Deer Impacts Blog

MISSOURI NEWS: Deer Harvest Down in 2011

2012-01-16T10:41:00.004-05:00

Deer harvest was down a little in 2011.

Missouri hunters took nearly 240-thousand deer during the 2011-2012 hunting season. The season’s total was up about 7,400 from last year, but roughly 13,000 below the 10-year average.

Why the decline? The state's management goal of reducing deer numbers is working.

MDC has been trying for the better part of a decade to stabilize deer numbers in many parts of Missouri. “We have been working to bring down deer populations to reduce crop damage, deer-vehicle accidents, and other deer nuisance problems, and we’ve made good progress in those areas,” Sumners said. “Now our challenge is finding ways to fine-tune deer numbers and hunting pressure at the local level, which means that future reductions in the availability of firearms antlerless permits may be necessary.”

It is amazing to think the state's first harvest of over 100,000 occurred in 1986. Tell someone that only 743 deer were harvested statewide in 1947, and they will think you are crazy.

Source: St. Louis CBS Local

IRELAND NEWS: Deer Population Density Not Sustainable

2012-01-16T10:35:00.005-05:00

It looks like Ireland's deer population is in the early phases of exponential growth.

There are some 4,000 licensed hunters, who shoot about 25,000 deer a year in controlled hunting seasons. For a “sustainable” population, it seems an annual cull of 150,000 deer would be nearer the mark. This figure comes from Woodlands of Ireland, whose expert study in 2009 computed the extensive damage not only to Ireland’s native broadleafed woods and their dependent species but also to conifer forests, where deer strip bark when other food gets short and browse young sitka spruce into valueless bushes. By its estimate, red deer increased more than fivefold in the 30 years to 2008, with a tripling of sika and near-doubling of fallow. The muntjac may be small (like a furtive, hard-to-spot Labrador dog), but, even though it was introduced only in 2006, its sightings are already widespread and raise great ecological concern. Rumours of even more introductions – of roe and Chinese water deer – are so far unconfirmed.

Warmer winters and longer growing seasons will likely further facilitate this growth. Ireland would do well to look to their old rivals to the east for some guidance on national deer management policy.

Source: Irish Times

WISCONSIN NEWS: Deer Czar Hired

2011-10-05T10:16:00.003-04:00

Here we go again...

Central Wisconsin deer hunters frustrated by the state's management of the whitetail deer population in recent years say they are eager to see how a Texas expert nicknamed "Dr. Deer" plans to improve the state's deer herd.

The Department of Administration hired James Kroll this week as the state's new "deer czar." Kroll was given a $125,000 contract to conduct an independent, objective and scientifically based review of Wisconsin's deer management practices.

Just as we have seen with the deer population audit, the Deer 2000 exercise, and other efforts, we have another round of Lucy, Charlie Brown, and the football. Like Lucy promising to not pull the football away this time, a vocal group of deer hunters are going to accept the findings of James Kroll. Then the recommendations come out. Then the whole exercise is forgotten two years later, and the same vocal hunters raise the same issues being raised now.

The Wisconsin deer management "problem" is in a class of problems called "wicked problems." These kinds of problems are poorly (or too narrowly) defined, have no solution, and attempts to solve the problem create new problems. I am going to stop here, otherwise this post would get very, very long...

Source: Wausau Daily Herald

MAINE NEWS: Island Community Considers Deer Hunt

2011-08-24T13:52:00.004-04:00

Voters on Islesboro are voting on whether to allow hunting on the island, mainly out of concern over Lyme disease.

Health care providers at the island's health center say that over the last eight years the island, which has a year-round population of about 600, has seen 69 cases of Lyme disease — enough to quality the outbreak as an epidemic.

There are an estimated 500 deer occupying the terrestrial 14.3 square miles of the island (35 deer per square mile).

Source: Bangor Daily News

UPDATE 26 August 2011: Last Wednesday, voters approved a measure to kill about 400 of the about 500 deer on the island.

Source: Bangor Daily News

OREGON NEWS: Possible Link Between Deer and E coli Outbreak

2011-08-09T15:58:00.002-04:00

A recent outbreak of E. coli infecting 13 people has been traced back to a strawberry farm, and from there, possibly to deer.

State health officials hope to learn this week whether deer are the source of an E. coli outbreak in northwestern Oregon linked to fresh strawberries.

Dr. Paul Cieslak of the Oregon Public Health Division said Tuesday that samples of soil and deer droppings collected from fields at the Jacquith Strawberry Farm in Newberg, 25 miles southwest of Portland, are being analyzed and results should be available in a few days.

He says it has been known since 1997 that deer can carry the bacteria, but investigators don't know why it has never shown up in strawberries before.

Source: necn.com

NORTH CAROLINA NEWS:White-tailed Deer Harvests Still Near Record Highs

2011-07-18T10:09:00.002-04:00

It looks like the deer population is starting to get ahead of wildlife managers in North Carolina:

Evin Stanford has been saying that year-over-year increases in the deer harvest would be ending as the deer population stabilizes. But if he is to be believed, that stabilization has not yet occurred. The North Carolina deer biologist recently finished compiling statistics from the 2010-11 deer season and the results show the second-highest harvest on record.

Hunters still took an astounding 175,157 deer last season, an increase of 3.5 percent over the 2009-10 harvest. The all-time record is from 2008-09, when hunters took 176,297 deer. Prior to that, North Carolina hunters had set four record harvests in a row.

North Carolina deer harvests for the past 10 years:

2001-02 132,235
2002-03 118,174
2003-04 134,507
2004-05 140,311
2005-06 144,315
2006-07 154,273
2007-08 171,986
2008-09 176,297
2009-10 169,273
2010-11 175,157

Source: Star News Online

NORTH DAKOTA NEWS: PETA Targets Deer Cull

2011-07-18T10:04:00.002-04:00

Demands from members of the international group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (best known as PETA) called Mayor Brian Taylor to halt the plan for culling urban deer herds in Grand Forks.

The mayor is receiving hundreds of emails a day from all over the country, requesting that the city look into humane deer control methods. Of course, this was not a knee-jerk decision by the city.

Grand Forks’ urban deer herd has been monitored for over six years by the deer committee and their results indicate that the herd is growing at a much higher rate than would be normal for deer in their normal habitat. The city passed a no-feeding bylaw earlier in the year in an attempt to educate citizens about the dangers of supporting wildlife. The committee also released an educational pamphlet in the spring, again, to assist local residents in understanding their role in the survival of the herds.

Source: Boundary Sentinel

WYOMING NEWS: Cody Residents Split on Urban Deer Problem

2011-06-24T16:00:00.003-04:00

The results of Cody's urban deer survey were unveiled Wednesday night in a poorly attended but sharply divided public meeting.

At the Cody Auditorium with about a dozen people in attendance, City Parks Director Rick Manchester presented the findings of the survey, which was mailed to utility customers earlier this year.

The city sent out more than 5,000 surveys and 1,546 were returned.

Manchester said 56 percent of those who returned their survey said they were concerned about the city's population of urban deer, while 44 percent said they had no concerns.

Yet when asked if they'd like to see the city adopt an action plan to reduce the deer herd, 50 percent of the respondents said yes while 50 percent said no.

The even split in the survey set the tone of disagreement for much of the meeting, leaving committee members to decide what the results mean.

You would get a nearly identical response anywhere in the country with a high urban deer population.

Read more: Billings Gazette

PENNSYLVANIA OPINION: Unified Sportsman Case Ends, Deer Wars Continue

2011-05-27T14:28:00.003-04:00

An opinion piece from Bob Frye:

The Pennsylvania Game Commission's deer management program has survived a challenge.

But don't expect to see peace in this fight.

This past week, Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Barry Feudale dismissed the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania's lawsuit against the commission, which alleged that the commission had acted fraudulently and abused its discretion in reducing deer populations.

The judge ruled that the Pennsylvania Game Commission's deer management program was not based on bad science, fraud, or bad faith. While the legal issue at hand has been resolved, the losing side is not satisfied. They are now entering the ninth decade of opposition to Pennsylvania's deer management.

Pennsylvania's "deer wars" — which date to the 1930s and have earned the state a national reputation as the worst example of how deer hunters and deer managers can argue like bitter divorcees — have lasted for generations, through audits, reviews, lawsuits, changes in staff and changes in board members.

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Ruling on Unified Sportsman of Pennsylvania Case

2011-05-27T14:21:00.005-04:00

I am not sure how this slipped past me, but here is an update on the Unified Sportsman of Pennsylvania case from last February (h/t to Stan):

A Commonwealth Court ruling handed down Feb. 8 dismissed the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania’s legal challenge to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer management program.

Another so-called “Deer Wars” battle is over, with the USP losing again.

“This court ruling is a strong statement that the Game Commission’s deer management program is being conducted in a sound and scientific manner,” PGC executive director Carl Roe said. “In essence, Commonwealth Court’s latest ruling dismissed the challenge because it lacked merit.

“Our hope is that this second ruling will cease the unnecessary expenditure of sportsmen’s dollars and tax dollars fighting frivolous and baseless lawsuits.”

NEW BRUNSWICK NEWS: Deer Feeding Bans Might Not Aid In Lyme Fight

2011-05-27T10:36:00.003-04:00

Municipal bylaws banning people from feeding deer may not help prevent the spread of Lyme disease, according to a public health official.

Saint John council voted on Tuesday to refer the idea of a bylaw banning people from feeding deer to the city's legal department for advice.

Coun. Bill Farren said the deer cause a wide range of problems, such as carrying ticks infected with Lyme disease. But the proposal to ban the public from feeding deer is receiving mixed reviews.

Dr. Scott Giffin, a provincial medical officer of health in Saint John, said he isn't convinced the proposed bylaw would help prevent the spread of Lyme disease.

"I think the evidence for culling deer herds as a way to control ticks is weak at best and there may be many other reasons for culling deer herds that fall ahead of Lyme disease, that's for sure," he said.

The relationship between deer densities and Lyme is not simple, in part because so many other animals also serve as both hosts for deer ticks and reservoirs of Lyme Disease.

The full story is here: CBC

MICHIGAN NEWS: Baiting Rules Changing

2011-05-13T17:21:00.004-04:00

Michigan wildlife policymakers tentatively agreed Thursday to remove a ban on baiting and feeding whitetail deer in most of the Lower Peninsula that was designed to prevent outbreaks of deadly diseases.

The state Natural Resources Commission scheduled a final vote for June 9 on its plan, which would allow hunters to spread up to 2 gallons of feed at each hunting site in the
Lower Peninsula except for a section of northeastern Michigan where bovine tuberculosis remains a problem. The existing 2-gallon limit in the Upper Peninsula would continue.
The plan also would allow people to feed deer for recreational viewing everywhere except the bovine TB zone.

Deer baiting has been banned in the lower peninsula since 2008.

Source: Times Union

MAINE NEWS: Fewer Antlerless Permits to be Available

2011-04-13T13:18:00.002-04:00

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Chandler Woodcock is proposing to cut the number of such permits in the state's 29 wildlife management areas from 48,825 to 26,390, a drop of 46 percent. The antlerless permits are also known as "any-deer" or "doe" permits.

Antlerless permits are issued when the goal is to reduce deer numbers, and withdrawn when the goal is to increase deer numbers.

In the past five years, the deer harvest has dropped sharply, from 29,918 in 2006 to 20,063 in 2010, officials say. For 2011, the department is recommending that only bucks be harvested in 17 of the state's 29 wildlife districts.

Source: mbpn.net

DELAWARE NEWS: Harvest in 2010 Third Highest

2011-04-13T13:13:00.004-04:00

The state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced the third highest deer harvest of all time for the 2010-11 hunting season.

Deer season runs Sept. 1 through Jan. 31.

A total of 14,183 deer were harvested, a 14.4 percent increase over last year's season.

The record harvest is 14,401 deer, so the record was missed by just 218 deer.

For those keeping track, 2009 had a lower than expected harvest, due largely to poor weather. The 14.4% jump is a bit misleading.

Source: Delmarvanow

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Valley Forge Cull Underway

2011-03-29T13:13:00.002-04:00

The long-contested cull is underway, and it has yielded a lot of deer.

In the first season of the hotly controversial four-year culling program, federal sharpshooters have reduced the deer population at Valley Forge National Historical Park by about half, killing 600, park officials announced Monday.

Since November, the operation had yielded more than nine tons of meat for food banks across the state - including 3,000 pounds in Chester County.

The park is 2300 acres, or about 5.5 square miles. So my calculator tells me over 100 deer were removed per square mile!

Park officials had estimated that 1,277 deer were living on the revered Revolutionary War site before the culling began in November. The ultimate goal is to reduce the herd to well under 200.

There is still a way to go.

MAINE NEWS: Deer Harveest Up

2011-03-04T18:19:00.001-05:00

The initial tally was 11 percent above last year's harvest, but still 4 percent lower than state biologists had expected.

Maine hunters harvested 11 percent more deer last season than they did the previous year. That's according to Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Department officials say the initial tally for 2010 was 20,063 deer. State biologist Lee Kantar says the mild winter was a factor

Source: MPBN

VIRGINIA NEWS: State Deer Harvest Down 15%

2011-03-03T14:05:00.002-05:00

The preliminary numbers are in, and the total deer kill numbers for Virginia dropped significantly last hunting season--15 percent below the 259,147 reported killed in 2009 and 3 percent lower than the annual average for the last decade.

Hunters reported 219,797 deer last year, of which 95,543 were antlered bucks, 19,191 were button bucks, and 105,063 were does.

Source: Fredericksburg.com

KENTUCKY NEWS: Mayor Disbands Deer Study Committee

2011-03-03T13:57:00.002-05:00

I think this story ends with "and they lived happily ever after."

To some they may be cute to look at or feed, but for the city of Prospect, the growing population of deer is a serious problem.

After the mayor disbanded a committee to study the issue, many were left wondering what happens next.

"The mayor has decided that maybe its best to disband the committee, sit back, let everybody calm down and revisit it a little bit later on,” Prospect city councilman Alan Simon said. "I can see the issues on both sides, but I think we have to be doing it in a sensible manner and not have everyone hollering and carrying on."

Source: WLKY

OHIO NEWS: Deer Harvest in 2010-11 Not Record-Setting

2011-03-03T13:54:00.001-05:00

A total of 239,260 deer were killed during Ohio’s 2010-11 hunting season, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife. This season’s total was below the record 2009-10 total of 261,260.

Counties reporting the highest number of deer checked during the season were: Coshocton 8,837, Tuscarawas-8,164, Licking- 7,819, Muskingum 7,130, Guernsey-6,990, Harrison 6,965, Knox-6,335, Carroll 5,721, Holmes-5,635 and Ashtabula-5,333. The other two lake-area counties were: Fairfield - 3,022 and Perry - 3,874.

Source: Buckeye Lake Beacon

SCOTLAND NEWS: Wild Muntjac Not Welcome

2011-02-25T13:41:00.002-05:00

There are no wild populations of muntjac deer in Scotland, and a recent order (Muntjac Keeping-Scotland Order 2011) was decreed to keep it that way. Any muntjac in the wild is to be killed on sight.

According to Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead:

"They're widespread in south and central England but have a patchy distribution between the Humber and the Scottish borders. They are destructive animals, or invasive species to use the more modern term. They can have significant negative impacts in the wild, both to biodiversity and economic interest."

They can damage orchards, cereal crops, coppice woods and bluebells, he said, and have been known to add to accident risks on roads.

Source: The Press Association

INDIANA NEWS: Another Record Deer Harvest

2011-02-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

Indiana hunters established a record for the third straight year by reporting an overall harvest of 134,004 deer taken during the 2010 seasons, according to a news release from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Reports submitted from 461 check stations across Indiana topped the 2009 total by 1,252 deer, a 1 percent increase, and bettered the 2008 total by more than 4,200 deer.

"We're seeing a healthy number of deer throughout much of the state, and that is translating into success by our hunters during the hunting season" DNR deer biologist Chad Stewart said.

