OHIO NEWS: 2009 Record Deer Harvest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONTANA NEWS: Statewide, Mule Deer Numbers Decline

It’s tough to be a mule deer in Montana these days.

The big-bodied deer draw lots of hunting pressure all over the state, although not always the same hunters. For the past three years, mule deer numbers have been declining and state Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials are trying to turn the trend.

In western Montana, poor mule deer numbers are tracking equally poor white-tailed deer populations. But the two species are regulated differently, with more liberal either-sex hunting opportunities for whitetails. That puts the focus on the other predators: wolves, mountain lions and bears, according to Region 2 wildlife program manager Mike Thompson.

While wolf predation has been getting most of the attention lately, Thompson said lions shouldn’t be discounted. The agency increased its lion hunting quota last year to see what impact extra cat hunting might have. That data should be coming later this spring, when hunting regulations might see further lion focus.

Montana’s wolf quota filled quickly in the two western hunting districts last fall. Wildlife managers are studying the results of the hunt over the winter as they await a federal court ruling on the wolf’s threatened species status. That decision will either allow or prohibit a 2010 wolf hunting season.

Habitat is another concern, according to Thompson’s counterpart, Jim Williams, in Kalispell’s FWP Region 1. Mule deer are less common in the northwest, but no less treasured.

“The country is so rugged – all these alder-choked basins – but you can kill some beautiful old bucks,” Williams said. “It’s a brutal physical hunt. A lot of big bucks die of old age.”

They don’t die by wolves so much because their high alpine haunts don’t overlap with the packs’ preferred whitetail zones. But those areas have seen decreasing snowpack and increasing forest invasion over the past decade, which reduce the forage mule deer desire. The downward deer trend still needs more research to figure out the trend drivers, he said.

Lions and two-legged hunters are the main challenge in the eastern plains, according to hunters there.

“We’ve got zero wolf impact,” said Red Bone Outfitters owner Bud Martin of Zortman, near the popular Missouri Breaks hunting grounds. “All the predation impact here is mountain lions. Around the Little Rockies (mountain range), a mountain lion hunt is just a 10-minute jog.”

Martin said he’s seen a particular lion increase (and mule deer decline) on the C.M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, where federal regulations prohibit mountain lion hunting. But he also laid some responsibility on FWP hunting policies, which he said ran down western deer herds and encouraged excessive numbers of hunters to head east.

“That’s why people come to eastern Montana to hunt,” he said. “They get tired of hunting where success rate is 2 or 3 or 4 percent. And so every fork-horn mule deer out here gets blasted.”

FWP state wildlife program manager Quentin Kujula noted mule deer have always been helped and hindered by their local situations – whether its predators, weather or the species’ own up-and-down population cycle. Lions in the eastern part of the state are a relatively recent factor, he said, but one to watch.

FWP biologists also acknowledge that liberal license sales in past years have hurt deer populations. That was the rationale behind proposals eliminating over-the-counter doe tags in most of western Montana and dropping the eight-day either-sex period of the 2010 hunting season.

Those changes, and other reductions to mule deer license availability, will go before the FWP commissioners at their Feb. 11 meeting.

Source: The Missoulian

MARYLAND NEWS: Deer Cull Approved Adjacent to Camp David

After nearly three decades of research and opposition from wildlife advocates, government sharpshooters are taking aim at white-tailed deer in the national park surrounding the Camp David presidential retreat in western Maryland.

The National Park Service says the shooting will start Monday afternoon in Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont and continue for the next six weeks.

Parts of the park will be closed Monday through Thursday afternoons to accommodate the shooting, which will also occur at night.

The government plans to kill more than 2,000 deer over 15 years to curb tree damage caused by a deer herd it says is eight times too big. The lack of vegetation has raised questions in the past about the security of Camp David.

Source: ABC 7 News

MICHIGAN NEWS: Proposal to Divert Fraction of Hunting License Fees to Endangered Species Habitat

Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, sent a letter to Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Friday asking her to investigate misuse of the DRIP funds to purchase jack pine forests for Kirtland's warbler.

Each year hunters throughout Michigan invest about $3 million for deer habitats by purchasing licenses.

But, one local lawmaker is asking the state to investigate if some of those funds are being used for an endangered species instead of deer.

About $1.50 of each deer license purchased in the state goes to the Deer Range Improvement Program, or DRIP funds. But, Michigan Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, sent a letter to Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Friday asking her to investigate misuse of the DRIP funds to purchase jack pine forests for Kirtland's warbler.

Endangered since 1967, the Kirtland's warbler finds its habitat, jack pine forests, located in Michigan's northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Those same jack pine forests are poor habitats for deer foraging and bedding.

"Hunting is a proud tradition in Michigan, one that is often passed down from generation to generation," McDowell said. "With our harsh winters already causing a decline in our deer population, we must protect the wildlife that we still have to ensure that this tradition can continue. If the (Department of Natural Resources) continues to mishandle funds now and in the future, deer hunting will take a huge hit."

While the DNR director Rebecca Humphries and the Natural Resources Commission is currently investigating the issue, McDowell is urging Granholm and the Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee, State Rep. Mike Lahti, D-Hancock, to hasten the investigation to prevent the additional misuse for funds.

In his letter, McDowell also expresses his concern about the leadership and transparency within the Department of Natural Resources.

Earlier this month, Department Resources Commission member John Madigan told the Detroit News he believes about 10 percent all DRIP funds are used to purchase habitats for the Kirtland's warbler.

"I have nothing against the Kirtland's warbler," said John Hubard, a sportsman from Harbor Springs. "There's not too many of them."

While not speaking for the organization, Hubard is the president of the Emmet County Sportsman Club.

Hubard was unaware about funds being misused for the Kirtland's warbler and said he assumed most hunters would be unaware of the situation.

However, he was wary of diverting funds away from its intended purpose.

"Once it starts — the diversion of funds— who's going to stop it?"

Hubard said if the Kirtland's warbler is in need of money for habitats, there should be fundraising for it specifically.

Source: Petoskey News

NORTH CAROLINA NEWS: Deer Culled at Biltmore Estate

Despite the opinion of a biologist that the killing of deer in this town is not necessary from a population-management standpoint, town leaders are again trying to cull the herd.

Town workers have killed 15 white-tailed deer under a state permit issued for 2009 and extended into 2010.

The number of bagged deer is way down from previous hunts. Hunters shot 150 deer in 2003 and 90 in 2005, trying to keep the deer from overrunning the heavily wooded town next to sprawling Biltmore Estate.

But a local wildlife biologist for the N.C. Wildlife Commission says in his opinion the town doesn't need to shoot any deer. “I don't think they have any problem with deer right now,” Mike Carraway said. Some residents of the town also have misgivings about the culling scheme.

Still, in the opinion of town leaders: “Every year we want to try to take a small harvest so we can control the population. We don't want to get back up to the 400 or 500 deer we had a few years ago,” said Mayor George Goosmann.

The meat doesn't go to waste. It is donated through Hunters for the Hungry, and about 4,000 pounds of venison has gone to Asheville's MANNA Food Bank since the hunts began in 2003, Goosmann said.

