nevertheless, recognizes director Florent Dubosclard, “this quota of 400 animals for the 2023-2024 campaign remains a very clear increase compared to past years, which had themselves already been marked by an increase in sampling authorizations, since on the same perimeter, it was 266 animals last year. It is therefore an increase of 50%, at our request,” assumes the ONF Jura. “But if this population drops in the future, hunting quotas will also drop, the fences in the forest will disappear and the edges of the forest roads will be seeded to allow the deer to feed without touching the oaks too much. »
Deer, deer, where are you?
“We can clearly see that there are fewer and fewer deer and does, the latter being, with fawns, particularly targeted. They want the elimination of deer,” says wildlife photographer Olivier Trible. “One dead pregnant doe and that’s two fewer deer for next season. There is nothing left, even hunters from the Chaux forest tell us so, but the ONF is putting pressure on because they really want to get rid of the deer problem, assures Olivier Trible. They want a fair balance, but this balance is impossible. Today, the deer come to slaughter, but as there are not enough does, they leave. »
A clear increase in hunting quotas often also attributed by Deer Defenders to a “search for profitability and profits”, of a “forest which is industrializing and becoming a wood factory, fueled by the surge” in the cost price of a cubic meter of oak. Tree which mainly populates the massif and which the animal loves. A tree that can adapt to climate change, unlike beech, another species of wood well present in the Chaux forest but which, according to the ONF Jura, should irremediably disappear around 2050. Hence the latter’s stated desire to favor oak, continues Florent Dubosclard, in order to ensure the entire future of the Chaux forest with a measured deer population. “But who can predict before cutting down these oaks planted today in 200 years, what will happen with these trees? », asks the wildlife photographer whose only certainty is the fear of seeing the kings of the forest disappear very quickly.