Source: Courier Press

MICHIGAN NEWS: Who Are the Predators of Deer?

2011-02-03T13:20:00.004-05:00

Wolf, bear, coyote or bobcat.

If you had to name the carnivore that kills the most white-tailed deer in the Upper Midwest, which would you pick?

If you are thinking smaller rather than larger, you're on the right track.

The answer is coyote, at least according to preliminary data from a study in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The sample sizes were rather small, and I am somewhat skeptical of how robust or generalizable these findings are. As for the data:

In all, 57 adult deer and 44 fawns have been captured and fitted with tracking devices.

The data are from Jan. 1, 2009 through Aug. 31, 2010. Though preliminary, they are showing some very interesting results.

Coyotes in the study area were responsible for 13 fawn mortalities, followed by bobcat (9), unknown predator (5), abandonment (4), unknown agent (3), black bear (2), vehicle collision (2), wolf (2) and bald eagle (1).

Among adult and yearling female deer, coyote killed 6, followed by wolf (3), black bear (2), drowning (2), birthing complications (1), vehicle collision (1) and unknown predator (1).

Source: MJOnline

MINNESOTA NEWS: Deer Harvest Up 7% Over 2009

2011-01-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says thanks to ideal hunting weather during opening weekend of the firearms season, hunters harvested a total of 207,000 deer during the 2010 season. That's the 13th largest harvest on record.

Source: NECN.com

MINNESOTA NEWS: CWD Detected in Wild Deer

2011-01-21T11:32:00.001-05:00

Posted without comment.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may have found the state's first wild deer infected with chronic wasting disease.

The deer was among 524 tested for the disease in the Pine Island area. DNR officials say preliminary screening by the University of Minnesota strongly indicates a positive case, but the agency is waiting for confirmation from the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

Source: WQOW

BRITISH COLUMBIA NEWS: Deer Populations Altering Gulf Islands

2011-01-19T09:55:00.003-05:00

Booming deer populations on some Gulf Islands are driving away songbirds and leaving the area susceptible to invasion by foreign species, says a recent study.

Following hunting bans on many small islands in the 1970s, deer populations grew. People began feeding deer, which compounded the problem. Now residents of at least one island are looking at sterilization as a control measure, but are getting little support from the provincial government.

I'll post my own synopsis of this study--it is quite good.

Source: Nanaimo Daily News

I've included a picture from the study that shows vegetation on low, medium, and high deer density islands.

OHIO NEWS: Cleveland Area Municipalities Struggle With Deer

2011-01-17T15:43:00.004-05:00

The News-Herald provides a nice overview of how Cleveland area municipalities have been struggling with record deer numbers.

Come springtime, Carole Clement will break out the coyote urine.

She will begin her annual ritual of using it to soak cotton strips that she places atop sticks erected around her gardens.

"It's kind of a universally known deer repellent," the Mentor resident said.

She lives near Veterans Park, where a recent deer count indicated a large overpopulation.

Clement, an active member of several conservation groups, addressed City Council last year about the deer threat to vegetation.

"In 50 years it's going to be ‘Veterans Meadow' because they've eaten all the seedlings and the young saplings," she said.

Deer in Lake, Coyahoga, and Geauga Counties face minimal hunting pressure and now reside in ever-increasing "no hunting zones" subdivided residential housing developments. Recently several parks and municipalities have ended sharpshooting due to budget constraints.

Several organizations are looking at developing a regional deer management strategy, with the Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership taking a lead role.

Source: News-Herald

INDIANA NEWS: Nearly 1700 Deer Killed in State Parks

2011-01-13T12:15:00.003-05:00

Hunters statewide harvested 1,689 deer at 16 state parks, up from the 1,334 deer taken in parks in 2009, according the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Hunters took 236 deer at the 5988 acre Versailles State Park and 102 deer at the 1710 acre Whitewater Memorial State Park. Indiana Parks opened to hunting in 1992.

Source: Palladium-Item

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: Legislative Audit Recommends Changes to Deer Managemment

2011-01-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

A legislative audit says the Division of Natural Resources needs to develop a better way to control damage done by West Virginia's deer population.

The audit says the agency needs to do the following:

1. improve the way it collects and measures damage to crops and forests

2. use deer-vehicle accident information to determine how hunting is affecting the statewide population.

3. launch studies and set performance standards for controlling the statewide population

Source: WSAZ

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: A Quick Survey of the Deer Wars

2011-01-04T11:19:00.003-05:00

Where things stand:

In 2008, the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee of the state assembly was directed to study the Pennsylvania Game Commission's deer management program.

In 2009, they hired the Wildlife Management Institute as a consultant to perform the review.

In 2010, the Wildlife Management Institute completed their report. Click to view The Deer Management Program of the Pennsylvania Game Commission: a comprehensive review and evaluation.

Some of the legislators were not happy with aspects of the report. Some of these legislators admitted not knowing enough and wanting to learn more, but others made a series of tragically stupid comments and asserted fallacies as truths while berating biologists. A transcript is here.

And the third lawsuit by Unified Sportsman of Pennsylvania may be resolved later this year.

The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania and the Game Commission may finally be headed toward a resolution of their long-running feud over deer management.

A source close to the case revealed that the discovery phase of the lawsuit the group filed in 2007 in Commonwealth Court against the agency has finally been completed.

And both sides - the Unified Sportsmen represented by attorney Charles Haws, of Barley Snyder LLC in Reading, and the commission, represented by the state Office of the Attorney General - have agreed to a Nov. 29 deadline for filing motions in the case.

A court date of 10 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2011, has been set in the event that the lawsuit is not decided before.

Official details about the lawsuit were hard to come by, but it was clear by this issue's deadline that efforts have been made to settle the case out of court. Although, a call to Haws' office went unreturned, and the Game Commission would release no information.

Source: Outdoors.com

Special thanks to a PA source.

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: Record Harvest in Charleston

2011-01-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

In it's fifth year, Charleston's urban deer hunt set a new record.

City Manager David Molgaard says 60 deer were killed during the several month-long season that ended Dec. 31. Forty-two animals were does.

The number of deer killed grew from 2009 even though less permits were issued in 2010. There were 184 permits issued in 2009 and only 124 in 2010.

Source: WSAZ

NEW JERSEY NEWS: Union County to Reduce Deer Population

2011-01-04T11:11:00.002-05:00

Union County has allowed 8 hunters to reduce the deer population in the Ash Brook reservation by 60 animals.

The hunt targets the white-tailed deer population, which county officials say is over-browsing forests in the park, damaging the landscaping of private homes in the area, spreading Lyme disease and leading to some car accidents.

The county estimates there are 140 to 150 deer on the 1.75-square-mile reservation, a number they would like to reduce to 35 but anticipate falling short because there aren’t enough hunters and the season is too short.

Source: NJ.com

RESEARCH NEWS: New Virus Found in Deer Hunters

2011-01-04T11:06:00.002-05:00

A smallpox-like disease (but less virulent) has been identified in hunters that field-dressed deer with open wounds on their hands.

Two similar skin infections in hunters who field dressed white-tailed deer led to the identification of a new parapoxvirus, which can mimic other infections and lead to diagnostic delays, according to researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In both cases, the hunters, one from Virginia and one from Connecticut, cut their fingers in November 2008 while field dressing deer that appeared healthy at the time of death, according to the researchers, who reported their findings in the Dec 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (abstract here).

Patients with parapoxvirus infections typically have a single lesion, developing over 4 to 8 weeks, that progresses through four stages—papule, vesicle, shallow annular ulcer, and scab—that heals with little or no scarring.

Infections can recur, and smallpox vaccination doesn't block parapoxvirus infection. The group noted that human infections are likely underreported, because many patients may not seek medical care because of the usually self-limited nature of the disease.

The clinical course was similar for both patients. About 7 weeks after the field dressing injury the hunters sought medical care for a nodule at the wound site that didn't heal. In the case of the Virginia patient, doctors removed and biopsied the lesion, but it recurred about a month later. The Connecticut hunter was treated with antibiotics, and his doctors biopsied the lesion. In both instances, specimens were sent to the CDC for evaluation.

Source: CIDRAP

TEXAS NEWS: Town Confronts Very Very Large Deer Population

2010-12-29T12:24:00.002-05:00

Ten years ago, the City of Fair Oaks Ranch took a survey and counted 2,800 white-tailed deer within city limits.

Back then the city took some steps to control the population.

In a recent survey, more than 5,700 white-tailed and axis deer were counted within the city limits.

This is why for the past nine months, the city has been studying a variety of options to control the population - everything from bringing in sharpshooters to trap and relocate programs.

The city occupies 7.2 square miles of land. That puts the deer density at nearly 800 deer per square mile, or 1.25 deer per acre. Wow...

IOWA NEWS: Deer Harvest 2010

2010-12-28T17:09:00.003-05:00

The Iowa DNR is reporting 108,000 deer harvested so far in the 2010 season. This is prompting fewer complaints from farmers, and more complaints from hunters.

"It’s hard for hunters who are seeing about 30 percent fewer deer from the population peak," said Tom Litchfield, DNR deer biologist. "We are reaching population goals throughout eastern Iowa. Even in the far southeast corner, the deer herd is at middle to late 1990s levels."

Source: KCCI

OHIO NEWS: Deer Reduction Planned for Dayton Metropark

2010-11-14T14:41:00.003-05:00

A deer cull is planned for Hills and Dales, a small urban park in a Dayton suburb.

Sharpshooters from Five Rivers MetroParks will thin the deer herd in Hills and Dales Park for the first time this year, with the nighttime shoots beginning as early as this weekend and continuing into the winter.

Michael Enright, MetroParks’ conservation biologist, said the latest aerial infrared survey showed 22 deer in and around the small park on the Kettering-Oakwood border. That population has changed little since 2003, but Enright said it is almost three times higher than the 20 deer per square mile recommendation, and over time, the forest has begun to show damage.

This is the first cull to take place at Hills and Dales. A few years back, Oakwood residents opposed any culling in the municipality. However, the city does not have jurisdiction over the Metropark. The park is in a very affluent area, so it will be interesting to see how this develops.

Source: Dayton Daily News

BRITISH COLUMBIA NEWS: Sidney Island Deer Cull to Expand

2010-11-09T12:40:00.002-05:00

There are currently 1100-1200 fallow deer on this 1000 ha island, or 11-12 times as many as the island can support over the long term.

[The] Sallas [Forest Strata Corporation], a group of private landowners with property on the opposite side of the island from the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, completed their second fallow deer cull last month, using a mobile meat processor and specially designed dark rooms to keep the deer calm.

Now Parks Canada, which has already provided staff and in-kind support for the cull, is hoping to expand the corral and cull system to the park area.

The population of Mediterranean fallow deer was introduced in the 1920s and, despite 30 years of trying to check the population through First Nations hunting, commercial hunting and shipments to deer farms, the animals have continued to ravage underbrush and eat newly planted trees.

Source: Vancouver Sun

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Judge Clears Valley Forge Deer Cull Plans

2010-10-28T09:51:00.003-04:00

Valley Forge National Historical Park can proceed with its controversial plan to use sharpshooters to radically reduce its deer population, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Calling the imminent plan a looming "bloodbath," animal-rights advocates, who were awaiting the outcome of a suit filed last year, had requested an injunction late Tuesday night to stop it.

But U.S. District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg ruled against that suit Wednesday, thus making moot the injunction requested by Friends of Animals and a Chester County group, Compassion for Animals - Respect for the Environment.

The deer management plan calls for reducing the population from 1200 to 200 deer over several years. Deer densities at Valley Forge currently exceed 250 per square mile.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

VIRGINIA NEWS: Fairfax County Opinion Poll on Deer Culling

2010-10-26T17:58:00.002-04:00

Fairfax County is trying to gauge its residents opinions on deer and a proposed deer management plan. The data come from 6,376 respondents. Some highlights:

66.5 percent of respondents would prefer the deer population decrease.

45.9 percent of respondents are very concerned they will be in a deer-vehicle collision within 12 months.

50.4 percent are very concerned they will contract Lyme disease within 12 months. (62.7 percent believe deer are directly related to the risk of transmitting the disease)

62.7 percent support public managed deer hunts

66.4 percent support the Archery Program to help manage the deer population

64.2 percent are not at all familiar with the current Fairfax County deer management program.

59.5 percent oppose no deer population control efforts; 12.2 percent of respondents support no deer population control efforts.

Source: Fairfax County

UK NEWS: Latest Deer Collision Figures

2010-10-26T17:54:00.001-04:00

Around 74,000 deer are hit on Britain's roads every year, according to figures from breakdown service Autonational Rescue.

Such accidents can cause up to 700 human casualties, including several fatalities, and annually cost more than 21 million pounds in damage, according to the data.

"There are probably around 200 accidents a day involving deer," said Autonational marketing manager Ronan Hart.

"It's a much bigger problem than people realise and not something that happens once in a blue moon to motorists," added a spokesman for deer protection organisation, The Deer Initiative.

Source: AFP

ILLINOIS NEWS: Quelling Concerns About Culling Safety

2010-10-22T11:44:00.004-04:00

When culls are planned in or near residential areas, residents often raise concerns about safety. This is completely understandable--no one wants bullets flying past their heads while they get their mail, wash their car, or walk the dog. But controlled hunts can be surprisingly safe. Here are some of the safety checks in place for the Will County Forest Preserve culling efforts.

Kiran said the district’s police officers are in training now for the project. To qualify to be Illinois Department of Natural Resources sharpshooters, each must shoot five bullets into a 1.9-inch target from 50 yards.

In the forest preserves, the officers will not fire at targets more than 50 yards away, and they will always shoot downward from stands or by using the terrain. They will also only shoot into the parks at a distance of at least 300 feet from the parks’ boundaries.

Culling would be done at night, when the parks are closed to visitors. Moreover, ballistic ammunition is used to prevent richochets. These bullets disintegrate as soon as they hit any object.

Village President Joe Cook is not convinced (or at least his constituents are not convinced).

Cook says he believes the district should consider shotguns or even bows and use hunters, who know the considerations for safely bringing game down.

“Hunter management works well and safely,” he said, “and you only reach 70 — 80 yards with a bow — a far cry from two to three miles with a high-powered rifle.”

Source: Herald News

OHIO NEWS: Deer Tick Populations Expand, Hunters and Hikers At-Risk

2010-10-10T13:40:00.004-04:00

Hunters and hikers should be wary of a potentially disease-carrying parasite that has established a foothold in Ohio, the state Department of Natural Resources warns.

A reproducing population of black-legged ticks, or deer ticks, has been found in Coshocton County, said Glen Needham, an entomologist with Ohio State University.

The tick, which can carry Lyme disease, is fairly common in surrounding states, and hikers have come across single ticks in Ohio for years. But scientists didn't discover a population large enough to reproduce and sustain itself until this past spring, he said.

Some deer ticks carry Lyme Disease, the most common arthropod-transmitted disease in the U.S. Last year, there were 30,000 cases of Lyme confirmed by the CDC. It is an emerging disease, one that most Ohio residents have little or no experience with. Deer play an important role in moving ticks long distances.

Source: Columbus Dispatch

RESEARCH NEWS: A CWD Vaccine On the Horizon?

2010-10-07T09:43:00.005-04:00

Chronic wasting disease has cast a pall over the Wisconsin deer herd and the state's deer hunting tradition since it was discovered in 2001.

One could argue the only good CWD-related news in the last decade is the nightmare scenario has not played out - the disease has not jumped the species barrier to affect humans or livestock.

Wisconsin wildlife managers have taken aggressive measures to initially try to eradicate the disease and more recently to reduce its spread. The disease is now found in a 9,000-square-mile area of south-central Wisconsin.

The primary tools have been deer reduction efforts (hunting or sharpshooting) and transport prohibitions on deer and elk.

Canadian researchers are testing a CWD vaccine they hope will add another tool to the tool box.