Town officials applied directly to Raleigh for the depredation permit, bypassing Carraway, who can issue permits locally. Carraway typically issues those permits to farmers who can show damage to their property with deer eating soybeans or bear eating corn.

Residential property owners can also apply for depredation permits to kill deer if they can show the animals are eating their shrubbery and landscaping.

Full story at: Asheville Citizen-Times

SOUTH AFRICA NEWS: Deer Remaining on Robben Island to be Removed or Culled

Robben Island has given conservationists until the end of the month to obtain permits for the live capture and removal of about 30 remaining fallow deer, or it will continue the culling process.

Lekgetho James Makola, acting senior manager at Robben Island Museum, said the cut-off date was necessary so a final decision could be taken on whether the culling of the deer would resume.

Robben Island officials have met representatives from animal welfare group Four Paws International, which runs the Lions Rock sanctuary in the Free State, to discuss a proposal for the capture and relocation of the fallow deer.

Makola said Four Paws International presented a proposal for the sterilisation, capture and removal of the deer.

"We have approved their proposal and have given the go-ahead for them to obtain permits for the relocation."

According to Makola, Four Paws International has until the January 31 to come up with the permits.

He said the island had tried for three years to obtain such permits, but all applications had failed.

About 220 deer have been culled in the problem animal control operation under way on the island.

Three months ago, the museum, CapeNature, SPCA, and others were approached by interest groups offering to find an alternative home for the deer, and agreed to suspend the culling.

Makola said he hoped Lions Rock would meet the requirements set by CapeNature.

"We are hoping that their application will be successful, so that we can put this behind us.

"But if they fail to do so, we will have to revert to the culling programme."

Dr Amir Khalil, director of project development at Four Paws, said the organisation had offered "to assist with the capture and removal of the fallow deer, and placement in a sanctuary approved by relevant parties".

"The monitoring and supervision of the capture, sterilisation and translocation will be done exclusively by the SPCA Cape of Good Hope," he said.

Four Paws had agreed to carry the cost of the capture, translocation, logistics and life-long care of the deer.

"The best time to move the animals is in March and April, but we are ready at any time to do the transfer."

Khalil said Four Paws was awaiting a response from Free State Nature Conservation about the permits.

"Once we obtain these, we can summit a full application to CapeNature for a final decision on whether a capture and transport permit will be approved," he said.

Source: Independent Online

VIRGINIA NEWS: Chronic Wasting Disease Detected in State

Chronic wasting disease has been found for the first time in a Virginia white-tailed deer.

A hunter in Frederick County killed the sickened deer this month, less than a mile from where the disease was found several years ago in West Virginia.

The illness affects portions of the deer's brain and causes a general decrease in body condition, behavioral changes, excess salivation and death.

The disease affects deer only and is not transmittable to humans or other animals, including livestock, dogs or cats.

Virginia now joins 17 states and Canadian provinces where the illness has been found.

Source: NBC29

ILLINOIS NEWS: Near Record Deer Harvest in 2009

Officials say hunters killed nearly 200,000 deer in the latest deer hunting season.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources says a still-preliminary figure of 189,277 deer for the 2009-2010 season compares with a similar total of 188,901 for the 2008-2009 period.

The agency says hunters took 50.5 percent does and 49.5 percent males in the latest harvest.

Illinois' record deer harvest occurred in 2005-2006 season, when 201,301 deer were taken.

Source: BND.com

MISSOURI NEWS: 2009 Marks Fourth Largest Harvest in State History

The Missouri Department of Conservation reported Wednesday that this year’s harvest of white-tailed deer was the fourth-largest in state history.

The season closed Friday with Missouri hunters checking a total of 299,461 deer during the 152 days of hunting, according to a department news release. Hunters took most of the deer during the November portion of the season. During those 10 days, 193,155 deer were checked with the department.

Despite the brutally cold weather that gripped Missouri for the past few months, every portion of the season was up from the previous season. Muzzleloader kills went up by 55 percent from last season, and youth kills went up by 44 percent. Both set new state records. Archers took 7,538 more deer than in 2008.

Source: Columbia Missourian

IOWA NEWS: Deer Feeding Illegal in Clive

Residents intentionally setting out food for deer would have 24 hours to remove it or face fines.

Officials hope a proposed law against deer feeding will lower Clive's deer population to recommended levels.

The Clive City Council voted 5-0 on Jan. 7 to approve the first reading of an ordinance that would create fines for residents caught leaving food out for deer. The council will have to vote on the ordinance at least one more meeting before it can be enacted.

The Parks and Recreation Board met several times in recent months to discuss deer feeding. According to the Polk County Deer Task Force, the city has 50 deer per square mile of habitat. The Department of Natural Resources recommends holding the deer population to 15 per square mile.

Overpopulation comes with an increased risk of Lyme disease for people and pets, and of course, damage to vehicles.

"They are wonderful animals to look at and everyone enjoys them, but we have plenty of them in the city of Clive," Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Canfield told the council.

Canfield said his department has received reports of Clive residents putting out mineral blocks, fruit and grain to attract deer to their yards.

"My hands are pretty well tied," he said. "I can't really go out and do anything with that."

If the ordinance is enacted, residents caught feeding deer will be given 24 hours to remove the deer feed before incurring a fine. The ordinance would create a $750 fine for the first time someone was found feeding deer, and a $1,000 fine for the second offense. Canfield said his department would hope to convince residents to stop feeding deer without having to actually fine anyone.

The ordinance would not prohibit bird feeders, which can sometimes attract deer. Nor would it prohibit fruit trees or vegetable gardens that deer might enjoy.
Urbandale enacted a similar ordinance in November 2007. Councilman Eric Klein said Urbandale's policy drove deer to neighboring cities where residents can still put out food for them.

"Inadvertently, we've become a magnet for more deer," Klein said.

Source: DeMoines Register

ARKANSAS NEWS: Hope Considers Urban Cull

City officials in Hope are considering an urban deer hunting season with bows and arrows.

The high concentration of deer roaming the city's street has the Board of Directors seriously considering an urban hunt for the fall, which should be decided on by no later than March, said City Manager Catherine Cook.

If approved, Hope would join Bull Shoals, Hot Springs Village, Cherokee Village and Heber Springs as the only Arkansas cities with urban hunts.

In the past six years, 28 deer have collided with vehicles within Hope city limits, including one collision with a police patrol car, according to a report from Police Chief J.R. Wilson.

City officials say manicured lawns, flowers, fruit-bearing trees and shrubs within city limits lure the deer out of the woods.

Early last fall, Board Member Don Still proposed the city consider ways to deal with deer living in the city limits. The board soon after consulted with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, which suggested an urban hunt, incorporating the city limits into the regular bow hunting season and restricting feeding deer within the city.

"A special season was picked for this hunt. There is a no bag limit, although the goal is to bag at least 150 deer to keep up with the births from the previous year," according to a report from the Game & Fish Commission.

