Luckily the deer will not be asked to carry condoms or remember to take a pill at the same time every night, but if Hastings mayor Peter Swiderski's most recent plan to reduce the deer population goes forward, promiscuous does will soon be stymied in their efforts to take over the village.
Immunocontraception, a cutting-edge technology in the arena of animal control, was disclosed last night as the mayor's preferred approach to reducing the number of deer in Hastings.
Allen Rutberg, a professor at Tufts University, and leading researcher in the field of immunocontraception, said this method could potentially be effective on deer populations in suburban communities, but that it's still in the research phase.
"Introducing immunocontraception into a population of deer is complicated because it requires that the process be strongly supported by the community," Rutberg said, meaning that a long-term commitment to the program is necessary for success.
A 10-year employee of the Humane Society of America, Rutberg views immunocontraception as a middle-ground solution to a problem that generally offers no compromise.
"Whether to control a growing population of deer is generally a no-win issue," Rutberg said. "Some people feel strongly—and for different reasons—that deer should be killed and others believe strongly in protecting animal rights."
By hitting does with small vaccine darts, scientists are able to inject a naturally-occurring protein called Porcine (pig) Zonapellucida (PZP), which sterilizes the animals for what Rutberg believes to be about two years. This means animals would need to be re-vaccinated two years after the initial dose.
"The way it works is really cool," Rutberg said. "The PZP forms a protein envelope around female deer's eggs so that fertilization cannot occur. We use the pig Zonapellucida because other large mammals injected with pig protein develop antibodies that block fertilization sites on their own eggs as well."
Zonapellucida antibodies are nothing like any other protein in the deer's body, Rutberg said, so there is no risk of destroying other aspects of the animal's anatomy or temperament.
Another concern scientists have posed is whether if a human hunted and ate a deer—which is illegal though certainly not unheard of in Westchester—if she, too, could become infertile.
"There is absolutely no chance of that happening," Rutberg said. "The protein needs to be injected directly into the blood stream to work. Because it is extracted directly from a pig ovary it is probably no different from some of the ingredients in common dog food."
One shortcoming of Rutberg and his colleagues' studies thus far is that they have all been conducted in fairly contained areas, such as Fire Island and a federal campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
"Studies show that 90 percent of female deer don't wander very far throughout their lives," Rutberg said. "I imagine the efficacy rate would be similar for both contained and open populations."
But New York Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach is not convinced.
"This type of study is very hard to conduct in a wild population," Rosenbach said. "They can be hard to control and very expensive."
Swiderski disagrees with the expense of such action, saying each vaccine would cost no more than $30 and the village could probably apply for grants.
Though Rosenbach said the DEC would review an application for a permit to try immunocontraception, she thought it would be difficult to approve. "I don't believe we have issued a permit for this type of wildlife control," Rosenbach said. "If it were part of a study, that would be a different matter, and we would have to work closely with the scientist conducting the research."
But Rutberg is thrilled to be on the forefront of a non-lethal means of population control he truly believes will work.
"Though I no longer speak for the Humane Society, I can say with confidence a net-and-bolt cull is not something they condone," Rutberg said. "For us, immunocontraception was just a natural progression from our community outreach programs teaching the importance of spaying and neutering pets."
Now, the question is whether it will work.
Swiderski acknowledges the possibility that immunocontraception won't be the silver bullet--or dart--many hope it will, but said: "It's easier to turn back on a non-lethal approach that fails, shrug and say, 'We tried.'"
Source: Hastings-Dobbs Ferry Patch
Friday, July 30, 2010
IOWA NEWS: Urban Hunt Aims to Reduce Vehicle Collisions
City of Urbandale wants to cull the herd to reduce number of auto accidents and property damage.
The city of Urbandale will once again allow a bow hunt of antlerless deer in some parts of the city, in an effort to thin the city's teeming deer population.
The Urbandale City Council voted during its meeting Tuesday to allow bow-hunting from Sept. 11 to Jan. 30 as part of the Polk County Conservation Board's annual controlled bow hunt for antlerless deer.
Urbandale police officer Jeff Casey, whose department oversees the bow hunt for the city, said recent studies showed Urbandale has about 135 deer per square mile west of Interstate Highway 35/80, compared to a county average of 43 per square mile.