A Canadian team has made some promising advances, and a vaccine might be commercially available in 2 years, assuming they can raise the funding needed for development. The logistics of administering the vaccine to wild deer might prove insurmountable. However, it holds a lot of promise for captive and farmed deer.

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Valley Forge Moves Forward with Deer Cull Plans

2010-10-05T12:39:00.003-04:00

Officials at Valley Forge National Historical Park say deer will be shot there starting next month, ending a yearlong delay and commencing a controversial plan to dramatically thin the herd.

An animal rights group is contemplating protests and legal action.

The 5.3 square mile Park's deer reduction goal is quite large; the four year plan calls for reducing deer numbers from 1277 to 165-185.

Park Superintendent Michael Caldwell said Monday that the deer-driven degradation at the park made it imperative to proceed.

"We believe the best course is to go forward at this point," he said. "We'll await the legal process as it unfolds."

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

USA NEWS: State Farm Annual Deer-Vehicle Collisions Report

2010-10-05T12:31:00.002-04:00

While the number of miles driven by U.S. motorists over the past five years has increased just 2 percent, the number of deer-vehicle collisions in this country during that time has grown by ten times that amount.

Using its claims data, State Farm, the nation’s leading auto insurer estimates 2.3 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the U.S. during the two-year period between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2010. That’s 21.1 percent more than five years earlier. To put it another way, during your reading of this paragraph, a collision between a deer and vehicle will likely have taken place (they are much more likely during the last three months of the year and in the early evening).

Likelihood of Deer-Vehicle Collisions

For the fourth year in a row, West Virginia tops the list of those states where a driver is most likely to collide with a deer. Using its claims data in conjunction with state licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration, State Farm calculates the chances of a West Virginia driver striking a deer over the next 12 months at 1 in 42.

Iowa is second on the list. The likelihood of a licensed driver in Iowa striking a deer within the next year is 1 in 67. Michigan (1 in 70) is third. Fourth and fifth on the list are South Dakota (1 in 76) and Montana (1 in 82).

Pennsylvania is sixth, followed by North Dakota and Wisconsin. Arkansas and Minnesota round out the top 10.

The average property damage cost of these incidents was $3,103, up 1.7 percent from a year ago.

Source: State Farm

NEW JERSEY NEWS: Task Force Recommends Cull

2010-09-30T15:26:00.003-04:00

Hopewell Township's Deer Task Force recommends a hunt to control its deer population.

The task force, created in 2009, summarized its report at Monday night’s Township Committee meeting. Former township Mayor Bill Cane, co-chairman of the task force with Denise Moser, said the report reflected the opinion of most of the task force members.

The report said increased hunting and other measures are needed to reduce Lyme disease, which is spread by deer ticks, motor vehicle accidents involving deer and damage to crops and landscaping.

The report pointed to impacts on the community.

The report says there has been an annual average of 170 reportable cases of Lyme disease in the township from 2007 to 2009 and an annual average of 567 deer-vehicle collisions during that same three-year period. Some township farmers have reported crop losses due to deer at more than $5,000 annually, the report said.

One person spoke about natural areas.

Tom Niederer, a township resident and past president of the New Jersey Forestry Association, said, “White-tailed deer are the greatest threats to our forest. Part of the stewardship of the forest is wildlife management, including deer control. Our forests will decline precipitously unless something is about the deer.”

The recommendation has been made, but a decision is still forthcoming.

Source: Hopewell Valley News

MICHIGAN NEWS: Bluetongue Detected in Lower Peninsula

2010-09-29T18:18:00.004-04:00

There appears to be another isolated case of EHD in the western part of Michigan's lower peninsula.

An often fatal viral disease, Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, has been found in white-tailed deer in Berrien, Cass and Ottawa counties in the past two weeks, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The disease, relatively rare this far north, is characterized by extensive hemorrhages and is transmitted by a biting fly called a midge. White-tailed deer usually show signs of being sick about seven days after exposure, with their symptoms developing fast.

The disease is common in the southern U.S. where deer population appear to have evolved some immunity. It is still rare in the northern U.S. and is often fatal.

Cooley said owners who discover dead deer suspected of having EHD should call their nearest DNRE office to report it. DNRE officials can collect more fresh specimens to test the disease to determine its spread. Carcasses also can be buried at a sufficient depth so that body parts are not showing, or they can be disposed of at landfills that accept household solid waste.

The first documented case of EHD in white-tailed deer in Michigan was in 1955.

Additional cases occurred in 1974 and 2006, 2008 and 2009 in various counties in the state.

I suspect EHD outbreaks in the northern U.S. will become more common in the coming decades with climate change, but I do not have any good data to back this speculation up.

Source: South Bend Tribune

TEXAS NEWS: Feeding Ban Lifted at Hollywood Park

2010-09-24T11:28:00.004-04:00

In response to drought, a feeding ban has been lifted at Hollywood Park.

Hollywood Park has overturned an 8-year-old ban on feeding deer within the suburb, dismaying state wildlife officials and reigniting a long-running battle on how residents can best manage the city’s deer population.

Proponents said the move to rescind the ban was justified, saying the deer population is thinning because of the recent drought.

The feeding ban has been successful in reducing deer numbers. Reversing the feeding ban will make it more difficult for the park to manage deer populations in the long term. The city is still conducting deer relocations and looking for ranchers to take deer.

Kevin Schwausch, a big-game specialist for the state, agreed that the number of deer in Hollywood Park had decreased but said it was a result of the city’s efforts in managing its deer population.

“Just because your management is starting to work, it doesn’t mean you should stop,” Schwausch said.

Source: MySanAntonio.com

OREGON NEWS: Ashland Residents Want Action on Deer Problem

2010-09-21T11:52:00.002-04:00

Residents on Monday called on Mayor John Stromberg to curb the city's growing deer population by allowing bow hunting and sterilization.

At a community meeting in City Council chambers after a series of aggressive deer encounters were reported over the summer, Stromberg said there is no easy solution to the deer problem. He said city officials will continue to study the issue in consultation with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists.

The problem, according to residents, is the deer are becoming habituated to people and are attacking both residents and pets. This has not lead to any serious injuries yet.

Ashland has seen an increase in deer in recent years, Vargas said. The deer have become less afraid of humans, leading some to become aggressive during breeding and fawning seasons, roughly between May and August, he said.

This summer several residents reported being attacked by deer, especially while walking their dogs, which deer can mistake for predators. Aggressive deer have been known to rear up on their hind legs and try to stomp on people and their dogs. There were no reports of serious injuries from deer attacks in the city this summer.

The issue is polarizing, and even if action is taken, there are no easy lasting solution to this emerging problem.

Source: Ashland Daily Tidings

SCOTLAND NEWS: Deer Exclusion and Forest Restoration

2010-09-14T12:54:00.003-04:00

Turning a woodland into a deer-free zone has allowed part of Scotland's ancient Caledonian Forest to flourish, according to charity Trees for Life.

With no grazing deer, hundreds of thousands of Scots pine seeds have been able to grow on 123 acres (50 hectares) in Glen Affric, Inverness-shire.

Forres-based Trees for Life has been running the project jointly with Forestry Commission Scotland.

The woodland at Coille Ruigh na Cuileige was fenced off 20 years ago.

Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life executive director, said the project had involved no tree planting and the woodland left to seed and grow.

He said: "Regular surveys have given us invaluable knowledge and data about regeneration in the native pinewoods of the Caledonian Forest."

Giles Drake-Brockman, environment manager for the commission in Inverness, Ross and Skye, said the scheme had made an important contribution to the reshaping of Glen Affric.

He added: "It tells a powerful story, showing how simple actions such as a fence to exclude deer can make the difference between open moorland and a naturally wooded landscape."

As well as Scots pine, the area has rowans, birches, heather, blaeberry, eared willow and juniper.

Bird life include crested tits and black grouse.

Source: BBC

MASSACHUSETTS NEWS: Blue Hills Reservation

2010-09-13T09:20:00.002-04:00

The deer population in places like the Blue Hills Reservation has exploded in recent years, and the hazards – traffic risks, threats to local biodiversity and human health – require immediate action from local communities, U.S. Forest Service botanist Tom Rawinski writes in “Deer and Forests, and the People Who Love Them.”

Rawinski, based in Durham, N.H., suggests in the article that New England’s deer population is growing dangerously large and may need to be controlled by a combination of methods such as hunting, fencing off properties and planting deer-resistant species to restore forests damaged by deer foraging.

Rawinski writes that deer have devastated some native plant species while creating an environment that allows invasive plants to thrive. The article calls for more studies in Milton and “just about every eastern Massachusetts town” to measure the animals’ environmental impact.

Rawinski said in a phone interview that it is too early to start speculating about hunting in the Blue Hills or elsewhere. He said his article is a starting point for further research on the reservation’s population and serious dialogue about the best ways to address the problem, if there is one.

“We all need to do our homework on the issue and learn as much as we can about deer and what’s been done in other communities,” he said.

Friends Executive Director Judy Lehrer Jacobs said she posted the article on the group’s blog to spark debate and begin a discussion about the deer population’s impact on the reservation.

The idea of population control doesn’t really “have meat behind it at this point,” Jacobs said, and the group’s board has not voted on any course of action.

The Friends’ next step would be to meet with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and go over the options for controlling the deer population and protecting endangered plant species in the Blue Hills.

Full article at: The Patriot Ledger

NEW JERSEY NEWS: Deer Cull in Essex Fells

2010-09-10T09:57:00.002-04:00

In part of a wider effort to control the deer population that has grown in the area, the borough will begin bow hunting to cull the deer herd.

Councilman Jack Taylor said at Tuesday night’s Borough Council meeting that signs will be posted in all affected areas of the borough.

The deer culling will happen between Trotter Track and the woods on Fells Road to the right of Fells Brook. The operation will be run through the police department and handled by expert hunters, the council said. There was no date given on when the hunt will begin.

The hunters will not be going on private property, the mayor said, and will maintain a 450-foot distance from residential homes.

“In total, there will be about seven areas that will be involved in the process,” Mayor Edward Abbot said.

The borough also intends to mail out letters to residents that will detail the program.

The matter was first broached in the spring of 2010, during a presentation at a council meeting.

“The council has always had a safety concern with the increasing deer population in our town, and with neighboring towns as well,” the mayor said. “We have discussed what to do with the increasing deer population over many council meetings.”

The growth of the population, he explained, “not only presents a health concern like Lyme disease, but also effects the health and safety of our drivers. We have witnessed several accidents that caused all parties involved to be seriously injured.”

“The hunt will be very controlled,” the mayor added. “We will only have seven bow hunters doing the culling. Safety is our top priority with this project.”

For the full article, see The Progress

ILLINOIS NEWS: Deer Culls Approved for Will County Forest Preserves

2010-09-10T09:52:00.001-04:00

Trained marksmen will begin targeting white-tailed deer this fall in Will County forest preserves.

Despite opposition from some county residents, the marksmen will kill a certain number of deer at five preserves during fall and winter this year and next.

Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve, Lockport Township. The average number of deer in the area is 94. They plan to cull 17 to 22 deer.

Messenger Woods Nature Preserve and Messenger Marsh Preserve, Homer Township. The average number of deer in the area is 138. They plan to cull 61 to 83.

Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve and Plum Valley Preserve, Crete Township. The average number of deer in the area is 421. They plan to cull 109 to 137 deer.

Sand Ridge Savanna Preserve in Custer Township and the Kankakee Sands Preserve. The average number of deer in the area is 87. They plan to cull 32 to 50 deer.

McKinley Woods, Channahon Township. The average number of deer in the area is 131. They plan to cull about 110 deer.

Source: The Southtown Star

CONNECTICUT NEWS: Economic Cost of Deer in Fairfield County

2010-08-26T11:17:00.004-04:00

To be fair, the authors of the study could have looked at the economic benefits of deer as well. Regardless, the figures are pretty startling. -TR

Greenwich is paying a hefty bill for Bambi and his friends as they wreak havoc throughout the town and its neighboring towns, said a report that studied the adverse economic impact of deer on Fairfield County.

According to the "Economic Impact of Deer Overpopulation in Fairfield County, CT" report, the total dollar figure for damage caused by deer for Greenwich is $15.1 million in 2008, just behind Fairfield that tops the list at nearly $17 million.

The single biggest category of damage is environment and landscaping where Greenwich sustained $12.6 million in damage. That was followed by tick control at $2.1 million, tick-borne Lyme disease at $319,000 and motor vehicle damage at $131,000.

While Greenwich ranked near the top in total dollars, the cost per capita was $255, 16th lowest out of the 23 municipalities studied. Sherman was the highest at $524 with Easton just in behind it at $520 per person.

The study was prepared by two staff members at the New York Medical College and commissioned by the Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance, the Connecticut Coalition to End Lyme Disease, and the Connecticut Audubon Society. The latter three groups have advocated tougher deer-management policies.

Karen Dixon, director of Greenwich Audubon Center, said she couldn't comment on the economic impacts because the center did not participate in the study. But she said the center has a deer management plan that was implemented seven years ago to preserve habitat being eaten by deer.

"Deer really love to eat trees. Basically they stripped all the ground cover, stripped away all the shrubs," she said. Some bird species that nested at ground level were losing their habitat.

The number of deer killed by bow hunters from the Greenwich Sportsman and Land Owners Alliance has dropped from 30 taken during the first season of 2003-2004 to seven last year. The hunts occur on the center's four wildlife sanctuaries: Gimble, Fairchild, Caldwell and the main sanctuary all in northwest Greenwich.

The season begins in September and ends Jan. 30.

Dixon said it has been a success as plants eaten by deer were enjoying a resurgence, like the maple leaf viburnum, a plant that provides nesting and also a cover for birds and small mammals seeking to escape their predators.

Adopting the policy wasn't easy, said Dixon, as she acknowledged some people have been opposed to it.

"We have to make management decision that are sometimes hard to make and not ones we want to ideally make," she said. "There are people out there who don't agree with us. We certainly respect their opinion."

In 2005, the town began its own deer kill and hired professional hunters. They killed 80 deer that first season.

In a story in Greenwich Time last year prior to the 2009 hunting season, Conservation Director Denise Savageau said the program has worked but the deer levels were still too high, with deer reaching levels of 60 per square mile instead of the preferred 10 per square mile.

Savageau could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

If deer populations can be reduced to 10 to 12 per square mile, incidents of Lyme disease virtually disappear because deer tick colonies that carry the disease collapse, according to state researchers.

Other town's also support up to five times as many deer per square mile.

Patricia Sesto, director of environmental affairs for the town of Wilton, said Tuesday that even though the town has had a hunting system for eight years, there are still as many as 70 deer per square mile there.

She said the study means that next year officials can show town councils and selectmen throughout the region the costs residents pay out of pocket and the potential benefits of inviting sharpshooters, such as those who have worked in Greenwich, to increase the number of deer killed.

"We need to be harvesting 300 a year," said Sesto, questioning whether recreational deer hunting is capable of reducing deer populations to the point where the spread of Lyme disease can be halted.

The most productive year for hunters in Wilton resulted in 150 dead deer, but last year the harvest was about 45. Nearby towns, including Redding and Ridgefield, had much better results, she said.

She said that while deer contraception treatments are expensive, sharp-shooting programs, whether bow and arrow or rifle, are maturing and make more sense.

The public policy debate, however, will be persuading residents to pay new fees for helping eradicate local deer herds, by showing how much they can save in shrubbery, medical costs and auto repair bills.

"The transition between me writing a check for what I choose and a town surcharge, could require a large change in the social mindset and hopefully, this economic study can show that if you spend a fraction of the money, you can get major savings," Sesto said.

"Fairfield County municipalities still do not have a good grasp of either the prevalence of Lyme or its economic consequences to society, as evidenced by their failure to enact aggressive deer management policies," says researcher Deborah Viola of the NYMC, the co-author of the study.

Connecticut has the highest rate of Lyme disease in the nation.

Stephen R. Patton, director of landscape programs at the Nature Conservancy, said the study is the first of its kind to show the economic impact of deer overpopulation.