Source: FoxNews

OHIO NEWS: Salon Suspends Deer Cull, Cites Cost

Deer need not fear sharpshooters in Solon for now. One of the few cities in northeast Ohio that contracted for culling has suspended the practice for at least this year.

Mayor Susan Drucker said a tighter budget and the need to examine how often culling is necessary are the major reasons council halted the program.

But the thinning of deer herds continues. Park districts in Cuyahoga and Summit still use sharpshooters and a number of municipalities allow residents to bow hunt in-season.

Culling is expensive. Solon spent $782,925 over the past five years. The city paid for the shooters, meat processing, and police overtime

The program, hotly contested by animal-rights activists and residents concerned with safety, was started in 2005 because of the high number of deer-vehicle accidents and complaints of yard damage.

The arguments in favor of culling are echoed in other communities where deer are multiplying.

Before hunting season last year, Ohio counted 650,000 deer, said Scott Peters of the Department of Wildlife, and 252,000 were harvested.

In 2008, deer-vehicle collisions numbered 25,000 statewide (459 of those in Cuyahoga County), and have dropped because of culling, Mr. Peters said.

In Solon, deer-vehicle collisions dipped to 54 last year from 161 in 2004, Ms. Drucker said, and the city's deer population as of September was 450 compared to 1,200 in 2005.

Cleveland Metroparks will spend $45,000 to thin herds with sharpshooters through February, spokesman Jane Christyson said.

A total of 343 deer will be taken in the Metroparks' Bedford, Bradley Woods, Brecksville, Mill Stream Run, North Chagrin, and Rocky River reservations, she said.
The park district has tried to reduce its deer numbers for 11 years, but for a different reason.

Mr. Peters said more than 15 communities in Cuyahoga and Summit counties allow residents to bow hunt, which costs less than a formal management program because hunters pay the cost of permits and meat processing.

Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop said she has not heard any complaints about bow hunting in the city, which is regulated. Hunters must pass an archery proficiency test, hunt in an area 4 acres or larger, and get written permission from the landowner.

Broadview Heights will vote Feb. 16 on a measure to permit bow hunting starting next season. Bow hunting in Ohio ends Feb. 7.

Source: Toledo Blade

MICHIGAN NEWS: Ella Sharp Park Cull Winding Down

The third annual deer harvest at Ella Sharp Park and the Cascades Golf Course is nearly over.

Eric Terrian, Ella Sharp Park superintendent, said sharpshooters with Aaron's Nuisance, a local animal control company, killed 16 deer Thursday, bringing the total to 67 since the harvest started Sunday.

"Last night was a good night," Terrian said. "Obviously because of the weather, the deer are on the move."

The goal is again 80 deer. If sharpshooters can take another 13 deer Friday, the harvest will be over. If not, it will not resume until 4 p.m. Monday to let people use the parks over the weekend, Terrian said.

An unknown person firing a rifle at the park Monday night slowed the harvest. Terrian said the shooter still has not been identified.

When the harvest is over, 240 deer will have been killed in two years. Terrian said there are still hundreds of deer in the parks and if not for the harvest there would be several hundred more.

"The harvest is helping," Terrian said.

Source: MLive

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Deer Culled in Norristown Farm Park

Hunters killed 44 deer in Norristown Farm Park Wednesday during a controlled hunt to trim the herd.

Forty people were picked in a public lottery Dec. 5 at the park’s headquarters to participate, but fewer showed up, according to Montgomery County Communications Director John Corcoran.

“Forty hunters were selected and five standbys, but there were only 32 hunters (Wednesday),” he said.

Overpopulation of deer in the Farm Park has wreaked havoc on the ecosystem, totally denuding wooded tracts of vegetation up to five feet above the ground, making the hunt necessary, said Corcoran.

The hunters were armed with 12-gauge shotguns containing slug ammunition; no buckshot was allowed. Shotguns using slug loads have a limited range but more stopping power, thus reducing the chance of a wounded a deer fleeing the park and onto nearby roadways. Also, all participants were required to hunt from a tree stands equipped with safety harnesses.

The county’s Parks and Heritage Services seeks to bring the deer herd, which now numbers between 200 and 300, into balance with the one-square-mile park’s available resources. That still leaves much higher deer density than the nine to 20 deer per square mile level recommended by wildlife biologists.

“For us, it’s a land management issue,” Corcoran said.

The 44 deer culled from the herd included doe and buck, called “button buck,” too young to have grown antlers.

Hunters selected in the lottery were permitted to scout the prospective hunting area, and with park approval, choose a tree where they wanted set up their portable climber the day of the hunt. As well, hunters were prohibited from firing in the direction of roadways.

“They have regulations as to which direction you can shoot,” Corcoran said.

The Farm Park, which was be closed to the general public during the hunt, was closely monitored by law enforcement officials for safety and compliance.

Norristown Farm Park, located at the intersection of Germantown Pike and North Wales Road, is owned by the state and is operated by the Montgomery County Department of Parks and Heritage Services. The park is typically open for passive recreation seven days a week from sunrise to sunset. The park is also used for farming operations.

Each November, the county permits bow hunters to shoot deer in Lorimer Park near Abington.

Source: Times Herald

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: 2009 Deer Harvest Down 5% Compared to 2008

The Division of Natural Resources says West Virginia hunters bagged fewer deer in 2009 then they did the year before.

According to figures released Thursday, hunters killed 154,524 deer during the state's multiple deer seasons. In 2008 hunters killed 163,603 deer.

Overall, hunters killed 63,590 deer during the 2009 buck season, 54,617 during the antlerless season, 27,558 during the bow season and 8,759 during muzzleloader season.

Source: Philly Burbs

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: Recent CWD Cases in Hampshire County

Preliminary test results indicate the Chronic Wasting Disease agent was present in 16 hunter-harvested deer collected in Hampshire County during the 2009 deer firearms hunting season.

“As part of our agency’s ongoing CWD monitoring effort, samples were collected from 1,091 hunter-harvested deer brought to game checking stations in Hampshire County and one station near the southern Hampshire County line in Hardy County,” notes Frank Jezioro, Director for the W.Va. Division of Natural Resources.

The 16 CWD positive deer included one 4.5 year-old doe, one 2.5 year-old doe, one 1.5 year-old buck, ten 2.5 year-old bucks and three 3.5 year-old bucks. Thirteen of the latest positive deer were harvested within the Hampshire County CWD Containment Area (i.e., that portion of Hampshire County located North of U.S. Route 50). However, three were located outside the containment area but still within Hampshire County.

The area in Hampshire County from which CWD has been detected continues to expand, and the number of infected deer detected this year is 2.5 times more than last year.

CWD has now been detected in a total of 62 deer in Hampshire County (i.e., two road-killed deer, one in 2005 and one in 2008; four deer collected by the WVDNR in 2005; five deer collected by the WVDNR in 2006; one hunter-harvest deer taken during the 2006 deer season; three deer collected by the WVDNR in 2007; six hunter-harvested deer taken during the 2007 deer season; 11 deer collected by the WVDNR in 2008; six hunter-harvested deer taken during the 2008 deer season; eight deer collected by the WVDNR in 2009; and 16 hunter-harvested deer taken during the 2009 deer season).