Deer were responsible for eight motor-vehicle collisions in 2005, 33 in 2006, 26 in 2007, 24 in 2008 and 24 in 2009, Casey said, adding that one of the goals of the task force is to thin the herd to about 30 per square mile to help prevent accidents.
"That's the recommended number to prevent more damage than we're already seeing," Casey said. "We're consistently seeing property damage in addition to the traffic situations caused by deer. Bow-hunting can have a considerable impact."
Source: DeMoinesRegister
The city of Urbandale will once again allow a bow hunt of antlerless deer in some parts of the city, in an effort to thin the city's teeming deer population.
The Urbandale City Council voted during its meeting Tuesday to allow bow-hunting from Sept. 11 to Jan. 30 as part of the Polk County Conservation Board's annual controlled bow hunt for antlerless deer.
Urbandale police officer Jeff Casey, whose department oversees the bow hunt for the city, said recent studies showed Urbandale has about 135 deer per square mile west of Interstate Highway 35/80, compared to a county average of 43 per square mile.
Deer were responsible for eight motor-vehicle collisions in 2005, 33 in 2006, 26 in 2007, 24 in 2008 and 24 in 2009, Casey said, adding that one of the goals of the task force is to thin the herd to about 30 per square mile to help prevent accidents.
"That's the recommended number to prevent more damage than we're already seeing," Casey said. "We're consistently seeing property damage in addition to the traffic situations caused by deer. Bow-hunting can have a considerable impact."
Source: DeMoinesRegister
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
BRITISH COLUMBIA NEWS: City to Combat Urban Deer
Officials in Cranbrook, B.C., have met with government biologists in an attempt to find a solution to aggressive deer plaguing the city.
Urban deer have been devouring gardens, injuring pets and attacking people.
Last month, a YouTube video of a deer stomping on a dog in Cranbrook went viral, getting more than 1.4 million hits in just a few weeks.
On July 14, a newspaper carrier in Cranbrook made headlines after he was attacked by a deer while doing his rounds. The attack left Brock Jones with a gash on his chin and a black eye.
And last week, Mayor Scott Manjak came upon an angered doe chasing a woman and her dog down a residential street, "and I had to bring my truck between the lady and the deer so the deer would stop chasing her."
Encounters such as these these are happening far too often in Cranbrook, Manjak said, and something has to be done.
"They are getting more aggressive and escalation is getting higher because these are deer that have been in the community three and four years. They have no fear whatsoever," he said.
Solutions discussed
Manjak met with biologists from the provincial Ministry of Environment on Monday to discuss solutions.
The City of Cranbrook is hoping the provincial government will help address the problem of aggressive deer. (CBC)
The ministry has done an exhaustive study on urban deer to come up with potential solutions. However, the most effective solution — a large-scale cull — is also the most controversial.
Manjak said the city plans to ask local residents what they think should be done about the problem deer, something neighbouring Kimberly is already doing.
"This is a very controversial problem and by doing the survey and following it through, we'll come to a community-wide solution," said Kimberly Mayor Jim Ogalvie.
Source: CBC News
Urban deer have been devouring gardens, injuring pets and attacking people.
Last month, a YouTube video of a deer stomping on a dog in Cranbrook went viral, getting more than 1.4 million hits in just a few weeks.
On July 14, a newspaper carrier in Cranbrook made headlines after he was attacked by a deer while doing his rounds. The attack left Brock Jones with a gash on his chin and a black eye.
And last week, Mayor Scott Manjak came upon an angered doe chasing a woman and her dog down a residential street, "and I had to bring my truck between the lady and the deer so the deer would stop chasing her."
Encounters such as these these are happening far too often in Cranbrook, Manjak said, and something has to be done.
"They are getting more aggressive and escalation is getting higher because these are deer that have been in the community three and four years. They have no fear whatsoever," he said.
Solutions discussed
Manjak met with biologists from the provincial Ministry of Environment on Monday to discuss solutions.
The City of Cranbrook is hoping the provincial government will help address the problem of aggressive deer. (CBC)
The ministry has done an exhaustive study on urban deer to come up with potential solutions. However, the most effective solution — a large-scale cull — is also the most controversial.
Manjak said the city plans to ask local residents what they think should be done about the problem deer, something neighbouring Kimberly is already doing.
"This is a very controversial problem and by doing the survey and following it through, we'll come to a community-wide solution," said Kimberly Mayor Jim Ogalvie.