"This study demonstrates the broader need for a comprehensive effort, managed by the Department of Environmental Protection, to bring deer numbers down to levels that is healthy for our woodlands and for people."

Source: Greenwich Time

MASSACHUSETTS NEWS: Lyme Disease Cases Tick Upwards

2010-08-23T10:06:00.001-04:00

Lyme disease, the tick-borne ailment once primarily a scourge of the Cape and Islands, is now rampant in swaths of Massachusetts where locally acquired cases were rare a decade ago.

In Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester counties, the number of patients diagnosed with the bacterial disease surged more than fourfold between 2000 and 2009, according to figures the state Department of Public Health provided to the Globe.

The increase, which is fueling a statewide increase in reports of symptoms, is evident in the offices of infectious disease specialists and primary care doctors in places like Framingham and Natick, where Lyme disease diagnoses 10 or 15 years ago were largely restricted to people who had visited Cape Cod.

“Now,’’ said Dr. Richard Ellison, hospital epidemiologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, “they’re living in Charlton, they’re living in Northborough, they’re living in Westborough. And they’re not traveling to the Cape.’’

The disease is on the move, special ists said, because the deer population is expanding and human developments are encroaching on natural habitats. Hundreds of ticks can hitch a ride on a single deer. And a lone female tick can lay 2,000 — or more — eggs.

The result: Human and tick have increasing opportunity to come into contact, spreading an illness that often manifests with flulike symptoms but in some cases causes serious cardiac and neurologic complications.

It is an illustration, too, of the difficulty containing infectious diseases, especially those carried by tiny insects. The young ticks that tend to attach themselves to humans are roughly the size of a poppy seed and hard to detect. Their favorite hiding spots are behind knees, in armpits, and in the groin area.

“This has been an accident waiting to happen,’’ said Dr. Thomas Treadwell, director of the infectious disease clinic at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. “If you don’t have the deer, you don’t have the tick. And if you don’t have the tick, you don’t have the disease. But we now have the perfect habitat here.’’

Doctors who treat patients and specialists who track ticks said they’re convinced the rise in cases — last year, there were 4,042 statewide, compared with 1,194 in 2000 — reflects a genuine increase in illness and not simply better diagnosis or recordkeeping. The increase is too large to be explained by better surveillance, specialists said: In Middlesex County, for example, there were 136 cases in 2000, and by 2008, diagnoses had soared to 767.

Source: Boston Globe

RHODE ISLAND NEWS: No Deer Hunt on Block Island

2010-08-23T10:02:00.000-04:00

Reining in the deer herd on Block Island might be a bit more difficult for the Deer Task Force as it learned this week that the Land Trust will not open its lands to hunting.

At the task force meeting Tuesday evening, Chair Mary Sue Record said she had not yet received any written refusal, but she understood the conservation groups had met to set criteria for allowing a hunt on their properties, and the Land Trust determined none of its lands met that criteria. There were also concerns about liability.

With 43 percent of the island held by conservation groups, task force member Chris Blane said, “You’re at a standstill no matter what you do,” if conservation lands are not opened.

He suggested the task force “get a seat at the table” through joining conservation boards.

As to the liability factor, Blane suggested it could be the result of a current case in Newport, in which a fall from the cliff walk is going to trial despite the state’s law limiting liability of private owners who allow recreational use of their lands. The case is a test of this law, he said.

Record will request a formal response from the Land Trust.

Source: Block Island Times

CALIFORNIA NEWS: Black-tailed Deer in Decline Since 1989

2010-08-23T09:59:00.002-04:00

The distinctive splayed antlers of black-tailed deer bucks have become an increasingly rare sight in California, particularly if you are accustomed to spotting the appendages through a rifle scope.

The California deer population has plummeted over the past two decades - by 46 percent - if the yearly count of bucks killed by hunters is a proper measure.

A team of scientists led by the California Department of Fish and Game is fanning out across the rugged mountains of Mendocino, Glenn and Lake counties in an attempt to figure out just what is going on.

"The deer population harvest has been steadily declining," said David Casady, an associate wildlife biologist for the Department of Fish and Game. "One of the things we're studying is whether the population has decreased or just the harvest. Most likely it's the population that has decreased and the harvest is just tracking that."

The Columbian black-tailed deer, or Odocoileus hemionus columbianus, is the smallest, darkest and most common of the three deer species that are prevalent in California, with bucks weighing up to 200 pounds and does topping out at 140 pounds. The other two most abundant deer species in the state are the California mule deer and the Rocky Mountain mule deer.

Black-tailed deer, combined with mule deer, inhabit about 75 percent of California's wildlands. They thrive on the edges of forests, where they can find the underbrush and grasslands they prefer and still find places to hide from predators.

Antlers, venison sought

The males grow multipronged antlers, which, along with the promise of venison, is a primary reason they are the state's most popular game mammal.

The number of bucks taken by hunters in California dropped from 27,846 in 1989 to 14,895 in 2009, according to Fish and Game statistics. That was out of 164,753 hunters who pursued deer in 2009.

The three-year study, which is being done in coordination with UC Davis, is documenting habitat changes, vegetation, predation, land use patterns and other factors that might affect black-tailed deer. It is focusing on the mountains east of Covelo (Mendocino County) because that area has historically had some of the best deer habitat in the state and has, for the most part, been unaffected by human encroachment.

57% drop in area

The area has nevertheless seen one of the biggest declines, from 3,013 deer harvested in 1989 to 1,297 in 2009, a 57 percent drop, according to state statistics. The state estimated that 38,037 people hunted deer in the area in 2009.

Heiko Wittmer, a UC Davis adjunct professor and senior lecturer in conservation and ecological restoration at New Zealand's Victoria University of Wellington, said he and several doctoral students began capturing deer last year and equipping them with collars and tags with radio and global positioning satellite technology.

So far, he said, 40 fawns have had their ears tagged and 26 adults have had collars placed around their necks.

The equipment alerts trackers if four or more hours pass without any movement, an indication that the animal has died. The researchers then use an antenna to find the animal. The goal is to perform necropsies within 24 hours to determine the cause of death and use DNA analysis to determine what, if any, predator was involved.

"We are trying to estimate survival rates for fawns and for adults," Wittmer said. "Once we have that information, we can accurately measure death and birth rates and see if all of that together would result in a decreasing population."

Cougars, bobcats, black bears and coyotes are known to feed on deer. Remote cameras are being used to monitor coyotes and other predators, but only the mountain lion is known to have taken down a full-grown deer. That's why researchers have also collared a female mountain lion. They are planning to collar and track five additional mountain lions during the study, which is funded through June 2012, Wittmer said.

"One neat aspect of this study is that we are simultaneously looking at predators and prey," Wittmer said. "There is a lot of debate right now about whether the lion population is too high."

Hunting groups have claimed there are too many predators because of harvest restrictions and the elimination, albeit a long time ago, of bounties on mountain lions and coyotes.

Another theory, espoused by a fair number of biologists, is that the brush, grasses and foliage that deer feed upon are being choked out by nonnative weeds. The lack of food, the hypothesis goes, is being exacerbated by California's vigorous suppression of wildfires, which historically served to renew the state's grasslands and forests.

Forces of nature possible

The plummeting deer population could also be the result of a combination of factors, Casady admitted, including the tendency of hunters to fill with lead any buck with big antlers that they spot. Could it be that only the ugliest, nerdiest bucks are left and the does are simply turned off?

"It doesn't take many males to make sure all the females are bred," Casady said. "If the population was really that bad off, I think they would still breed with the ugly ones."

It may turn out in the end, Wittmer said, that the declining deer population is simply a reflection of what is normal in a balanced ecosystem.

"Maybe," he said, "if we want to have both healthy deer populations and healthy predator populations, then these densities are more natural."

The decline of black-tailed deer

-- Hunters killed 27,846 black-tailed deer in California in 1989 compared with 14,895 in 2009, a 46 percent decline.

-- Hunters killed 3,013 black-tailed deer in the study area in the forested mountains of Mendocino, Glenn and Lake counties in 1989 compared with 1,297 in 2009, a 57 percent decline.

-- Deer, which inhabit 75 percent of California's wildlands, are the most popular game animal in the state, attracting as many as 200,000 hunters a year.

-- Researchers have tagged 40 fawns and placed radio collars equipped with global positioning technology on 26 adult deer.

-- Cougars, bobcats, black bears and coyotes are known to prey on black-tailed deer and all four killed or scavenged fawns during the study, but the mountain lion is the only predator known to have taken down a full-grown deer.

-- A female mountain lion has been fitted with a satellite GPS collar and five others will be collared during the study, which is expected to continue through June 2012.

Source: SF Chronicle

ILLINOIS NEWS: Deer Dropping Dead in Chicago Suburbs

2010-08-16T10:30:00.001-04:00

A deadly deer disease is causing problems in Chicago's south suburbs where residents are finding dead or dying deer in their backyards and in nearby forest preserves.

Officials with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources say more than 30 deer have been discovered to be dying from an insect-born virus known as EHD, or epizootic hemorrhagic disease. The department began monitoring the situation near Crete late last month.

Some residents have found deer frothing at the mouth, approaching homes and humans, and dying near creeks. Those are all signs of EHD.

Crete resident David Green calls the situation "scary" and describes the smell as "horrendous."

The last major outbreak of EHD in Illinois in 2007 killed 1,900 deer in 57 counties.

Source: Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK NEWS: Village to Try Deer Contraception

2010-07-30T13:48:00.001-04:00

Luckily the deer will not be asked to carry condoms or remember to take a pill at the same time every night, but if Hastings mayor Peter Swiderski's most recent plan to reduce the deer population goes forward, promiscuous does will soon be stymied in their efforts to take over the village.

Immunocontraception, a cutting-edge technology in the arena of animal control, was disclosed last night as the mayor's preferred approach to reducing the number of deer in Hastings.

Allen Rutberg, a professor at Tufts University, and leading researcher in the field of immunocontraception, said this method could potentially be effective on deer populations in suburban communities, but that it's still in the research phase.

"Introducing immunocontraception into a population of deer is complicated because it requires that the process be strongly supported by the community," Rutberg said, meaning that a long-term commitment to the program is necessary for success.

A 10-year employee of the Humane Society of America, Rutberg views immunocontraception as a middle-ground solution to a problem that generally offers no compromise.

"Whether to control a growing population of deer is generally a no-win issue," Rutberg said. "Some people feel strongly—and for different reasons—that deer should be killed and others believe strongly in protecting animal rights."

By hitting does with small vaccine darts, scientists are able to inject a naturally-occurring protein called Porcine (pig) Zonapellucida (PZP), which sterilizes the animals for what Rutberg believes to be about two years. This means animals would need to be re-vaccinated two years after the initial dose.

"The way it works is really cool," Rutberg said. "The PZP forms a protein envelope around female deer's eggs so that fertilization cannot occur. We use the pig Zonapellucida because other large mammals injected with pig protein develop antibodies that block fertilization sites on their own eggs as well."

Zonapellucida antibodies are nothing like any other protein in the deer's body, Rutberg said, so there is no risk of destroying other aspects of the animal's anatomy or temperament.

Another concern scientists have posed is whether if a human hunted and ate a deer—which is illegal though certainly not unheard of in Westchester—if she, too, could become infertile.

"There is absolutely no chance of that happening," Rutberg said. "The protein needs to be injected directly into the blood stream to work. Because it is extracted directly from a pig ovary it is probably no different from some of the ingredients in common dog food."

One shortcoming of Rutberg and his colleagues' studies thus far is that they have all been conducted in fairly contained areas, such as Fire Island and a federal campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

"Studies show that 90 percent of female deer don't wander very far throughout their lives," Rutberg said. "I imagine the efficacy rate would be similar for both contained and open populations."

But New York Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach is not convinced.

"This type of study is very hard to conduct in a wild population," Rosenbach said. "They can be hard to control and very expensive."

Swiderski disagrees with the expense of such action, saying each vaccine would cost no more than $30 and the village could probably apply for grants.

Though Rosenbach said the DEC would review an application for a permit to try immunocontraception, she thought it would be difficult to approve. "I don't believe we have issued a permit for this type of wildlife control," Rosenbach said. "If it were part of a study, that would be a different matter, and we would have to work closely with the scientist conducting the research."

But Rutberg is thrilled to be on the forefront of a non-lethal means of population control he truly believes will work.

"Though I no longer speak for the Humane Society, I can say with confidence a net-and-bolt cull is not something they condone," Rutberg said. "For us, immunocontraception was just a natural progression from our community outreach programs teaching the importance of spaying and neutering pets."

Now, the question is whether it will work.

Swiderski acknowledges the possibility that immunocontraception won't be the silver bullet--or dart--many hope it will, but said: "It's easier to turn back on a non-lethal approach that fails, shrug and say, 'We tried.'"

Source: Hastings-Dobbs Ferry Patch

IOWA NEWS: Urban Hunt Aims to Reduce Vehicle Collisions

2010-07-30T13:45:00.001-04:00

City of Urbandale wants to cull the herd to reduce number of auto accidents and property damage.

The city of Urbandale will once again allow a bow hunt of antlerless deer in some parts of the city, in an effort to thin the city's teeming deer population.

The Urbandale City Council voted during its meeting Tuesday to allow bow-hunting from Sept. 11 to Jan. 30 as part of the Polk County Conservation Board's annual controlled bow hunt for antlerless deer.

Urbandale police officer Jeff Casey, whose department oversees the bow hunt for the city, said recent studies showed Urbandale has about 135 deer per square mile west of Interstate Highway 35/80, compared to a county average of 43 per square mile.

Deer were responsible for eight motor-vehicle collisions in 2005, 33 in 2006, 26 in 2007, 24 in 2008 and 24 in 2009, Casey said, adding that one of the goals of the task force is to thin the herd to about 30 per square mile to help prevent accidents.

"That's the recommended number to prevent more damage than we're already seeing," Casey said. "We're consistently seeing property damage in addition to the traffic situations caused by deer. Bow-hunting can have a considerable impact."

Source: DeMoinesRegister

BRITISH COLUMBIA NEWS: City to Combat Urban Deer

2010-07-27T09:40:00.002-04:00

Officials in Cranbrook, B.C., have met with government biologists in an attempt to find a solution to aggressive deer plaguing the city.

Urban deer have been devouring gardens, injuring pets and attacking people.

Last month, a YouTube video of a deer stomping on a dog in Cranbrook went viral, getting more than 1.4 million hits in just a few weeks.

On July 14, a newspaper carrier in Cranbrook made headlines after he was attacked by a deer while doing his rounds. The attack left Brock Jones with a gash on his chin and a black eye.

And last week, Mayor Scott Manjak came upon an angered doe chasing a woman and her dog down a residential street, "and I had to bring my truck between the lady and the deer so the deer would stop chasing her."

Encounters such as these these are happening far too often in Cranbrook, Manjak said, and something has to be done.

"They are getting more aggressive and escalation is getting higher because these are deer that have been in the community three and four years. They have no fear whatsoever," he said.

Solutions discussed

Manjak met with biologists from the provincial Ministry of Environment on Monday to discuss solutions.

The City of Cranbrook is hoping the provincial government will help address the problem of aggressive deer. (CBC)

The ministry has done an exhaustive study on urban deer to come up with potential solutions. However, the most effective solution — a large-scale cull — is also the most controversial.

Manjak said the city plans to ask local residents what they think should be done about the problem deer, something neighbouring Kimberly is already doing.

"This is a very controversial problem and by doing the survey and following it through, we'll come to a community-wide solution," said Kimberly Mayor Jim Ogalvie.

Source: CBC News

MISSOURI NEWS: Urban Hunt Cancelled, Liability Concerns Cited

2010-07-21T11:29:00.002-04:00

Managed deer hunts near Fellows Lake and Lake Springfield scheduled for later this year have been canceled while the Missouri Department of Conservation and City Utilities work through legal concerns.