“The WVDNR will continue to update management actions designed to control the spread of this disease, prevent further introduction of the disease, and possibly eliminate the disease from the state as information from deer testing within West Virginia is gathered and scientists across the country provide more information on how to combat CWD in white-tailed deer,” says Jezioro.

So far, the following disease management actions have been placed into operation by the WVDNR within Hampshire County:

- Implemented CWD testing efforts designed to determine the prevalence and distribution of the disease.

- Established antlerless deer hunting regulations designed to increase hunter opportunity to harvest female deer, adjust deer populations to desired levels and reduce the risk of spreading the disease from deer to deer.

- Established deer carcass transport restrictions designed to lower the risk of moving the disease to other locations.

- Established regulations designed to prohibit the feeding and baiting of deer within the affected area and reduce the risk of spreading the disease from deer to deer.

“Despite our agency’s best efforts, we continue to struggle with CWD in Hampshire County,” says Jezioro. “I am particularly concerned that some individuals are not complying with regulations prohibiting the feeding and baiting of deer within the Hampshire County CWD Containment Area.”

The WVDNR intends to renew its outreach efforts with the public on the critical need for compliance with this regulation. In addition, appropriate enforcement actions will be taken if these problems are not resolved.

“As we strive to meet this wildlife disease challenge and implement appropriate management strategies, the continued support and involvement of landowners and hunters will be essential,” says Jezioro. “The WVDNR remains committed to keeping the public informed and involved in these wildlife disease management actions as we go forward.”


Source: WHSV

TEXAS NEWS: Town Advised to Elimiate 400 Deer

HOLLY LAKE RANCH, TX (KLTV) - Residents of an East Texas community are torn, after being told the way to fix their deer problem is to kill 400 of the furry critters.

The over population problem has gardeners in the community upset, but animals lovers say that they enjoy seeing the deer.

Texas Parks and Wildlife was called in to advise the community on a solution, and suggested 400 deer needed to be put down in order to maintain a balance in the deer population.

Residents also received a letter saying those who continue to feed the deer will be fined $150.

A meeting will take place at 2pm today to discuss the issues and make a decision.

Source: KLTV

NORTH CAROLINA NEWS: Chapel Hill City Council Considers Deer Hunt

The Chapel Hill town council agreed Monday night to take applications for an urban deer hunt as it studies the issue further.

Residents have submitted a petition asking the town to hire professional deer bow hunters to reduce the population of deer. Residents said the deer have become a nuisance.
The council called for a public hearing on the issue and asked for more input from experts and residents.

In the meantime, professional bow hunters can submit applications to hold an urban deer hunt with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. No action will be taken on the applications until after the public hearing.

Source: WRAL

US NEWS: A Smart Move by Two Politicians

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold is backing legislation to help boost venison donations to the hungry.

The Wisconsin Democrat is co-sponsoring a proposal crafted by New York Democrat Charles Schumer. It would let deer hunters deduct the cost of processing game from their taxable income, when the meat is donated to a soup kitchen or food pantry.

Wisconsin Public Radio says processing fees typically range from $60 to $90.

The senators say the proposal could help charities that have been hurt by the flagging economy.

Edie Miller works for a meat processor in Columbia County. She says she's seen firsthand the dip in venison donations.

She says her company processed about 100 deer last year for food-donation programs, down from more than 200 in previous years.

Source: Chicago Tribune

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MANITOBA NEWS: Towns Experience Growth in Deer Population

People in Killarney, Man., are trying to figure out how to deal with a population explosion of roaming deer.

The hungry animals are stripping cedar trees and creating a hazard on the streets, where at least six drivers have collided with them, according to Mayor Rick Pauls.

"We definitely have [had] numerous vehicle accidents around here and it's not just on the highway anymore — you can be driving down the street and hitting a deer," Pauls said.

And now coyotes, which prey on deer, have started to wander into town of about 2,300 people, Pauls said.

Killarney is about 220 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, near the Manitoba border with North Dakota.

Pauls said his Killarney-Turtle council is working with Manitoba Conservation on a plan to deal with the animals. Conservation officers will soon head out in a helicopter to get a better handle on what they're up against.

"They're going to count exactly how many deer are located within the town limits," he said. "Then we'll be able to come up with a number of what we want to take them down to. We're either going to trap and relocate them or trap and destroy them."

But some disgruntled residents have already taken matters into their own hands by poisoning or shooting the deer or putting up illegal electric fences, he said.

Pauls isn't sure how the town will pay for the animal control measures, which he estimates could cost close to $1,000 a deer.

He also isn't sure why the deer have come to Killarney but suspects a decline in the number of hunters might have something to do with it.

Pinawa has problem, too

Manitoba deer have also taken up residence in another Manitoba town in recent years. The animals have become so tame around people in Pinawa, about 110 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, that they pester school kids for their lunches.

Deer in Pinawa, Man., have become tame enough to eat from people's hands. (CBC)They can be seen in backyards, on the sidewalks, in schoolyards and sometimes even in the kitchens of local homes.

Jacquelyn Landry told CBC News earlier this year that she came home one day to find her children feeding one in the family kitchen.

The school in Pinawa had to implement new rules after the deer went after kids' lunches. Students must now eat in the school before going out to play.

Anyone caught feeding deer is subject to a $500 fine, although no tickets have been handed out since the town adopted the bylaw in 2002, according to Deputy Mayor Lynn Patterson. Several warnings have been issued instead.

Source: CBC

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Valley Forge NP Hunt Postponed

The National Park Service has called off its plan to deploy silencer-equipped sharpshooters this winter to cull the nearly 1,300 deer overtaking Valley Forge.

With a lawsuit pending and facing the logistics of deploying contract shooters before spring, the government decided to put off a long-planned hunt at Valley Forge National Historical Park until at least next November, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Bernstein told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Where George Washington's tattered troops once scrambled for food and shelter, the exploding white-tailed deer population now enjoys a generous habitat of field and forest. But they eat up so many plants, officials say, they are throwing the park's environmental balance out of whack. They are also blamed for scores of vehicle accidents within the park each year and for wreaking havoc on suburban gardens nearby.

"They cause so much damage to the environment, so many road accidents. And the roadkill — so many deer end up lying on the road. No one wants that, whether you want the deer there or not," said Julia Urwin, 52, of Tredyffrin, who supports the hunt.

After years of heated debate and a congressional mandate to deal with the burgeoning deer colony, the park service decided this fall to cull the herd by 80 percent over four years through nighttime hunts.

Animal-rights activists believe the park should be maintained by natural means, and filed suit to try to block the kill in the 3,500-acre oasis west of Philadelphia.

Others doubt the plan is safe, given that homes, hotels and malls now surround the land where Washington's Continental Army spent the winter of 1777-1778.

"The culling never works ... and I think it teaches our kids the wrong thing," said Priscilla Cohn of Villanova, a retired philosophy professor who runs a small animal-rights foundation. She argues that deer herds invariably bounce back after a hunt, as better-fed survivors produce more offspring and other deer move in to fill the vacuum.