Source: CBC News
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
MISSOURI NEWS: Urban Hunt Cancelled, Liability Concerns Cited
Managed deer hunts near Fellows Lake and Lake Springfield scheduled for later this year have been canceled while the Missouri Department of Conservation and City Utilities work through legal concerns.
"Basically what's happened is City Utilities ... had some concerns about some hunter liability issues," said Francis Skalicky, a spokesman for MDC's southwest region office. "We weren't able to reach a consensus before registration started, so it's delayed until next year."
The archery-only urban hunts, meant to curb overpopulation of deer in and around city limits, garnered broad support during City Council discussions in late 2009.
Conservation agents, who had urged an urban hunt since the 1990s, cited deer populations four to eight times the preferred density.
Springfield-Greene County Health Department officials chimed in with concerns about a rise in tick-borne diseases.
Homeowners in Ravenwood, Spring Creek and Ravenwood South wrote to City Hall to complain deer were creating a hazard on the roadways -- backed up by police crash statistics -- and a nuisance in their gardens.
Full story at: Springfield News-Leader
"Basically what's happened is City Utilities ... had some concerns about some hunter liability issues," said Francis Skalicky, a spokesman for MDC's southwest region office. "We weren't able to reach a consensus before registration started, so it's delayed until next year."
The archery-only urban hunts, meant to curb overpopulation of deer in and around city limits, garnered broad support during City Council discussions in late 2009.
Conservation agents, who had urged an urban hunt since the 1990s, cited deer populations four to eight times the preferred density.
Springfield-Greene County Health Department officials chimed in with concerns about a rise in tick-borne diseases.
Homeowners in Ravenwood, Spring Creek and Ravenwood South wrote to City Hall to complain deer were creating a hazard on the roadways -- backed up by police crash statistics -- and a nuisance in their gardens.
Full story at: Springfield News-Leader
Monday, July 19, 2010
MICHIGAN NEWS: 2009 Deer Hunting Season Summary
Michigan hunters harvested almost 10 percent fewer white-tailed deer across the state last year, likely because of poor weather conditions and unusually late-standing corn crops that made hunting difficult during the regular rifle season, hunter data shows.
Across all Michigan deer hunting seasons, buck harvest slipped roughly 14 percent to 214,937 last year from 248,350 deer in 2008. Doe harvest also dropped to 229,111 from 241,573, or about 5 percent. A significantly higher percentage of those deer were taken in archery and late antlerless seasons in 2009 than in ’08, which increased roughly 10 and 30 percent, respectively.
Hunter success dipped by 4 percent statewide to an overall average of 47 percent in 2009.
“We had warm weather in a lot of the state, rainy weather in some areas and a lot of standing corn still up. Thirty percent (of corn) was harvested as opposed to 70 percent normally,” said Brent Rudolph, DNRE deer program leader.
The number of Michigan hunters dropped by about 1 percent to 686,392 this year from 693,817 in 2008, following a decade-long trend.
Source: MLive
Across all Michigan deer hunting seasons, buck harvest slipped roughly 14 percent to 214,937 last year from 248,350 deer in 2008. Doe harvest also dropped to 229,111 from 241,573, or about 5 percent. A significantly higher percentage of those deer were taken in archery and late antlerless seasons in 2009 than in ’08, which increased roughly 10 and 30 percent, respectively.
Hunter success dipped by 4 percent statewide to an overall average of 47 percent in 2009.
“We had warm weather in a lot of the state, rainy weather in some areas and a lot of standing corn still up. Thirty percent (of corn) was harvested as opposed to 70 percent normally,” said Brent Rudolph, DNRE deer program leader.
The number of Michigan hunters dropped by about 1 percent to 686,392 this year from 693,817 in 2008, following a decade-long trend.
Source: MLive
Thursday, May 27, 2010
VIRGINIA NEWS: County Looks to Deploy 4-Posters to Fight Lyme
In an effort to slow the spread of Lyme disease, Loudoun County, which has the highest concentration of the disease in Virginia, may seek state permission to install devices that kill the bugs that spread the disease: ticks.
Called the 4-Poster Deer Treatment Bait Station because it resembles a four-poster bed, the device was created by researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the mid-1990s as a means of applying a tick-killing pesticide on the heads and necks of deer.
At a cost of about $425, the simple contraption is composed of a bin that holds corn kernels. When a deer sticks its head in the bin to feed, it rubs against two paintbrushes coated with a permethrin-based tickicide.