"Basically what's happened is City Utilities ... had some concerns about some hunter liability issues," said Francis Skalicky, a spokesman for MDC's southwest region office. "We weren't able to reach a consensus before registration started, so it's delayed until next year."

The archery-only urban hunts, meant to curb overpopulation of deer in and around city limits, garnered broad support during City Council discussions in late 2009.

Conservation agents, who had urged an urban hunt since the 1990s, cited deer populations four to eight times the preferred density.

Springfield-Greene County Health Department officials chimed in with concerns about a rise in tick-borne diseases.

Homeowners in Ravenwood, Spring Creek and Ravenwood South wrote to City Hall to complain deer were creating a hazard on the roadways -- backed up by police crash statistics -- and a nuisance in their gardens.

Full story at: Springfield News-Leader

MICHIGAN NEWS: 2009 Deer Hunting Season Summary

2010-07-19T10:23:00.001-04:00

Michigan hunters harvested almost 10 percent fewer white-tailed deer across the state last year, likely because of poor weather conditions and unusually late-standing corn crops that made hunting difficult during the regular rifle season, hunter data shows.

Across all Michigan deer hunting seasons, buck harvest slipped roughly 14 percent to 214,937 last year from 248,350 deer in 2008. Doe harvest also dropped to 229,111 from 241,573, or about 5 percent. A significantly higher percentage of those deer were taken in archery and late antlerless seasons in 2009 than in ’08, which increased roughly 10 and 30 percent, respectively.

Hunter success dipped by 4 percent statewide to an overall average of 47 percent in 2009.

“We had warm weather in a lot of the state, rainy weather in some areas and a lot of standing corn still up. Thirty percent (of corn) was harvested as opposed to 70 percent normally,” said Brent Rudolph, DNRE deer program leader.

The number of Michigan hunters dropped by about 1 percent to 686,392 this year from 693,817 in 2008, following a decade-long trend.

Source: MLive

VIRGINIA NEWS: County Looks to Deploy 4-Posters to Fight Lyme

2010-05-27T13:06:00.003-04:00

In an effort to slow the spread of Lyme disease, Loudoun County, which has the highest concentration of the disease in Virginia, may seek state permission to install devices that kill the bugs that spread the disease: ticks.

Called the 4-Poster Deer Treatment Bait Station because it resembles a four-poster bed, the device was created by researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the mid-1990s as a means of applying a tick-killing pesticide on the heads and necks of deer.

At a cost of about $425, the simple contraption is composed of a bin that holds corn kernels. When a deer sticks its head in the bin to feed, it rubs against two paintbrushes coated with a permethrin-based tickicide.

“It has proven to be effective,” said Loudoun Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who is working on a proposal to bring the stations to Loudoun.

In the late 1990s, researchers from Fordham University studied two towns in Upstate New York that were hotbeds for Lyme disease. Of the two, one had 24 of the devices installed, while they other had none. Results showed that after three years, deer in the community without the devices had seven times more ticks on them than deer known to have used the stations in the other community.

On its website, the American Lyme Disease Foundation cites two other studies in Texas and Maryland that showed the stations killed off more than 90 percent of the local tick populations.

Still, what remains unclear, according to Loudoun County Health Department Director Dr. David Goodfriend, is whether the devices help ward off human infections.

“I have not seen a study yet that shows how this reduces Lyme disease,” he said.

Goodfriend said the tried and true methods of avoiding the disease still remain keeping your property maintained and inspecting yourself regularly for ticks. “Controlling your personal environment,” he said, is key to avoiding being infected.

While how effective the stations are in thwarting the disease is still unknown, officials in Fairfax County have already begun the process to acquire one of the devices, which would make it the first jurisdiction in Virginia to employ one, according to Fairfax County Wildlife Biologist Victoria Monroe.

Currently, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries does not permit the stations in Virginia over concerns about their use during hunting season and whether they would attract deer with chronic wasting disease into the Commonwealth.

Monroe said Fairfax is working with the department to create a permitting system that she hopes jurisdictions and homeowners associations alike could use to acquire the stations. She’s hoping Fairfax will gain permission by the end of summer to deploy its station. If so, she said it would likely be installed next February as part of a pilot program on one of two parks being considered. She said one station can maintain the tick population in an area covering at least 50 acres.

Like Goodfriend, she said she knew of no studies that measured the effective of the stations on combating the spread of Lyme disease, but said researchers at Cornell University are currently conducting a study.

Positive results or not, she said they do have their limitations since they only kill ticks found on deer. (Ticks acquire the bacteria that causes Lyme disease from white-footed mice while deer move ticks from place to place.)

If and when permitted in Virginia, she said the stations would likely be deployed as a complement to other disease-prevention techniques, like checking for ticks after being outside.

“By itself," Monroe said, “I don’t think it would work.”

Source: Loudoun Independent

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: City Council Seeks More Data on Deer Impacts

2010-05-19T10:22:00.002-04:00

The Morgantown City Council is waiting for more discussion and data to be collected before authorizing a controlled bow hunt within city limits.

The council heard a report from the city’s Urban Deer Committee and concerns from members of the community regarding the proposed bow hunt meant to control the deer population. While the council is waiting before authorizing a hunt, it indicated it would act as quickly as its next regular meeting to pass an ordinance to ban the feeding of deer.

The committee, headed by Dave Samuels, a former wildlife management professor at West Virginia University, proposed several measures, including a controlled bow hunt, to curb the deer population.

"Our approach is to try and use as much science as possible," Samuels said. "But you are going to have anecdotal evidence."

Community members expressed concern over collecting data before a hunt is permitted.
Hunts are highly controlled, Samuels said, and would only take place in select locations.

"Never has there been an accident with an urban bow hunt in the United States involving a non-hunter," he said.

Studies from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and anecdotal evidence from residents indicate overpopulation of deer, Samuels said. Two to five deer per square mile is an acceptable number within city limits, he said, but he has seen photos showing up to 17 deer in one yard.

The ecology of parks in the Morgantown area, including the WVU Core Aboreatum, Samuels said, has been greatly disturbed by the large deer population. He said many types of wildflowers have been eradicated from the Arboreatum, and those present are there because they are not appetizing to deer.

Barton Baker, a professor with the WVU division of plant and soil sciences, told Samuels approximately $400,000 of grant money was lost because of deer overpopulation around the WVU organic farm.

Many within WVU’s Agricultural Sciences Department had asked for an urban deer hunt for almost a decade, Samuels said.

Randy Hudak, vice president of Facilities Management at WVU, represented the University on the committee and was able to gain administrative support, Samuels said.

Samuels’ other suggestions included: the council adopting regulations prohibiting the feeding of deer within city limits; a section of the city’s website be dedicated to receiving complaints regarding deer and endorsed the use of repellents to deter deer from feeding on plants around peoples’ homes; and deer "exclosures" be built in parks throughout the city, including the Arboreatum.

While the committee is not totally sold on a comprehensive deer "census," Samuels said it was not a bad idea. He also said for many people on either side of the debate the exact number of deer is unimportant.

Source: Daily Athenaeum

NEW YORK NEWS: Village Seeks Deer Management Consultant

2010-05-19T10:18:00.002-04:00

I am not accepting new clients at this time. -TR

The Cayuga Heights village board's environmental assessment on its plan to reduce the deer herd is available on the village website.

The trustees formally adopted the assessment, which is required by state regulations, on March 27, Mayor Kate Supron said.

The village must now find a consultant to conduct further study on the two issues the board deemed as having a "significant effect on the environment," which are the reduction in deer population by approximately 150 deer, and the public controversy over that proposal, Supron said.

The trustees' environmental impact statement lays out the case they've made for sterilizing 20-60 does in the village, then culling or killing the rest of the deer herd. It includes supportive statements from Cornell Lab of Ornithology director John Fitzpatrick and Cornell Plantations botanist and natural areas manager Robert Wesley, among others.

In Wesley's statement, he asserts that diverse native plant species have "dwindled greatly or disappeared" as the deer population has grown.

"I believe that reducing the density of deer could only have a positive effect on any or all rare, threatened or endangered plant species in the area," he wrote.

Fitzpatrick wrote that "the white-tailed deer population boom has reached a stage I now describe as 'menacing' for biodiversity." Deer impact on understory plants reduces and eliminates habitat for a variety of bird species, he wrote.

The village's environmental assessment asserts that most villagers support the plan, citing recent village elections and an October public hearing. It also acknowledges strong opposition to the plan by some villagers and residents of surrounding municipalities, which has been organized primarily through the citizen's group Cayugadeer.org.

James LaVeck and Jenny Stein of Cayugadeer.org criticized the trustees' assessment for choosing only two issues as worthy of further study.

"What does it say about the Cayuga Heights trustees that they are willing to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to a consultant to perform a study of 'public controversy,' and not a penny to obtain expert advice on the potential dangers of discharging deadly weapons hundreds of times near residences and roadways?" they wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.

The village sent out a request for proposals to 10 consulting firms, but has not yet heard back from anybody, Supron said. Because of the uncertainty in finding a consultant, Supron said she couldn't provide an estimate on when the village might enact its deer plan.

"I was quite hopeful that it would be well under way by now," she said.

Source: Ithaca Journal

COLORADO NEWS: Rabid Deer Fed by Residents

2010-05-18T12:59:00.001-04:00

In a recent notification from the Office of Emergency Management via the Code Red System, residents of Elbert County were alerted that a mule deer, which had been acting aggressively within the Town of Elizabeth had tested positive for rabies. Certainly not good news, but worse was to come when the animal was necropsied by the Colorado State University Lab it became clear that the deer had likely been fed by local residents as its stomach contained sliced apples, rolled corn and bird seed.

The notification went on to say that rabies has now been found in all areas of Elbert County and that residents should ensure their animals are vaccinated against the rabies virus. In addition, the Colorado Division of Wildlife regulations do not permit feeding wild animals and encourages residents to secure their feed for pets and livestock.

Elbert County is now considered to be an area endemic for the rabies virus in wild animals.

Source: The Examiner

INDIANA NEWS: DNR Plans to Reduce Deer Numbers

2010-05-03T10:00:00.001-04:00

There will be some significant changes to Indiana's white-tailed deer hunting seasons, along with rules and regulations that govern the hunts.

The state's Department of Natural Resources is hedging on when those changes will be made, but they could come as early as this fall.

"It remains to be seen," DNR deer management biologist Chad Stewart said about a timeline. If not this year, it's almost certain that the changes will be made for the 2011 deer seasons.

The proposed changes include an antlerless quota system, bag limits, licensing, hunting equipment, special deer control permits, hunter access and restructuring hunting season dates.

Those are some major changes and Stewart has a quick answer for why they are needed.

"Bottom line? To reduce the deer population," he said.

That population continues to increase despite record numbers killed by hunters during five various deer seasons from September through January.

A month after hunters killed 132,752 deer during the last season, changes looked imminent when Stewart said, "It's kind of predictable any more. We're going to have a record or near-record harvest every year unless things change."

For several months, the DNR has met with what it calls "stakeholders" to plan a strategy for how to reduce the state's deer herd.

The size of that herd is anybody's guess, and that includes Stewart, who has a good handle on deer numbers despite admitting "we don't know in actual numbers."

What he does know is that as the annual deer harvest increases, so does the deer damage to state park ecosystems and private property, along with vehicle-deer collision reports.

So the state once again turns primarily to hunters for help.

The DNR got advice from members of organizations who understand the problem, including the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Indiana Sportsman's Roundtable, Indiana Bow Hunters Association, Indiana Deer Hunters Association, Indiana Farm Bureau, The Nature Conservancy, Quality Deer Management Association, Indiana Woodland Owner's Association and the DNR's fish and wildlife and law enforcement divisions.

The department also consulted sporting goods retailers and solicited advice from individual hunters through a survey that was posted on its free wild bulletin online site.

The survey left little doubt that there would be changes. It stated that the DNR's fish and wildlife division would use the information it gathered to gauge interest in season structure and equipment use "for upcoming changes" to the deer season.

So where is the fly in this ointment?

The hunters I talked with said they are not interested in killing more deer; their freezers are filled with deer meat. Nor are they interested in harvesting deer for deer donation programs.

Source: IndyStar

WISCONSIN NEWS: New Hunt Structure Aims to Increase Deer

2010-04-29T11:14:00.001-04:00

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved a fall deer hunt structure on Wednesday aimed at increasing the antlerless deer population.

Hunters will be allowed to kill only bucks in 18 management zones, instead of the previous 13 zones. The board also reduced the number of zones with antlerless-only herd control hunts from 50 last year to 46 this fall.

Hunters recently complained DNR strategies to control herds have actually depleted the population and endangered the sport of hunting.

DNR officials are optimistic that the new structure will increase the overall population. The board voted 6-1 to approve the measure at its meeting in Green Bay on Wednesday.

Source: WKOW

NEVADA NEWS: Mule Deer Declining, Predators Targeted, Biologists Ignored

2010-04-19T10:14:00.001-04:00

Declining western deer herds have biologists, sportsman groups and environmentalists clashing over whether mountain lions and coyotes are largely to blame and should pay with their lives.

On one side are those who believe the number of deer predators should be reduced through targeted hunting programs. Others say factors such as the loss of natural habitat and wildfires are the issue.

It's an emotional debate, says Jim Heffelfinger, regional game specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

"The scenario plays out in just about every state, Heffelfinger says. "When these things flare up, they're white hot."

That's the case now in Nevada, where the issue of killing lions and coyotes that prey on deer has state Department of Wildlife officials at odds with a governor-appointed commission that oversees them.

Nevada's mule deer numbered about 106,000 in 2009, down from a high of 240,000 in 1988, according to state estimates. Mule deer, characterized by their large, mule-like ears, are common throughout the western United States.

"We've got a war going on," says Cecil Fredi, president of Hunter's Alert, one of two hunters groups that petitioned the Nevada Wildlife Commission to approve three predator-control projects last December. It did so against the advice of department Director Ken Mayer and his biologists, who said killing mountain lions and coyotes was not scientifically justified.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, which has the final say, refused to proceed. Doing so without full support of state wildlife officials would put them in an "untenable position," says Jeff Green, director of the western region for Wildlife Services.

State biologists say the deer's troubles are not due to predators but to continuing loss of habitat from development, wildfire and invading non-native grasses.

Tony Wasley, Nevada's mule deer specialist, says when lack of habitat is the problem, "all the predator control in the world won't result in any benefit."

Gerald Lent, chairman of the Nevada Wildlife Commission, says predators are an important part of Nevada's mule deer problems and addressing them is "long overdue."

The issue is also heating up in Arizona and Oregon. Arizona's mule deer number about 120,000, half the size of the herd in 1986, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Oregon's mule deer numbered 216,154 in 2009, down from 256,000 in 1990, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Duane Dungannon, state coordinator of the Oregon Hunters Association, says that even though mountain lion hunting is allowed year-round, "it's not even putting a dent in the state's cougar population."

"It's no longer that uncommon to bump into a cougar when you're deer or elk hunting, but it's becoming more uncommon to run into a deer or elk," he says.

Brooks Fahy, executive director of the non-profit Predator Defense, based in Eugene, Ore., worries the state's cougar population is "crashing" because of year-round hunting.

Source: USA Today

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: WMI Audit Complete, Transparency Sought

2010-04-18T14:29:00.001-04:00

A scientific review designed to deflate some of the controversy over the management of deer in Pennsylvania may instead promote it.

The Wildlife Management Institute recently completed a review of the Game Commission's methods for managing deer in the state. It was largely complimentary.

Scot Williamson, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based institute, told members of the General Assembly's Legislative Budget and Finance Committee Tuesday at the state Capitol that the commission's deer program is "scientifically sound" and based on a "credible model."

"But there is room for continuous improvement," he said.

It was one of his team's recommendations for making things better that has already sparked lots of debate.

Williamson pointed out that Game Commission biologists have been estimating deer populations both statewide and within each of the state's 22 wildlife management units. They have not been making those numbers public, however.