"I'm a believer in science," she said. "Shooting is from the last couple of centuries."

Cohn's foundation has offered about $120,000 for deer contraception and fencing to protect vegetation, but the offer is only good if no deer are slain. Park officials, she said, have ignored her.

The park management plan endorses the use of contraceptives for herd maintenance, but said their effectiveness should be further studied. Meanwhile, they say the deer problem is too severe to wait.

"Our plan is linked strongly to our mission at Valley Forge ... to preserve the historic resources, the natural resources and certainly the landscape," said park Superintendent Michael Caldwell. "It's science-based, it's safe, and there's been an extensive amount of public involvement."

Deer problems plague many parks throughout the East, and similar debates about how to shrink deer herds have played out for years. In the 1990s, Gettysburg National Military Park's deer population was reduced by a hunt from 4,000 to just over 200.
In Valley Forge, the post-hunt target population is 175.

"This park couldn't be better habitat for white-tailed deer. It is the perfect mix of field and forest," said Kristina Heister, the park's natural resource manager. "If you have 1,300 deer on the landscape, I bet it's hard for a squirrel to even find an acorn on the forest floor."

The habitat loss has caused birds, butterflies and other dependent wildlife to disappear, officials say.

The National Park Service cites restoration of that ecological balance as its primary reason for the cull, with a secondary goal of reducing the risk of chronic wasting disease, a mad-cow-like brain disease. The disease has been found in adjacent states, but not in Pennsylvania, and foes of the hunt question whether a smaller herd size reduces risk.

Meanwhile, about 90 deer-vehicle collisions occur each year on the busy state road and several commuter shortcuts that dissect the park, Heister said. No one was seriously hurt last year, she said.

Logistics may be as much at play as the lawsuit in this week's agreement to delay the hunt until next winter.

Park officials had set a Jan. 5 deadline for contractors to bid on the hunting operation, and said they needed about two months after that to initiate it. That left little time for the culling operation during the key winter months.

A lawyer for the groups involved in the suit, Connecticut-based Friends of Animals and Pennsylvania-based Compassion for Animals, Respect for the Environment, said Wednesday they are thrilled by the one-year reprieve.

"The fact that they're not managing the parks in a natural way is really what's driving our concern," said Michael R. Harris, a University of Denver environmental law professor who represents them. "They're supposed to be managed in a wild state."
Harris endorses the use of coyotes — already present in the region — to thin the deer population. If that means suburbanites must learn to live with predators in their midst, so be it, he said.

That approach startles some who use the park's 26 miles of hiking and biking paths, including economist Philip Senechal of Philadelphia.

"I don't like the idea of introducing predators. I think that's risky," Senechal said.

Source: AP

NEW YORK NEWS: College to Cull Deer

Vassar College will use sharpshooters next month to reduce the deer herd near its main Town of Poughkeepsie campus — a move that has upset some neighbors who claim they were not notified about the cull until it was already set to occur.

College officials said the herd must be reduced to protect the 530-acre Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve off Hooker Avenue. Officials point out deer are harming the preserve, decimating the forest understory and making it difficult for new trees to grow. Deer also cause safety problems through car-deer collisions and spread tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, they say.

The farm and preserve, which is open to the public, is used for field-based education and research. Officials said the college received a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to cull the herd.

The sharpshooters will start their work after New Year's Day. Officials hope the herd will be reduced to about 15 deer from the approximately 100 animals living on the preserve.

College officials said there are simply too many deer on the preserve — which is bad for the preserve and for deer.

"We really have to do something to manage this problem," said Keri VanCamp, who manages the Vassar farm and preserve.

Increasing deer populations in urban and suburban areas have become problematic throughout New York as the animals become more common in places where they traditionally were rarely seen. Finding humane ways to deal with the overpopulation problem is an issue more and more property owners must address.

Full story at: Poughkeepsie Journal

WISCONSIN OPINION: I'm Sorry the Natural World Does Not Yield to Your Wishes

Another great column from Pat Durkin


Judging by their press releases on November's deer season, be prepared to pat the hands of state Sen. Russ Decker, D-Weston, and Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, if you ever sit by them on an airplane bounced by turbulence.

If gentle reassurance doesn't stop their shrieking, suggest the flight attendant slap them.

Decker's hysterical demand on Dec. 3 to fire the state's top deer managers and Gundy's panicky call Dec. 4 to cancel December's four-day antlerless gun season show these lawmakers can't control their emotions.

"It is absolutely imperative the (Natural Resources) Board takes swift action to protect Wisconsin's deer heard (sic) from further harm that may take generations to recover from," Gundy declared.

The Board ignored him, and the low-impact season was held as scheduled. And what about Gundy's nonsense that deer might need "generations" to recover? Even if he meant deer generations, not human generations, he needs schooling in deer biology.

Researchers at Michigan's George Reserve twice showed deer herds capable of 50 percent annual growth. Starting with six whitetails in 1928, the reserve's herd boomed to 222 in seven years. And in 1975, after reducing the herd to 10 deer, most of which were fawns, researchers reported the herd at 212 after six breeding seasons.

But Gundy's outburst was nothing compared to that of Decker, majority leader of our Senate. Does that "D" in "D-Weston" after Decker's name stand for Democrat or Demagogue?

Granted, the DNR should stick to its harvest data and let others suggest wet, warm conditions and uncut corn helped lower the kill. By discussing factors beyond its control, the DNR sounds like it's making excuses.

Likewise, Decker shouldn't use his personal experience in Lincoln County to make statewide generalizations about hunting conditions.

"The swamps were pretty dry where our crew was hunting," he claimed. "We don't let a little water stop us from going after deer."

Bravo, sir! Give yourself another attaboy!

For the record, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported 41 percent of the state's corn remained uncut because of wet soils as of Nov. 23 (the Monday of deer season). The five-year average is 19 percent uncut. That's a lot of extra hiding room.

The NASS also reported average temperatures were 7 to 11 degrees above normal during deer season, with average daily highs of 46 to 48 degrees. Research shows deer activity basically ceases in late autumn when temperatures hit 45 degrees.

But Decker went beyond weather with his pandering. He pleased barbershop biologists with this gem:

"The DNR has mismanaged the deer herd and a new team needs to be brought in that can do the job."

Unfortunately for Sen. Decker, the candidate pool appears thin. The Minnesota DNR reported a statewide kill of about 200,000 deer, the state's lowest figure in about 10 years. The agency also reported standing corn in 80 percent of Minnesota's fields.

Meanwhile, the Michigan DNR reported the deer kill fell 20 to 30 percent in the Upper Peninsula, 15 to 25 percent in the northern Lower Peninsula, and 5 to 10 percent in southern Michigan. Agency biologists said the main reasons for the slump were "unseasonably hot weather" during hunting season and harsh winter a year ago.

In addition, Michigan's corn harvest was 35 percent by Nov. 16, the second day of its 16-day season. "In an average year, it's 80 percent, " said Brent Rudolph, Michigan DNR deer program leader. "It's likely some deer never left the standing corn."

