Today starts a two-week period many farmers and sportsmen have been waiting for since last year: deer season.

Young and not so young hunters have been talking about their hunting experiences for years. For many, traditions have been passed down for generations.

At least this year the cold weather should not overload the coolers at our local processors. Hopefully everyone will have a safe and enjoyable hunt.

The real reason I want to talk about hunting deer is to promote a healthy relationship between sportsmen and farmers. Each one needs the other to be successful. Too many times we hear stories of hunters disregarding or damaging the farmer’s property.

There is also the other side of the coin, where we hear about farm owners who post “all” of their land and prohibit hunting.

Sportsmen need to realize, in many cases, farms are posted due to a prior run-in with a hunter. In these cases the burden is on the hunter to persuade the farmer to let you hunt on his farm.

I will provide two tips that I know have worked for others:

• Visit the farmer during the summer months and hunt groundhogs.

• Visit the farmer when he is baling hay or another labor intensive job and help.

If a hunter does either one of these tips on a regular basis, more likely than not you will be granted permission to hunt.

A deer herd that is too large will not serve the needs of either party. Agricultural damage by wildlife is a major concern for both agricultural and wildlife agencies at the state and federal level.

A survey was conducted in Pennsylvania to estimate the wildlife damage to agricultural crops on a statewide basis.

Questionnaires were sent to 4,958 farmers and 1,003 were returned. Twenty-five percent of farmers responding to the survey rated the level of wildlife damage to their crops as severe or very severe, 46 percent as moderate and 29 percent had none or very little.

Mean levels of crop loss to wildlife ranged from 6 percent for wheat to 10 percent for corn grain, and white-tailed deer were the most commonly reported cause of damage for all crops except soybeans.

Farmers estimated the economic value of damage caused by wildlife to six crops — corn grain, silage, alfalfa, soybeans, oats and wheat — as more than $70 million. Ninety-one percent of farmers allowed deer hunting, but 62 percent of the farms were bordered at least partially by land that was posted for no hunting or limited hunting.

Fifty-six percent of farmers whose land was bordered by posted land believed adjacent posted land made it difficult for them to control deer numbers and damage on the land they farmed.

Thirty-one percent of farmers responding to the questionnaire reported they had changed farming practices as a consequence of deer damage — meaning they no longer farmed a particular field or raised a particular crop. Additional methods used to control deer damage included shooting, 28 percent, chasing, 13 percent, fencing, 9.3 percent, repellents, 7 percent, and noise devices, 5 percent. Fencing and shooting were the only methods rated as being at least moderately effective.

Hopefully some readers will try to encourage and promote a better relationship between sportsmen and farmers.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.