He suggested that needs to change.

Keeping the numbers hidden "has weakened the trust placed in the Pennsylvania Game Commission by the public and has affected the agency's credibility."

Carl Roe, the commission's executive director, defended the agency's practice of staying away from numbers.

For decades, the commission estimated deer populations and released those to the public. That did nothing to eliminate controversy over whether the number of deer in the wild fit the available habitat, he said.

That's why the commission has more recently tried to get hunters and others to look at deer impacts rather than deer numbers alone, he said.

"In reality, that actual estimate is irrelevant to (the deer herd's) effect," Roe said.

"We trained (hunters) to look at deer numbers per square mile. We're trying to shift that to get them to look at forest regeneration.

That's all well and good, said state Rep. Dave Levdansky, the Allegheny County legislator who requested this deer audit be done. But he said the commission should share its deer population estimates, too.

"That's like saying it's important to know whether the balance on my credit card is going up or down over time, but not what the actual balance on my American Express is," Levdansky said. "No, I think they're both important."

Regardless of whether the state talks about deer in terms of numbers or impacts, though, the question of whether the deer herd is the right size figures to go on.

The audit points out that the state's deer herd has been reduced by 25 percent since 2002. Rep. Bob Godshall, a Montgomery County Republican, said Tuesday he thinks most hunters would say the herd's been shrunk considerably more than that.

He called the reduction "the decimation" of the deer population.

Yet Bill Healy, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research biologist who collaborated on the report, said problems with forest regeneration — which has many causes — can only be addressed when deer are in balance with their food supply, and Pennsylvania may not be at that point yet.

"A 25 percent reduction looks like a big change. But it may not be quite enough," Healy said.

Deer recommendations

The Wildlife Management Institute's audit of the Game Commission's deer program called for some change. Its recommendations include:

» Discontinuing its use of counting deer embryos to measure deer health. That can work, but only if the commission were able to collect far more embryos than it is now.

» Expanding the monitoring of forest conditions to determine whether the deer program is leading to more forest regeneration.

» Refine its citizens advisory committees to include more non-hunters and/or have the committee on a statewide basis.

» Counting deer taken in the red tag, DMAP and urban deer programs more fully in its harvest totals.

Source: Pittsburgh Live

MICHIGAN NEWS: Judge Overturns Deer Feeding Ban

2010-04-12T16:10:00.001-04:00

An Otsego County judge overturned Michigan's ban on baiting or feeding deer and elk in the Lower Peninsula.

The decision came after state wildlife officials charged a rural Gaylord man with illegally feeding deer from his multiple bird feeders. Ken Borton fought the charge and this week 87th District Court Judge Patricia Morse threw out the case against him and struck down the ban.

Borton said he didn't expect the law to be voided altogether.

"That's not what I was going after. All I wanted was to feed my birds. I'm shocked," Borton said.

The case began when some viewers of Borton's Web site, www.snowmancam.com, reported to the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment that deer ate around the bird feeders where he trained his digital video camera. State officials twice cited Borton for violating the feeding and baiting ban, enacted two years ago after a penned deer in Kent County tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

Officials told Borton to scoop up empty seed casings daily from around his bird feeders to be in compliance with the law.

Morse instead voided the law as "unconstitutionally vague."

"The statute as drafted gives no guidance as to where and how to exclude wild animals from foraging near bird feeders. It leaves too much room for selective enforcement. It allows fact finders to rely on subjective criteria to determine criminal liability," Morse wrote in her ruling.

Dean Molnar, DNRE law enforcement assistant chief, declined to comment on Morse's ruling, as did spokeswoman Mary Dettloff.

"We have no comment at this time. We're reviewing the opinion," said Dettloff.

She did discuss reasons for the ban.

"The ban was put in place in the Lower Peninsula because of the discovery of chronic wasting disease in Kent County in 2008. We followed the state emergency response plan for chronic wasting disease, which was approved by the Natural Resources Commission and the state Commission of Agriculture," Dettloff said.

Ryan Ratajczak, president of the Northwest Michigan chapter of the Quality Deer Management Association, said his group supported the baiting and feeding ban. He's curious about the impact of Morse's ruling.

"I'm wondering how that works now. I think it was justified at the time. They had the plan in place," Ratajczak said. "I think the biggest issue is making sure we've contained CWD."

Ratajczak said he didn't object to allowing hunters to bait, but he'd prefer the decision be made by state wildlife biologists and not lawyers and judges.

Others hailed the court's decision.

"How can we justify spending time investigating a man feeding birds and prosecuting him?" said Zack Cox, owner of the Natural Farm Products store on M-66, south of Kalkaska.

Cox has long sold carrots, corn and sugar beets used by farmers for their livestock or by hunters to bait deer. He always questioned the state's baiting ban and said he's "very pleased" Morse threw it out.

"There's no logic to it. What's the difference between a deer eating at an apple tree or at a small pile of corn feed?" Cox said.

Source: Traverse City Record Eagle

RESEARCH NEWS: Gaps Made By Matriarchial Group Removal Do Not Last in High Deer Density Populations

2010-04-08T18:12:00.003-04:00

Commentary on Miller et al. (2010). Tests of localized deer management for reducing deer browsing in forest regeneration areas. Journal of Wildlife Management 74: 370-378.

Managing deer on very small spatial scales has traditionally been problematic, but efforts to remove matriarchal social groups of deer may hold promise for reducing browsing impacts for 10-15 years. This could possibly create a spatial hole in the deer population, thereby allowing a sufficient window-of-opportunity for regeneration. The effectiveness of this approach depends on how accurately the "rose petal hypothesis" actually characterizes population expansion. The rose petal theory suggests that within a group, matriarchal does are located near the center and younger individuals establish home ranges that overlap radiating outward. In other words, removing matriarchal social groups will only work if deer exhibit low female dispersal distances, high female survival rates, and high philopatry.

Miller et al. tested the rose petal hypothesis in Randolph County, West Virginia (eastern North American deciduous forest). Deer densities were considered high (and in excess of sustainable numbers), estimated at 12-20 per square km, with a very skewed ratio typical of traditionally exploited deer populations (6-15 males: 100 females).

The authors first collected movement data (via telemetry) on 224 animals. A social group was identified and targeted for removal in a 1.1 square km area in 2002. A total of 51 deer were removed, 39 were female. This was estimated to be 80% of the animals in the 1.1 square km target area. Vegetation monitoring consisted of examining browsable units and actual browsing on tree regeneration. A second removal was conducted in 2005, with 26 of 31 removals being females.

After the 2002 removal, browsing dropped from 15% to 5% after removal and persisted at this level for 3 years. Telemetry data indicated that deer from surrounding areas did gradually shift their home range and fill in the void. Animals removed in 2005 were not closely related genetically to the 2002 removal group.

The authors were not sanguine about the effectiveness of this approach. It did provide a short-term benefit to the vegetation, but the duration of the benefit was brief and unlikely to translate to increased regeneration.

INDIANA NEWS: City Creates Community Deer Task Force

2010-04-08T13:45:00.002-04:00

Involving the community at the earliest stages is smart politically. It fosters civic engagement and shares the burden of responsibility of decisions.

A southern Indiana city is looking for ways to deal with worries over more deer showing up in urban and suburban areas.

The Bloomington City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved creating a community deer task force following complaints from residents that the animals pose a safety risk.

Councilman Dave Rollo says he hopes the group will present its recommendations by September.

In September, a petition with 500 signatures was presented to City Council members and Monroe County commissioners asking them to create the task force.

Source: WTHR

UK NEWS: Deer-Vehicle Collsions Number 74,000 Per Year

2010-04-06T12:53:00.001-04:00

The soaring numbers of wild deer are causing havoc on Britain's roads, devastating ancient woodlands and ruining gardens, wildlife experts warned yesterday.

Conservationists say the UK's deer population has doubled since the 1970s and is now close to 2million - a level not seen since the time of the Norman Conquest.

According to new figures from the National Deer Collisions Project, the animals cause 74,000 road accidents each year - and kill up to a dozen drivers and passengers.

Yesterday, Dr Jochen Langbein, co-ordinator of the project, warned that the number of accidents would rise unless the creatures were better controlled.

He said 100 people are injured and up to 12 killed each year when deer run into roads.

Last month an inquest heard how a father of two died when a deer crashed through his windscreen. The animal had been hit by another vehicle near Basingstoke, Hampshire, pushing it into the path of his van.

Insurers pay out around £15million a year to repair cars hit by the animals.

The worst accident blackspots are in the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex where more than 300 deer are hit by cars each year.

Accidents involving the animals are often serious because they leap up if they are startled while crossing roads. Some scientists believe they see beams from headlights as solid objects and try to jump over them - ending up crashing into windscreens.

Since the 1970s deer numbers have been rising by three to five per cent a year, and most conservationists agree that 30 per cent of deer have to be shot each year to stop numbers going up.

The muntjac species is a particular nuisance.

Just 20 inches tall, they breed all year round and can be a massive pest for gardeners.

Source: Daily Mail

ILLINOIS NEWS: Forest Preserve Considers Public Deer Hunting

2010-04-02T16:11:00.002-04:00

This fall, the Will County Forest Preserve District may become the first in Illinois to allow public hunting on its land.

It's part of a proposed program to bring the deer population down to a healthy level for both the animals and nature, forest preserve officials said.

"We're the first to allow public hunting, but we're the only one not doing any culling," forest preserve district executive director Marcy DeMauro said. "The deer are everywhere."

Before final approval of the deer management program in May, the forest preserve district will hold three meetings to discuss it, including one from 5 to 8 p.m. April 13 at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center, McKinley Woods, 25055 W. Walnut Lane, Channahon.

The lack of a previous management program coupled with the urbanization of the county have resulted in deer counts as high as 153 per square mile in Channahon's McKinley Woods. An "acceptable" level is 20 per square mile, officials said.

"All preserves have more deer than can naturally be sustained. We have no choice but to cull the herds," forest preserve board president Cory Singer said. "There is no other reasonable option to consider. Our primary responsibility is to manage and maintain public lands. We have to employ deer management practices. It would be irresponsible not to."

Other options, such as deer repellent, fencing, fertility control and relocation either are too expensive or ineffective, according to forest preserve district research.

Public hunting will be a "small part of the solution," Singer said. A limited number of permits could be issued by a lottery because officials expect high interest from local hunters. Permit fees have yet to be determined.

As in other forest preserves, most herds will be thinned out by sharpshooters - police and trained volunteers who will trap and shoot the deer at night. The meat will be butchered and donated to organizations to feed the hungry.

DeMauro said there would be specified seasons for hunting. Those using firearms would have two three-day sessions in November and December. Archery would be permitted from Oct. 1 through mid-January.

In some areas, trails and preserves would be closed to the public during hunting season, Singer said.

In developing the new deer management program, the forest preserve district must follow the requirements of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Sharpshooting only is allowed in areas with more than 30 acres with a 100-yard buffer from adjacent property owners. Archery and firearms can be used on sites of 70 acres or more, but firearms require a 300-yard buffer. All sites must be fully or partially owned by the forest preserve district.

According to these criteria, 16 sites are suitable for sharpshooting, 14 for archery and eight for firearms, DeMauro said, but it is likely not all will be used.

Singer hopes a successful hunting program will lead to more new programs such as hunting opportunities for youth and people with disabilities and gun safety classes.

Source: Plainfield Sun

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: 308,920 Deer Harvested in 2009-10

2010-03-23T12:00:00.001-04:00

Erie hunter Tim Weaver said he saw plenty of big bucks this past hunting season.

But figures released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on Monday suggest fewer deer overall are being harvested.

Hunters in Pennsylvania killed an estimated 27,000 fewer deer in the 2009-10 seasons than they did a year earlier.

Game Commission figures show the drop was even more significant in northwestern Pennsylvania, where Weaver shot a 10-point Dec. 28 in McKean Township during the flintlock season.

Weaver said the deer he harvested was with five other bucks. Three of them were legal size, including his, meaning they had at least eight points.

The Game Commission's management plan was designed to put more mature antlered deer in the field by limiting the harvest of yearling bucks. It has drawn support from some hunters and criticism from others who believe the state's deer herd has declined.

"It was one of the best years we've ever had hunting," said Weaver, 46. "I would imagine it depends on who you talk to. The guys I hunt with are after trophy-sized deer, so it's been great for us. But if you talk to someone who's strictly a meat hunter, they might say it's been terrible."

The Game Commission's estimates, based on harvest tags returned by hunters and field and processor reports, show a statewide harvest estimate of 308,920 deer, an 8 percent decline from the 335,850 killed in 2008-09.

The commission said hunters killed 108,330 antlered deer, down 12 percent from the 122,410 killed in 2008-09, and 200,590 antlerless deer. Hunters killed 213,440 antlerless deer in 2008-09.

In Wildlife Management Unit 1B, which includes all of Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Warren and Venango counties, hunters killed 5,100 antlered deer, a 32 percent drop from the 2008-09 estimate of 7,500. There were 9,500 antlerless deer killed, down from 13,400 in 2008-09 -- a 29 percent decline.

Cambridge Springs resident Dan Young, 34, said he saw far fewer antlerless deer last season and fewer deer overall, but more mature bucks.

"I did find a lot of dead bucks in the woods that weren't legal size," said Young, who primarily hunts during the archery season. "I saw a lot of six-points, which tells me someone shot them and realized they were too small, so they left them there."

Source: GoErie

DELAWARE NEWS: State Restructuring Deer Management for Population Control

2010-03-23T09:54:00.001-04:00

By introducing new population-control measures and recruiting non-traditional hunters, state officials hope to reduce agricultural and property damage caused by white-tailed deer.

The state's first long-term deer management plan, which officials say will be finalized in April, could allow the use of crossbows during archery season, reduce the antler width limit to 14 inches and require unlicensed hunters to obtain a free identification number.

"Hunting is the most cost-effective tool we have to help control the deer population," said Joe Rogerson, a large mammal biologist at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Division of Fish and Wildlife.

According to Rogerson, the number of hunters purchasing licenses has dropped from about 30,000 in 1975 to 18,000 last year.

"If the declining trend continues, we may not have enough hunters to help control the deer population," he said. "That's why we have to recruit new hunters..."

Many of the proposals in the plan, including those that will be discussed at a March 25 public hearing, are designed to encourage more involvement in hunting, he said.

Although many of those who would turn out for a crossbow season would be existing hunters, Rogerson said its use has led to larger harvests in neighboring states. He believes it will also encourage hunters who had retired from the sport to return.

"It could help older folks who aren't able to draw a bow out like they used to," he said.

The proposal to reduce the antler size restriction came after biological data indicated more fawns and younger deer were making it to adulthood, Rogerson said, adding that the identification number will help better track hunters who aren't required to obtain licenses.

The 10-year-plan also calls for the recruitment of young hunters and those in non-traditional groups, such as nature enthusiasts who also spend time in the forests, he said.

Charles Steele, owner of Steele's Gun Shop in Lewes, said most hunters are satisfied with the existing rules, but expanding hunting could be a good thing.

"Anything you can do to make the sport better and limit the amount of car crashes with deer would be great," he said.

Source: Delmarvanow

NEBRASKA NEWS: Antlerless Season Extended in Effort To Reduce Population

2010-03-19T16:31:00.002-04:00

Nebraska's deer population has increased about tenfold in the last 40 years. This has brought the usual complaints from farmers and drivers. Now Nebraska is proposing some deer season changes in an effort to reduce the state's deer population size. The key provisions:

Nebraska Game and Parks officials have adopted a new set of regulations designed to help cut Nebraska's plentiful supply of white-tailed deer.

Among others changes approved Friday by the commissioners at their meeting in Lincoln, they expanded the October antlerless season to 10 days from three and increased the hunting area.

Commissioners also lengthened the January antlerless season to 24 days from 15.

If there are enough hunters in the woods and fields and they are supportive of this direction, the policy change will likely be effective in moving the deer population in the desired direction.