How about Illinois? Even though Illinois lacks northern forests and severe winters, its gun-hunters failed to kill 100,000 deer for the first time since 1999. The reasons cited? Warm weather and a 33 percent harvest of its corn crop.

Despite these declines in herd sizes and harvest figures across the Great Lakes, the bigger question remains: Why is anyone surprised?

The Wisconsin DNR issued a reminder before the season — Nov. 10, to be exact — that this year's deer kill would be lower than in 2008.

In addition, the mission of wildlife agencies isn't to match previous kills or produce records annually. Their task is to manage the herd to publicly approved biological and sociological goals. For much of the past three decades, that meant reducing herds.

That the Wisconsin DNR might finally be succeeding is hardly a firing offense. The same can't be said of Sen. Decker's childish tantrum.

Source: Green Bay Gazette

INDIANA NEWS: State Park Hunting Totals

Deer hunts last month in 17 state parks resulted in 1,334 deer being harvested, a decrease of 134 deer from last year.

The controlled hunts occurred Nov. 16 and 17 and Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at Chain O'Lakes, Charlestown, Harmonie, Lincoln, Ouabache, Pokagon, Potato Creek, Prophetstown, Shades, Shakamak, Spring Mill, Tippecanoe River, Turkey Run, Versailles, Whitewater Memorial, Fort Harrison and Clifty Falls.

Hunters killed 42 deer in Turkey Run State Park near Marshall, 28 in Shakamak State Park near Jasonville and 60 in Shades State Park near Waveland.

Officials first opened state parks to deer hunters in 1993, harvesting 392 deer. The hunts were halted in 1994 and resumed in 1995. Turkey Run State Park has been involved in the hunts since 1999, but now deer numbers may be at a point where the park is taken off as a hunting site for a year, Mycroft said.

“Turkey Run in 2009 had 11 deer [harvested] per square mile. Last year it was 20 deer per square mile. Turkey Run is probably in a position where the deer are having much less impact [on vegetation] than they did five years ago. That park started at 39 deer per square mile [in 1999],” Mycroft said.

“We will take a closer look to make sure of this so we do not lose any ground. Turkey Run is somewhat odd as it does not have a smooth trend [in reduction of deer],” Mycroft said, adding that corn still standing in nearby property could be influencing this year’s deer numbers at that park.

The breakdown by parks shows 93 deer killed at Chain O’Lakes, 133 at Charlestown, 26 at Clifty Falls, 43 at Fort Harrison, 111 at Harmonie, 43 at Lincoln, 29 at Ouabache, 40 at Pokagon, 186 at Potato Creek, 80 at Prophetstown, 60 at Shades, 28 at Shakamak, 16 at Spring Mill, 119 at Tippecanoe, 42 at Turkey Run, 202 at Versailles and 83 at Whitewater.

Source: Terre Haute News

MISSOURI NEWS: Municipality Opts for Controlled Archery Hunts to Combat Deer

In an effort to reduce the booming deer population, the Springfield City Council approved a measure for controlled deer hunts on public property next fall. The managed deer hunts would be done with bows and arrows, not firearms. The proposal passed at the council's meeting on Monday night.

Skilled archers would be eligible for the hunts around the state Veterans Cemetery near Lake Springfield, and a wooded area off the western banks of the James River northwest of the U.S. 60/65 interchange.

Source: KY3

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Lower Merion Hunt Scheduled, Friends of Animals Dismayed

As a planned federal deer shoot was scheduled to begin last night in Lower Merion Township, animal-rights activists expressed their opposition and compared it to the deer cull they have sued to stop in Valley Forge.

"The ethical issues are basically the same," said Lee Hall of Devon, legal director of the Friends of Animals organization.

Although the group sued to stop the plan to shoot more than 1,500 deer in Valley Forge National Historical Park, similar action has not been taken over the culling of 576 deer planned in the next several years in Lower Merion.

A two-person team, one shooter and one spotter, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be shooting deer in baited fields on township and private land all week from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. A USDA spokeswoman said the team will return for another weeklong cull in December, with the aim of reducing Lower Merion's deer population by 100 this year.

On a good night, the team could harvest up to 20 deer, whose meat will be donated to food banks, said Carol Bannerman, spokeswoman for the USDA. She would not specify where the cull would happen within the township. She said safety and efficiency concerns would prevent allowing private citizens to observe the hunt, which Lower Merion police are supervising.

"It can be a rather quiet operation," Bannerman said.

No township roads are being closed during the nighttime cull, in which the sharpshooter uses a silenced rifle and night-vision accessories.

Lower Merion and federal officials said the township's population is 44 to 58 deer per square mile, far above recommendations that suburbs have 10 deer, or fewer, per square mile. The cull is intended in part to reduce car-deer collisions in the township and the risk of Lyme disease, which is carried by deer ticks.

Hall said that safe, slower driving would be a better means to reduce auto accidents with deer, and that deer ticks could shift to family dogs and cats if the deer population is suddenly reduced. Deer culls, she added, are a brutal form of population control and often kill mainly the strongest animals.

"We are affecting evolution," she said.

Hall said legal action might be considered over the Lower Merion shoot, though the township is not subject to the national-parks laws under which Valley Forge was sued. No protest is planned against this round of culling, Hall said, though her group has a plan to distribute literature and post signs at the time of the planned December shoot.

Another area animal-rights activist and plaintiff from the Valley Forge lawsuit said she was unlikely to take similar action over the Lower Merion kill.

Though "definitely opposed" to all deer culls, Allison Memmo Geiger - president of Compassion for Animals, Respect the Environment - said her West Chester-based group, which sued over the Valley Forge shoot, has not been as active against the Lower Merion one.

"Valley Forge is a national park, so we were able to join with people on a national level for support," Geiger said. "I don't live in Lower Merion, so I have very little say there."

Source: Philly.com

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Valley Forge NP Sued Over Deer Management

Valley Forge is 5.5 square miles. There are an estimated 232 per square mile, or about 10 times more than the park can support. I would love to see the parasite loads on these deer.

Two animal-rights groups filed suit in federal court yesterday to stop officials at Valley Forge National Historical Park from going ahead with a plan to shoot more than 1,500 deer.

Deploying sharpshooters in winter, the season when George Washington's troops suffered at Valley Forge, "is not only an appalling twist on the park's history," the suit says, but "another sign that the National Park Service has abandoned its century-old mission to strive for parks in which conservation of nature is paramount."

The filing by Friends of Animals, a national advocacy group, and Compassion for Animals, Respect the Environment (CARE), a West Chester organization, was lodged against park Superintendent Michael Caldwell, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, the National Park Service as an agency, and other park service officials.

Caldwell, reached yesterday evening, said he had not seen the lawsuit but knows that the park is acting properly.

"I'm confident in the proficiency of the plan, and we believe in its scientific validity, and we've had a transparent process," he said. "I believe in the plan and where it's headed."