Source: Nebraska TV

NORTH DAKOTA NEWS: Deer Tests Positive for CWD

2010-03-17T17:42:00.001-04:00

A sick-looking mule deer taken last fall in western Sioux County of southwestern North Dakota has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials were notified of the diagnosis this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services. It marks the first time CWD has been detected in a North Dakota animal.

Dr. Dan Grove, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said a hunter in Unit 3F2 shot an adult buck that did not appear to be healthy.

“As we do with our targeted surveillance efforts, we collected the sample to test for CWD and bovine tuberculosis,” Grove said in a news release.

The Game and Fish Department’s targeted surveillance program is an ongoing, year-round effort that tests animals found dead or sick.

“We have been constantly monitoring and enhancing our surveillance efforts for CWD because of its presence in bordering states and provinces,” said Greg Link, assistant wildlife division chief for Game and Fish in Bismarck.

In addition to targeted surveillance, the department annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In January, more than 3,000 targeted and hunter-harvested samples were sent to a lab in Minnesota. As of today, about two-thirds of the samples had been tested, with the one positive result. The remaining samples will be tested over the next month.

Link said monitoring efforts have intensified in recent years, and all units have been completed twice throughout the entire state.

“The deer population in Unit 3F2 is above management goals, and hunter pressure will continue to be put on the population in that unit again this fall,” Link said. “We are going to be aggressive with licenses and disease surveillance in that unit.”

Since the department’s sampling efforts began in 2002, more than 14,000 deer, elk and moose have tested negative for CWD.

CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.

Source: Grand Forks Herald

RESEARCH NEWS: Coyotes Not Decimating Pennsylvania Deer

2010-03-16T12:04:00.002-04:00

It’s a question that has captured the imagination of Keystone State deer hunters and wildlife lovers: Has increased predation on helpless deer fawns by an growing population of Eastern coyotes resulted in dwindling whitetail numbers across Pennsylvania’s rugged northern reaches? The answer is no, according to a deer researcher in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

“It’s a cruel world out there for wildlife,” said Duane Diefenbach, adjunct professor of wildlife ecology and leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit housed in the college’s School of Forest Resources, “but it’s no crueler in Pennsylvania than other states.”

There is no question the coyote population has grown dramatically in the Northeast in recent decades, he said, and everyone agrees that coyotes do prey on fawns, “but our data tell us that coyote predation is not an issue in Pennsylvania.”

Diefenbach should know. Nationally recognized for his deer research, he has been involved in all the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer studies since 2000, overseeing a groundbreaking fawn-mortality study completed in 2002. For the last decade he and his students have been monitoring hundreds of deer they captured and fitted with radio collars, about 3,000 in total, carefully documenting the animals’ movements, behavior and fates.

“Significantly, very, very few adult deer in our studies have succumbed to predation from coyotes, bears or anything else,” he said. “We now know that in this state, once a deer reaches about 12 months of age, the only significant mortal dangers it faces are getting hit by a car or being harvested by a hunter. By far, most of the time when a coyote eats venison, it is from a road-killed animal, or from a deer that was wounded by a hunter but not retrieved.”

We know fawns often are killed and eaten by coyotes and bears, Diefenbach said, but that has always been the case.

“When we monitored more than 200 radio-collared fawns from 2000 to 2002, the survival rates of fawns in Pennsylvania were similar to what was previously found in Maine, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and New Brunswick, Canada,” he said. “Our research has shown that overall mortality here is not extraordinary.”

About 50 percent of fawns make it to six months of age, Diefenbach said.

“The general pattern in Pennsylvania and in other states and provinces is that we have seen slightly higher fawn survival rates in agricultural areas because there is less predation, and in forested habitats we see slightly lower survival rates.”

According to Diefenbach, the literature shows that fawn survival for the first year of life in forested landscapes is about 25 percent.

“Our work showed that Pennsylvania came in at about 28 percent,” he said. “Our research also showed that fawns in Pennsylvania agricultural landscapes have a 52 percent survival rate.”

Some people have encouraged the Game Commission to implement a study of fawn predation by coyotes, but Diefenbach contends that it is not needed.

“I know this may be an unpopular view, but it is not readily apparent to me how another study on fawn mortality will help us better manage deer,” he said. “Our 2000-to-2002 fawn study showed that fawn-predation rates were normal here, and I don’t have any evidence that anything has changed since then — no available data, such as changes in hunter-success rates in harvesting deer, suggest that coyote predation is increasing. If it is, then hunters should be harvesting fewer young deer, and we are not seeing that.”

Diefenbach points to information contained in recent years’ deer-hunter harvests that show fawn predation is not growing at an alarming rate.

“The fawn component of the hunter harvest — typically about 40 percent of antlerless deer killed by hunters — has remained largely unchanged for many years. If fewer fawns were surviving because of increased coyote predation, they would not be available to hunters.”

Still, Diefenbach understands the emotional reaction of hunters and wildlife lovers to fawns being killed and eaten by predators such as coyotes, and he said that continuing deer research conducted by his unit at Penn State is examining fawn numbers and survival.

“Peoples’ natural reaction to hearing and seeing coyotes, and knowing that they are everywhere in Pennsylvania, is to wonder how many fawns they kill,” he said, “but I don’t know what we would learn if we conducted another fawn-survival study, especially because of what we already know about deer-coyote ecology. I am advising a graduate student right now who is evaluating the assumptions and methods that we use to track and monitor deer-population trends in this state. His research is focused on the validity of the model we use to manage deer. All of his work done so far — both in the field and with computer simulations — doesn’t show any evidence of a decline in deer numbers because we are not recruiting fawns into the population.”

Source: GantDaily

WISCONSIN NEWS: No Urban Hunt for Winona Public Lands

2010-03-16T11:58:00.003-04:00

Deer hunting will not be expanded inside the city after a Winona City Council vote Monday night.

Council members voted 4-3 against expanding hunting to publicly owned lands, ending the latest round of debate over a topic that has spurred strong reactions from residents both in favor and against the proposal.

Mayor Jerry Miller and council members Tim Breza, Gerry Krage and George Borzyskowski voted for the motion to deny expanding hunting, while council members Debbie White, Deb Salyards and Al Thurley voted against that motion.

Breza previously advocated for the expansion, but made the motion against it Monday because of the divisions over the issue, he said.

"To go forward with a hunt at this time, I think, is counter-productive," he said, calling it a "lose-lose situation."

Hunting, by bow or shotgun, is already allowed on agriculturally zoned lands in Winona, but an ordinance specifically prohibits the use of bow and arrows on publicly owned lands. That restriction affects conservancy-zoned areas of Winona, including much of the blufflands facing the Mississippi River, and council members have previously discussed lifting that constraint.

Council members heard impassioned pleas from residents on both sides of the issue during a public hearing last month. That public involvement spilled over into Monday night's meeting, with Miller saying he had received one petition in favor of the hunt signed by 67 residents and another citizen presenting a survey he helped conduct in which about 65 percent of respondents were against it.

Several council members spoke in favor of asking city staff to work on an ordinance that would have allowed hunting on city-owned lands.

"Other cities have done this for many, many years," White said. "There is an issue. There is a problem."

But no motion to pursue an ordinance was offered, and the motion denying it passed.

Source: Winona Daily News

UTAH NEWS: CWD Detected in Elk

2010-03-12T10:04:00.001-05:00

The first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in an Utah elk has been confirmed by state wildlife officials.

Lymph nodes from 1,400 animals -- the bulk of them mule deer and elk, but also some moose -- were collected last fall during the hunting seasons.

Results from Utah State University were returned to Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials recently. Five of the mule deer samples came back as positive for CWD,
a fatal and transmissible neurological disease.

One of the 300 elk samples also came back positive. None of the moose tests showed signs of CWD. The positive elk sample came from a cow elk taken in the La Sal Mountains east of Moab.

"It was not really a surprise," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease specialist with the DWR. "It came from an area where we have the highest prevalence of CWD in deer in the state. Elk do not have a high prevalence of the disease."

Thirty-four of the 48 cases of CWD infected deer have come from the La Sals. Another hot spot for CWD in deer is south and east of Mount Nebo in central Utah where seven, including two this year, have originated.

McFarlane said all but one of the positive samples came from animals killed by hunters. The other was a sickly-looking deer reported by the public on the La Sals.

None of the moose samples came back positive. There was some fear that it could have spread into northern Utah after a cow moose in southwestern Wyoming showed up positive in the fall of 2008.

There have been few developments in research or preventing the spread of CWD in the last year and McFarlane said the state wildlife agency is sticking with its position on the threat to people.

"There is no connection of any kind with human health issues," she said. However, McFarlane and the agency still encourages people to avoid eating any big game animals that appear sick and to use caution when handling animals in the field.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

MARYLAND NEWS: Deer Can Be Destructive Indoors, Too

2010-03-09T09:36:00.000-05:00

So you're sitting in your home on a quiet Sunday afternoon, when all of a sudden a thunderous roar erupts. You get up to find that two deer have smashed through your front door. One is stuck in the door and the other is now in a tornadic tantrum in your living room.

This was the reality for WTOP staffer Pat Puglisi at his home in Damascus Sunday.

"Suddenly, there was a noise that sounded like the roof came off the house," recalls Puglisi.

"Debris was flying, chairs were coming apart, pots and pans were crashing. It was clear that these two deer had hit my front door like a SWAT team."

Scrambling to make sense of the situation, Puglisi was finally able to usher one deer out another door. The other deer stuck in the glass of the front door was seriously hurt and eventually put down by police.

Traumatic experience? You bet. Costly, too. But as it turns out, this sort of thing is not all that uncommon, especially considering what the deer population looks like in Maryland right now.

"Generally, if you have 20 to 30 deer per square mile, most people can live with that," says Brian Eyler, deer project leader for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.

"However, right now, in some urban and suburban areas there are 80 to 100 deer per square mile."

The main reason for the population explosion? A lack of predators.

"Humans are pretty much the only predator left when it comes to deer," says Eyler.

"Suburban developments are very good deer habitats -- but a lot of times, hunting is out of the picture. So if you take hunting out of the equation, there's nothing left to control the population."

Eyler says the average deer sets up a "home range" in square miles that is not all that expansive. When there are offspring, those deer also will set up a home range -- often overlapping the original area. Without any predator, the deer survive, thrive and multiply.

State Farm Insurance estimates that every year, about 25,000 accidents on Maryland roads are caused by deer.

Source: WTOP

MISSOURI NEWS: CWD Detected in Captive Deer Population

2010-03-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

The Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services and USDA announced Feb. 25 that a captive white-tailed deer in Linn County has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose.
"There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans," said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. "We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations."

The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the state's CWD surveillance and testing program. The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa conducted preliminary tests.

Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri's departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.

CWD is transmitted by animal-to-animal contact or soil-to-animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.

"Missouri's proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago are proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow pre-established steps to ensure Missouri's valuable whitetail deer resource remains healthy and strong," said Jason Sumners Missouri's deer biologist.

Source: Missouri Ruralist

OHIO NEWS: 2009 Record Deer Harvest

2010-03-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

The numbers are in, and they're big.

It was a highly successful year for Ohio whitetail deer hunters as a record 261,314 deer were harvested.

The total breaks last year's harvest of just over 252,000, and continues the state's steady rise in deer kills. In 2003, hunters took just under 198,000 deer, and 10 years prior to that, the total was 138,752.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife went into the hunting season with the goal of providing more opportunities and reducing the number of does, and while the state hasn't released the breakdown of does vs. bucks, it's safe to say Ohioans certainly had their "opportunity" to take a whitetail this year.

"Ohio deer hunters had another great year and continue to play a vital role in managing Ohio's deer herd. They've embraced regulation changes which increased the harvest of antlerless deer and they've donated a significant amount of venison to feed the less fortunate in Ohio through the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry program," said David M. Graham, chief of the Division of Wildlife.

The deer gun season resulted in the greatest portion of the overall harvest with 114,281 deer taken. Archery hunters took a total of 91,521. Deer killed during the early muzzleloader season (491), at controlled hunts (690), youth-gun season (9,270), the extra deer gun weekend (20,054), and the statewide muzzleloader season (25,007) added to the overall total.

Source: The Daily Record

SCOTLAND NEWS: Wildlife Trust Calls for Deer Cull

2010-03-01T09:43:00.002-05:00

A conservation charity has called for the annual cull of deer in Scotland to continue because large numbers of the animals are starving to death.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust said the harsh winter had left many deer suffering through lack of food.

It wants them culled to prevent "inhumane suffering" and further damage to Scotland's environment caused by large deer populations.

The stalking period for female deer in Scotland ended on 15 February.

The charity said deer numbers in Scotland had reached record levels due to the absence of natural predators.

Together, the population of the country's two native species, the red deer and the roe deer, total more than 350,000 - about double the numbers recorded 50 years ago.
Simon Milne, SWT's chief executive, said: "We are a wildlife protection charity calling for more deer to be culled.

"I understand that this might surprise some people, but our reasoning is sound.

"Red deer numbers have been steadily increasing in recent decades to the point where, in some areas, they are causing damage to the natural environment."

Mr Milne said the animals were facing a "double whammy" because they were competing for limited food and also had to contend with prolonged wintery weather.

He added: "Red deer are really a woodland species and the now treeless environment of many parts of Scotland simply does not satisfy their basic need for shelter, particularly in bad weather.

"Too many deer and not enough food is resulting in starvation."

Source: BBC

NEBRASKA NEWS: Extended Season Proposed

2010-02-19T10:29:00.000-05:00

Officials are proposing an extra season to help cut Nebraska's plentiful supply of deer.

If approved by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, an Oct. 2-11 season would be in addition to the November firearms season.

Farmers have been complaining about damage to their crops by voracious deer, and collisions with deer remain a big concern along Nebraska roadways.

Kit Hams of the Game and Parks commission says biologists want to cut eastern Nebraska's whitetail population by a quarter.

The Oct. 2-11 season would be limited to female deer and would be open to about two-thirds of the state. Any legal weapon could be used, including rifles.

The proposed season will be considered by the commissioners at their March 19 meeting in Lincoln.

Source: Nebraska.TV

MARYLAND NEWS: Record Deer Harvest in 2009, Toppling 2008 Record

2010-02-19T10:25:00.001-05:00

Maryland wildlife managers say the weak economy has led to a record-high deer harvest for the second straight year. The Department of Natural Resources said Thursday that hunters killed 100,663 white-tailed and sika deer in the 2009-2010 season. That's 226 more than the previous season. Deer Project Leader Brian Eyler said that in a weak economy, hunters try to put more venison in the freezer. - Associated Press

Source: Baltimore Sun

INDIANA NEWS: Record Deer Harvest in 2009

2010-02-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

State wildlife officials say Indiana deer hunters set a record harvest in 2009 by killing more than 130,000 deer.

Reports submitted from 453 check stations across Indiana placed the 2009 total at 132,752 deer. That's more than 3,000, or 2 percent, above the 2008 harvest of 129,748. That was the previous record.

Department of Natural Resources deer management biologist Chad Stewart says deer hunting license sales have increased for the last couple of years. He says people may have more time to hunt because of high unemployment.

Source: Indianapolis Star

OHIO NEWS: Broadview Heights Approves Deer Hunt

2010-02-17T14:35:00.002-05:00

After months of debate and discussion among council and residents, a deer hunting decision has finally been made.

The ordinance passed 4-3 Tuesday, with council members Helen Dunlap, Tom Pavlica, Roy
Stewart and George Stelmaschuk voting for the ordinance. Against the ordinance were Robert Boldt, Jennifer Mahnic and Joe Price.

The proposed ordinance was first viewed in a Rules, Ordinances and Franchise Committee meeting back in December, but the issue has been discussed in several forms in years past.

Because of numerous changes over the course of two months that the ordinance was discussed, members of council were able to suggest amendments to sections.

Amendments made include limiting hunting to only one parcel of land of at least 5 acres, with no special circumstances allowed. The declaring an emergency clause was also taken out.