Anthony Conte, an attorney for the park service, said he had not seen the lawsuit. Frank Quimby, a spokesman for the Department of the Interior, said the agency does not comment on litigation.

Park officials intend to reduce the herd by 86 percent - from an estimated 1,277 deer to between 165 and 185 - during the next four years. Federal employees or contractors are to fire silencer-equipped rifles, mostly at night, at deer lured to areas baited with apples and grain. The shooting is to take place between November and March, but administrators have refused to provide specific dates.

Valley Forge officials say the action is necessary to reduce a herd that has grown big and destructive, gobbling so many plants and saplings that the forest can't regenerate.

Administrators plan to shoot 500 deer the first year, 500 the second, and between 250 and 300 in years three and four.

After four years, officials say, they'll maintain a smaller herd through contraceptives and additional shoots. They estimate that shooting deer will cost between $2.0 million and $2.9 million during the next 15 years.

The plan has provoked enormous controversy among people who live near Valley Forge, site of the Continental Army's 1777-78 winter encampment, with residents both opposed and in favor.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court for the Eastern District, said that the park study that blamed deer for ruined vegetation was flawed, and that the law requires the park to protect and conserve natural resources - including deer.

"We want the park to just let them be," said Allison Memmo Geiger, president of CARE.

Unlike the paved roads, concrete buildings, and rebuilt log cabins in the park, the suit says, deer were present before, during and after Washington's encampment, making them part of the cultural and historical resources.

The suit claims that park service officials failed to follow federal laws and regulations in developing their plan to control deer. Among those failures, the suit said, is that the park gave short shrift to the idea of introducing coyotes as natural predators.

Studies show that coyotes can safely and effectively reduce urban deer populations, and improve the health of plants, said Michael Harris, who prepared the suit as director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver. Coyotes kill the sick and weak, but more than that, they harass the herd, making deer wary of grazing and limiting their ability to freely reproduce.

The suit said the park also failed to consider how gunfire could endanger park visitors, local residents, and drivers on surrounding highways.

"The government's desire to deploy a rifle team to war on the deer," said Lee Hall, legal director for Friends of Animals, "lacks biological, ecological, and ethical sense."

Source: Philly.com

MAYRLAND NEWS: Sligo Creek Park Battles Deer

One day in 2007, after a morning spent at Sligo Creek Park removing invasive plants so native plants could survive, Sally Gagne took a moment to look back on the acre of parkland she had proudly worked to save.

Her pride turned quickly to panic.

"I couldn't believe how little was left," said Gagne, a Silver Spring resident and founder of the Friends of Sligo Creek, a group dedicated to improving the quality of the Sligo Creek watershed, which covers 11.6 square miles from Wheaton to Hyattsville. "There were very few young trees and even fewer native plants."

A new adversary -- a rapidly increasing deer population in Sligo Creek -- had eaten almost all of the native plants and saplings.

The deer problem was bad in 2007, she said, and is worse now. For the first time, members of the Friends group are debating whether to cull the deer population in Sligo Creek before the ecosystem is ruined.

"It will happen slowly, but the woods will be gone," Gagne said. "The whole community of woods, the animals that live there and the birds that fly through."

By the group's count, between 98 and 123 deer live within one square mile along Sligo Creek Parkway between Colesville Road and Arcola Avenue in Silver Spring. Depending on the area, the deer population should be between 15 and 30 deer per square mile for the ecosystem to be unaffected, Montgomery County Parks Department officials said.

A deer-management program is in place at 19 county parks, using some form of sharpshooting or controlled hunting. The program covers more than 15,000 acres and 44 percent of county parkland.

The sharpshooting takes place three to four times at each park between January and April, said Rob Gibbs, the department's natural resources manager. Trained marksmen kill 25 to more than 100 deer a night, Gibbs said.

But sharpshooting is rare downcounty, where the parks are too small, too narrow or too urban for sharpshooting or controlled hunting, Gibbs said. Those areas have attracted deer that have grown wise to some of the long-standing upcounty sharpshooting programs, he said.

The deer population at Sligo Creek has increased almost twofold since 2007, leaving the Friends of Sligo Creek with a difficult predicament: Lobbying for sharpshooting or controlled hunts to manage deer could anger some members who say that sharpshooting would be too dangerous at Sligo Creek or that it is inhumane.

"It could end up being a lose-lose: not controlling deer and losing a lot of members," said Bruce Sidwell, the group's president.

At least part of the watershed is among sites in which the county would like to begin sharpshooting. The Sligo Creek Stream Valley Park, units 3, 4 and 5 -- the square mile between Colesville and Arcola -- is among six locations marked for future deer-management programs. The programs would cost about $150,000 and remove an estimated 355 deer initially.

The money would go a long way toward assisting a program that is "stretched as far as we can go," Gibbs told the Montgomery County Council's Public Safety Committee in a work session last Thursday. The deer-management program has two full-time employees covering 15,000 acres and was budgeted $121,000 for fiscal 2009 and $91,000 for fiscal 2010, according to a letter from Parks Department Director Mary Bradford to the council in August.

At Thursday's meeting, Council President Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville) praised the deer-management program's work but was noncommittal about allocating more money.

Even if Friends of Sligo Creek members can come to an agreement on sharpshooting at the park, by the time a program could be implemented, the ecosystem would be damaged beyond repair, Gagne said.

She resigned from running the group's Removal of Invasive Plants program because her efforts were no match for the deer.

"Everybody is affected by it," Gagne said. "I can't imagine letting all these plants disappear."

Source: Washington Post

WISCONSIN NEWS: Possible Word Record-Setting Deer, DNR to Receive No Credit

Do not let this record buck fool you--the DNR has ruined the herd! I read that on the internet somewhere.

A Wisconsin hunter is holding his breath and waiting to hear whether he will hold a hunting world record.

Michael Gregoire of Sheboygan Falls may break the current record for the largest whitetail rack of a buck he shot with a bow and arrow Thursday on his brother's farm.

The 12-point buck weighed 240 pounds and the rack was unofficially set at 217 5/8 inches.

The current record was set back in 1993 in Canada, with a rack of 213 5/8 inches. The state record is 206 1/8 inches.

There is a 60-day drying period Gregoire must sustain before the official measurements and scores are released.

Source: wkowtv

KANSAS NEWS: Shawnee Mission Park Cull Nets 313 Deer

Shawnee Mission State Park is 1250 acres, 150 of which is a lake. This harvest is the equivalent of 182 deer per square mile of habitat.

Volunteer sharpshooters killed 313 deer in Shawnee Mission Park last week, park officials reported Monday.

Randy Knight, a spokesman for the Johnson County Park and Recreation District, said the first phase of the park’s deer harvest has ended and the herd will be surveyed later this month to determine whether more deer should be killed.

If a second phase is needed, bow hunters would be brought in beginning Dec. 7.

Source: KansasCity.com

NEW YORK NEWS: Municipality Supports Deer Management

Cayuga Heights village residents spoke overwhelmingly Wednesday evening in favor of a plan to either sterilize or cull all the deer in the village.