Councilman at-large Joe Price attempted to remove allowing crossbows, but no other council person seconded that motion.

Residents flocked to Tuesday’s meeting to speak before a decision was made, with a few speaking after.

Tish O’Dell, of McCreary Road referenced the petition on broadview-deer.com, stating there are more than 150 signatures listed of those residents against the ordinance.

The main purpose of the petition is to put the vote to a ballot so that the majority of residents could be heard.

“I think bow hunting is an inhumane way to address this issue,” said Kathy Bianchi of
Thackeray Court. “It’s opening up a terrible can of worms...(pinning) neighbor against neighbor.”

The mayor said in a previous work session that the e-mails he was receiving on the legislation were 60/40 against the ordinance. Both sides were present Tuesday.

“The deer come right up to the windows at night,” said Roger Brain, of McCreary Road. “If you look at the deer population, those deer can reproduce in nine months. If you think you have a problem now, wait four to five years.”

After the decision was made, Council President Helen Dunlap called for a five minute break allowing people to leave if they chose, which nearly cleared the room.

There were residents who chose to stay and compliment council for making a decision.
“I just wanted to thank all of you,” said Steve Kocan of Akins Road. “It maybe didn’t go my way, but I know you gave it some good thought.”

Source: Sun Star Currier

PEER REVIEWED RESEARCH: Limited Benefit of Woody Debris on Regeneration

2010-02-17T10:35:00.003-05:00

Deer can limit forest regeneration following logging. Foresters use woody debris to limit deer browsing impacts to new seedlings; it is one tool of many. The idea is this: woody debris creates a physical barrier that protects seedlings from browsing. It is not 100% effective, but it is thought to boost seedling survival by a few percent. In reforestation, a few percent can mean the difference between regeneration success and regeneration failure.

Kruger and Peterson (2009) investigated this technique in northwestern Pennsylvania. They carefully quantified the size of woody debris--this is seldom done in other studies. They found no benefit of leaving woody debris. Beneath and adjacent to woody debris, they found lower seedling densities. Instead, a recalcitrant understory of ferns developed. They argue that woody debris limits light, and this is more important than browsing. This study contradicts conventional wisdom and some of the published literature.

Woody debris retention works in some places at some times. It seems to me that the benefit of woody debris retention will be influenced to a great extent by context dependence. Kruger and Peterson have conducted a careful study and produced some counter-intuitive results. It is incumbent upon other researchers to see how well these results hold up in other locations.

Source: Kruger, L.M. and C.J. Peterson. 2009. Effects of woody debris and ferns on herb-layer vegetation and deer herbivory in a Pennsylvania forest blowdown. Ecoscience 16: 461-469.

UK NEWS: Cold Weather Killing Deer

2010-02-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

The "big chill" has delayed the arrival of spring flowers by up to one month and threatened thousands of deer with starvation as snow and ice bury the plants on which they survive.

With the Met Office warning of the possibility of icy weather again today, more evidence emerged, if we needed it, of just how the coldest January in years has hit wildlife and gardens at opposite ends of Britain.

Large numbers of red and roe deer are thought to have succumbed to lack of food in Scotland, with several estates having stopped deer shoots, although the annual cull of red deer hinds does not stop until next Monday. The Deer commission for Scotland has advised managers that they should continue with the roe deer cull, which does not end until next month.

One estate official told the BBC: "As the snow melts and people return to the hills, they will find dead deer. There's no doubt about that." Colin McLean, wildlife manager at the Glen Tanar estate on Deeside, added: "The sheer depth of snow has prevented deer getting at their food in certain places, and the frost has frozen the snow and they can't dig through it. It's nature at work."

But the commission said animals should still be shot on welfare grounds. "Natural mortality is an ongoing event, but this year it's going to be much greater than normal because of the weather we have had," said Robbie Kernahan, its director of deer management. "We'd encourage deer managers to get out and make sure they are removing the animals at greatest risk, which are likely to suffer through March and April."

Although this winter has been exceptional, UK spring has been arriving earlier than ever due to climate change. A major study released earlier this month compiled 25,000 records of springtime trends for 726 species of plants, animals, plankton, insects, amphibians, birds and fish across land, sea and freshwater habitats. It analysed them for changes in the timing of lifecycle events, such as egg laying, first flights and flowering, a science known as phenology. The results showed that more than 80% of trends between 1976 and 2005 indicated earlier seasonal events.

There were warnings of more snow, frost and ice today and tomorrow in areas as far apart as northern Scotland, the south-west, central and western England, eastern Wales, and Northern Ireland. But the good news is that spring, when it arrives, should be spectacular, according to the National Trust.

It predicted a riot of colour from the "perfect weather barometers" of its garden plants. The trust has widened its regular flower count from properties in Devon and Cornwall, where UK spring blooms traditionally appear first, to other sites. In the south-west, last year's wet summer and warm autumn put magnolias heavily in bud. So while they may flower late this year, the display will be "fabulous". At Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, the famous snowdrops collections are expected to be in full bloom next week, two to three weeks later than over the past decade.

Ian Wright, the trust's garden adviser in Devon and Cornwall, said that "once it warms up, everything will be blooming at once, rather than over a longer period of time, so we can expect a spectacular spring."

Source: The Guardian

IOWA NEWS: Near Record Deer Harvest in 2009

2010-02-15T09:16:00.001-05:00

Iowa hunters harvested 136,504 deer in 2009, of which, 71,273 were does continuing a five-year trend reducing the size of Iowa’s deer herd.

This harvest is about 5,750 fewer deer than were reported in 2008. Although the totals would likely have been closer with perfect hunting conditions, some decline was not surprising given that there were fewer deer than in 2008.

Tom Litchfield, state deer biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said hunters have done a good job in moving Iowa’s deer herd toward population goals. While he expects the harvest to decrease some in future years, this decrease will be primarily the result of fewer antlerless deer in the harvest.

The recent harvest is one gauge of the deer herd. Others are still underway, including aerial surveys, road killed data and the spring spotlight surveys.

Litchfield said based on the preliminary information, there is potential for reductions of the number of antlerless deer licenses available in about 20 counties in east central, northeast and southeast Iowa. He also said the November antlerless deer season will likely be a thing of the past within two years.

“The bulk of our counties will be at goal within two more years. Counties near Des Moines — Dallas, Madison and Warren — may take longer because we have larger refuge areas to address, and counties in the midwestern part of the state along the Missouri River will likely be last to meet the population objectives,” he said.

“As for the Des Moines area counties and rural subdivisions, we must harvest deer where they are considered a problem and not just in the rural areas in attempts to lower the countywide population. If we can hold a special deer hunt in Waterworks, we can hold one anywhere.”

Surveys in north central and northwest Iowa show deer are concentrated in areas with good habitat, but also show there are areas with very few deer.

“There is less overall habitat in the region. CRP lands, fence rows and groves are being taken out making deer more susceptible. If there is not enough cover in the open country for pheasants, there is not enough for deer,” Litchfield said.

While the size of the deer herd is shrinking, the quality remains exceptional.

“Our deer herds are healthy and we are still producing trophy deer. The deer classic will help as a barometer. Last year, there were about 90 deer that qualified for the Boone and Crockett record book at the event. That was an exceptional year, even for Iowa. And some of the bucks were of proportions that you can’t expect to see every year,” Litchfield said.

Once all the numbers are in, Litchfield said it is important that they review how each season went.

Once a deer herd starts to decline, care needs to be taken because that can get out of hand.

“It’s like sledding down a hill. It’s easy to stop at the top, but if you do not monitor and control your decent, you may find yourself heading towards a place you did not want to go,” he said.

Source: Globe Gazette

MAINE NEWS: Deer Harvest Lowest Since 1930s

2010-02-15T09:14:00.001-05:00

Wildlife officials say hunters killed 18,045 deer in Maine last fall, a 14 percent decline from 2008 and the smallest deer harvest since the 1930s.

Wildlife biologists were projecting a small harvest because the deer herd had shrunk following two straight winters with deep snow packs and cold temperatures.

But two weeks of poor hunting conditions in November drove the numbers even lower than expected.

Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife officials say the deer kill in Maine fell less sharply than it did in the neighboring Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, where the harvest was down more than 30 percent.

Source: Boston.com

MINNESOTA NEWS: State Deer Harvest Down

2010-02-12T11:33:00.001-05:00

Final figures from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources confirm what hunters suspected last fall: The state deer kill was down from 2008.

Hunters took 194,200 whitetails in 2009, about 12 percent fewer than in 2008. The DNR's final figures include archery, firearms and muzzleloader season results.

It was the lowest deer kill since 1999, when hunters took 181,000.

The lower kill was by design, said Lou Cornicelli, DNR big-game program coordinator. After years of high deer numbers and permits, the agency dropped the number of permits last year.

Far fewer antlerless, or doe, permits were allocated, especially in northern Minnesota, because the deer herd there was smaller, Cornicelli said.

Because does are the population engine for a deer herd, DNR managers cut back on those permits last year because the DNR's population goals had been met.

The antlerless deer kill dropped 21 percent last year, compared to 2008, while the buck kill only dropped 1 percent.

It's likely overall permit numbers this fall will remain about the same as last year, although liberal permit numbers will be allowed in southeast Minnesota and north of the Twin Cities where the herd is still large.

"I think in a lot of places, we're where we want to be," Cornicelli said of the deer herd size.

"Most of our high population issues are in the southeast and north metro. And we're still trying to increase the herd in the southwest."

The DNR would like to keep the state's deer kill to a range around 200,000, and not the high levels of 2003-2007, when the deer kill ranged from 291,000 (2003) and 256,000 (2005).

"I think 200,000 might be our deer maintenance harvest," Cornicelli said. "Our polls tell us people view deer hunting about being with family and friends" not a high deer kill, he said.

Archery hunters killed 20,700 deer last year, down 9 percent from 2008. The firearms deer kill was 165,400, down 13 percent, and the muzzleloader kill was 8,100, down 15 percent.

Minnesota hunters killed 99,800 antlerless deer and 94,400 bucks in 2009.

Source: Pioneer Press

NEW JERSEY NEWS: Culls of Hilltop Reservation Begin

2010-02-11T10:34:00.001-05:00

The Essex County 2010 Deer Management Program began at Hilltop Reservation as scheduled on Tuesday, with several deer being culled, or killed, during a hunt conducted by trained marksmen.

"It was very successful this morning," Essex County Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura said of the program on Tuesday afternoon, citing several deer were culled from the reservation.

The management program is scheduled to continue today, as well as on Feb. 16, 18, 23 and 25. The program is also being conducted at Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange on the same dates.

The deer management program at South Mountain Reservation, which began last month, was scheduled to end today. South Mountain Reservation is located in Maplewood, Millburn and West Orange.

The Hilltop includes portions of Verona, Cedar Gove and North Caldwell. The reservation will be closed on those days to ensure the public's safety, said county officials last month.

Fontoura said sections of Fairview Avenue are also being closed on mornings and afternoons as marksmen conduct the management program for safety reasons as well. Parts of Fairview boarder the reservation.

Fontoura said Fairview Avenue will be closed between Durrell Street in Verona and Skytop Road in Cedar Grove as marksmen conduct the program.

Fontoura said Essex County Sheriff's officers are manning the roadblocks on Fairview Avenue, and monitoring the detours these roadblocks are creating through Verona and Cedar Grove.

Fontoura added Verona, Cedar Grove and North Caldwell police officers are also patrolling the area around the reservation and are on call to lend sheriff officers assistance if needed.

During the program, no more than six agents are assigned to cull Hilltop Reservation deer. The program's goal is to remove at least 50 deer from the reservation, but there is no limit to the number they can kill.

Essex County Wildlife Management Consultant Dan Bernier said volunteer, experienced marksmen are using shotguns with telescopic views and slugs to cull the deer. The hunters are shooting from tree stands 20 feet high, so that the only direction they can aim is toward the ground. All of the shooting is taking place during daylight hours.

This is the third year the county is conducting its deer management program. There were 213 deer culled from South Mountain Reservation in 2008 and 83 removed in 2009. A total of 202 unborn deer were also culled from 2008-2009.

This is the first year the program is being conducted at Hilltop and Eagle Rock Reservations.

Last fall, the Verona and Cedar Grove town councils unanimously adopted resolutions endorsing the deer-management program. The towns also signed indemnification agreements with the county, making the county liable for any injury or legal action that might occur during the program.

But those indemnification agreements didn't do much to damper the concerns of a number of area residents who showed up at Verona's last council meeting on Feb. 1 to voice their concerns about the county's deer management program at Hilltop.

One these residents, Valerie Wolfson told township officials many residents are frustrated about the program, and don't understand why the governing body decided to endorse it.

"We who love nature have been ignored," Wolfson told officials at the meeting. "There's a lot of frustration about this. We feel that we have been overlooked, and it's not fair."

Source: NorthJersey.com

MINNESOTA NEWS: Nature Center to Cull Deer

2010-02-11T10:31:00.002-05:00

To the staff at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, trees are an important and expensive part of their 507 acres, but trees are more like candy to the 140 or so deer who roam there. (This is 176 deer per square mile!)

Those apple, oaks, white cedars and maples could see more growth and less snacking if naturalist and nature center director Larry Dolphin gets his way.

Dolphin received permission from the city's parks, recreation and forestry board last week to start work on the first deer hunt at the nature center in six years. The project may come back to the park board for another decision later this year. The Austin City Council will have the final vote.

Source: Post Bulletin

IOWA NEWS: Deer Harvest Down Slightly in 2009

2010-02-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday that hunters harvested fewer deer in the latest season than the previous year, but numbers overall were very good.

Iowa hunters harvested 136,504 deer in 2009, a 5,750 drop over 2008 numbers, officials said.

Officials said the numbers continue a five year trend of reducing the size of Iowa's deer herd.

Source: KCCI

KANSAS NEWS: Shawnee Mission Cull Ends

2010-02-08T09:48:00.001-05:00

The deer harvest has been completed at Shawnee Mission Park, with a total count of 342 deer culled from the herd.

Sharpshooters killed 313 deer, but park officials determined the number did not meet the goal. Archers killed an additional 29 deer in December and January.

Park officials had hoped to reduce the herd to 50 per square mile. However, they said Thursday it appeared they fell short. A deer population survey will be conducted in a few weeks to determine the size of the herd.

Following the sharpshooter phase, a survey estimated that the herd had been reduced to 73 deer per square mile.

Source: Kansas City Star

RESEARCH NEWS: Using Predators To Reverse Deer Impacts

2010-02-02T12:27:00.002-05:00

Researchers writing in the February issue of BioScience propose reintroducing small, managed populations of wolves into national parks and other areas in order to restore damaged ecosystems.

The populations would not be self-sustaining, and may consist of a single pack. But the BioScience authors suggest that even managed populations could bring ecological, educational, recreational, scientific, and economic benefits.

The authors, Daniel S. Licht, of the National Park Service, and four coauthors, note that research in recent years has shown the importance of wolves to ecosystems in which they naturally occur. For example, the presence of wolves usually leads to fewer ungulates, which in turn generally means more plant biomass and biodiversity. Wolves can also increase tourism.

Licht and his coauthors believe that wolves introduced for the purpose of ecosystem stewardship, rather than for the creation of self-sustaining wolf populations, could enhance public understanding and appreciation of the animals. Advances in real-time animal tracking made possible through global positioning system technology, as well as the use of contraception and surgery, could help in controlling the growth of introduced populations. This approach might mitigate concerns about depredation of livestock and game, attacks on pets, and human safety, Licht and colleagues maintain. Fences could also play a role.

Wolves were introduced to Coronation Island, Alaska, for ecosystem restoration in 1960, and they successfully controlled deer there before the wolf population grew and subsequently crashed. Licht and his coauthors suggest that with more intensive management this unfavorable outcome could have been avoided, and that desirable results could be expected at many sites in North America and elsewhere, provided there are sufficient prey.

Source: Science Daily