The village trustees held a special public hearing at Cayuga Heights Elementary School as part of their environmental review process on a deer remediation plan that calls for sterilizing 20-60 does, then culling or killing the remainder of the deer. The meeting drew more than 100 people.

Among villagers who spoke, supporters of the plan outnumbered detractors 4 to 1. Supporters recounted stories of car-deer accidents and near-misses, neighbors and friends with Lyme disease, and deer unafraid of dogs or people.

Forty-year village resident Barbara Collier said she was annoyed by people telling her to plant a garden the deer won't like, because she doesn't like it either.

"I'm an animal lover, but I don't need my herd of 11 deer coming through my yard," she said.

Robert Harris, a 35-year resident, said he was jogging early in the morning and saw a small herd of deer. He continued on his path, assuming the deer would move but instead, "the deer hissed at me," he said, to appreciative laughter from some of the audience.

Villager Corinne Frantz said she spoke with her children around the dinner table about the deer problem and told them that it's possible to have strong, conflicting emotions about killing the deer, but that with no natural predators, humans have a responsibility to reduce the deer herd.

"We can cry. We can cry and we can cull," she said.

In two hours of comment from villagers, with each speaker limited to two minutes, roughly half a dozen villagers spoke against the plan to kill the deer.

Full story is available at: Ithaca Journal

WISCONSIN NEWS: Where the Deer Are

The Wisconsin DNR just published this map, showing where deer exceed population goals and where deer are relatively scarce.

ARKANSAS NEWS: A Look at Historic Deer Harvests

From the low three figures to a steady six figures — that's the story of Arkansas' deer harvest records.

Numerous hunters in the state, sometimes after an unproductive session in the woods, many grumble that "deer hunting just isn't what it was in the old days."

The statistics are not on their side, however.

Many other hunters realistically realize that the state has many, many more deer here in 2009 than it did a couple of generations back. They may also have gripes about not enough deer in this area, few bucks in that county, too small racks on the bucks somewhere else. But the numbers are indisputable — Arkansas deer are plentiful, although not to everyone's satisfaction.

The first year of official checking of deer taken by hunters by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was 1938.

Picture that autumn. The state and the nation were still in the grips of the Great Depression. Many Arkansans sought deer for the most basic of objectives. They needed food on the table. That hunting season, 203 were checked by hunters with AGFC's representatives.

The economy was bleak, but restoration of Arkansas's deer had been under way for more than a decade, most as the efforts may seem today. Deer "farms" were in operation in several locations. Deer were being relocated to places where they were absent and had been scarce for years since the late 19th century and early 20th century.

It is a reasonable assumption that some deer were taken by hunters in the fall of 1938 and were not checked, but were taken straight to kitchen use.

The next year, 1939, there were 540 deer checked as information spread around the state about this new requirement for hunters. In 1940, just 408 deer were checked, and in 1941, 433 deer were checked.

These totals seem tiny compared to recent years of Arkansas hunting.

Last season, the 2008 hunt that stretched into early 2009, 184,991 deer were tallied by Arkansas hunters, a total second only to the peak season of 1999 when 194,687 deer were logged across the state in records of all three hunting methods archery, muzzle-loader and modern gun.

long with the outright poaching and night-hunting, is present today as it was in 1938. Unknown, of course, is the extent of these illegal takings of deer. Does poaching account for a small percentage of the deer taken each year or a large amount?

Deer hunting numbers rose steadily from the early years, especially after the AGFC was reorganized into its present form by Amendment 35 of the Arkansas Constitution which went into effect in 1945. From the 1,687 deer checked that year, the state total was 5,122 just five years later. Fifteen years later, in 1960, the deer harvest total was 15,000.

Deer harvest growth continued through the 1960s and see-sawed a bit in the 1970s as the first steps toward hunting of female deer, does, in some areas began. Some protests came forth after the 1978 season when 43,452 deer were checked. Doe hunting was reduced, and in 1979 the total for the state was 36,074.

About this time, more tailored deer hunting regulations were crafted by the AGFC, allowing for more hunting days and more taking of does in areas where deer had become plentiful. Restricted rules were in effect for areas of lesser deer numbers.

It was 1987 when Arkansas's deer take reached six figures, with 106,392 checked that year by hunters. The total dipped in 1990, again with tightened hunting rules. Then it returned to six figures in 1991. The peak of 1999 climaxed five years of impressive numbers on the deer hunting scene.

Some hunters protested that too many deer were falling to hunters. New strategies in deer management came forth, including quality deer objectives on both private land and some public land.

After a dip in 2003, when tighter deer hunting rules were coupled with unfavorable weather, the statewide deer totals have climbed again to approach the peak of a decade ago.

Source: Baxter Bulletin

OPINION: Counting Deer in Wisconsin

How many deer are in Wisconsin? It depends on who you ask. From a recent story:

A debate continues to rage between Wisconsin hunters and the Department of Natural Resources over the true number of deer in the state. Hunters have repeatedly argued the deer population is dropping. The DNR counters saying there are too many deer in Wisconsin and the agency is studying a plan to extend the deer hunting season.

The debate is not new. What is new is some vehicle collision data that can be brought to bear on the question.

Now, hunters say they have the proof they need, a study that reportedly shows car-deer crashes in Wisconsin has dropped and has been dropping for years. Joe Terrien of MJ Collision Center in Bellevue has seen the numbers drop first hand. "Six years ago, we saw at least on deer hit a day. Now we're seeing two a week."

A collision data seems like a good source of data, at least at the level of a township. But does this hold up statewide?

Data from the Department of Transportation seem to confirm the drop. In 2003, a peak year according to the DOT there were more than 20 thousand car deer crashes reported by the State Patrol. Since then, the numbers are trending lower.

You can look at the 2008 DoT Report here. I do not think there is much ammunition to give credence to the hunters saying deer populations are down. Here is data showing the relationship between deer-vehicle collisions in Wisconsin from 1993 to 2008. Do you see a trend? Because there isn't one.



What does this mean? The interpretation is ambiguous. If you think deer densities should correlate with deer crashes, you would probably be suspect of the crash estimates, the deer population estimates, or both.

But DNR Spokesperson Kieth Warnke denied the connection between less deer and less car deer crashes."I don't think they reflect a magnitude of change in deer population state wide." Warnke does not deny the numbers in the study. But The DNR and DOT say there could be other factors involved. They give examples such as the bad economy is keeping many drivers off the roads and that may be responsible for the lower numbers.

I don't think Keith is correct here, either. His reasoning is correct, but he seems to exclude fewer deer as an explanation. The ideal approach to estimating population trends should incorporate all sources of data, but of course that is easier said than done.

In the final analysis, the exact number of deer does not really matter. If you are a hunter, what matters is seeing a deer during deer season. If you are a driver, what matters is not colliding with deer. Actual population estimates are nothing more than a tool to help population managers do their job. By this measure, the current SAK model, with all its flaws, does a reasonable job. That is not to say the DNR cannot do better. However, I think this latest salvo from the disgruntled deer hunters association has missed its target.

Source: NBC26