“It has proven to be effective,” said Loudoun Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who is working on a proposal to bring the stations to Loudoun.
In the late 1990s, researchers from Fordham University studied two towns in Upstate New York that were hotbeds for Lyme disease. Of the two, one had 24 of the devices installed, while they other had none. Results showed that after three years, deer in the community without the devices had seven times more ticks on them than deer known to have used the stations in the other community.
On its website, the American Lyme Disease Foundation cites two other studies in Texas and Maryland that showed the stations killed off more than 90 percent of the local tick populations.
Still, what remains unclear, according to Loudoun County Health Department Director Dr. David Goodfriend, is whether the devices help ward off human infections.
“I have not seen a study yet that shows how this reduces Lyme disease,” he said.
Goodfriend said the tried and true methods of avoiding the disease still remain keeping your property maintained and inspecting yourself regularly for ticks. “Controlling your personal environment,” he said, is key to avoiding being infected.
While how effective the stations are in thwarting the disease is still unknown, officials in Fairfax County have already begun the process to acquire one of the devices, which would make it the first jurisdiction in Virginia to employ one, according to Fairfax County Wildlife Biologist Victoria Monroe.
Currently, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries does not permit the stations in Virginia over concerns about their use during hunting season and whether they would attract deer with chronic wasting disease into the Commonwealth.
Monroe said Fairfax is working with the department to create a permitting system that she hopes jurisdictions and homeowners associations alike could use to acquire the stations. She’s hoping Fairfax will gain permission by the end of summer to deploy its station. If so, she said it would likely be installed next February as part of a pilot program on one of two parks being considered. She said one station can maintain the tick population in an area covering at least 50 acres.
Like Goodfriend, she said she knew of no studies that measured the effective of the stations on combating the spread of Lyme disease, but said researchers at Cornell University are currently conducting a study.
Positive results or not, she said they do have their limitations since they only kill ticks found on deer. (Ticks acquire the bacteria that causes Lyme disease from white-footed mice while deer move ticks from place to place.)
If and when permitted in Virginia, she said the stations would likely be deployed as a complement to other disease-prevention techniques, like checking for ticks after being outside.
“By itself," Monroe said, “I don’t think it would work.”
Source: Loudoun Independent
Called the 4-Poster Deer Treatment Bait Station because it resembles a four-poster bed, the device was created by researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the mid-1990s as a means of applying a tick-killing pesticide on the heads and necks of deer.
At a cost of about $425, the simple contraption is composed of a bin that holds corn kernels. When a deer sticks its head in the bin to feed, it rubs against two paintbrushes coated with a permethrin-based tickicide.
“It has proven to be effective,” said Loudoun Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who is working on a proposal to bring the stations to Loudoun.
In the late 1990s, researchers from Fordham University studied two towns in Upstate New York that were hotbeds for Lyme disease. Of the two, one had 24 of the devices installed, while they other had none. Results showed that after three years, deer in the community without the devices had seven times more ticks on them than deer known to have used the stations in the other community.
On its website, the American Lyme Disease Foundation cites two other studies in Texas and Maryland that showed the stations killed off more than 90 percent of the local tick populations.
Still, what remains unclear, according to Loudoun County Health Department Director Dr. David Goodfriend, is whether the devices help ward off human infections.
“I have not seen a study yet that shows how this reduces Lyme disease,” he said.
Goodfriend said the tried and true methods of avoiding the disease still remain keeping your property maintained and inspecting yourself regularly for ticks. “Controlling your personal environment,” he said, is key to avoiding being infected.
While how effective the stations are in thwarting the disease is still unknown, officials in Fairfax County have already begun the process to acquire one of the devices, which would make it the first jurisdiction in Virginia to employ one, according to Fairfax County Wildlife Biologist Victoria Monroe.
Currently, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries does not permit the stations in Virginia over concerns about their use during hunting season and whether they would attract deer with chronic wasting disease into the Commonwealth.
Monroe said Fairfax is working with the department to create a permitting system that she hopes jurisdictions and homeowners associations alike could use to acquire the stations. She’s hoping Fairfax will gain permission by the end of summer to deploy its station. If so, she said it would likely be installed next February as part of a pilot program on one of two parks being considered. She said one station can maintain the tick population in an area covering at least 50 acres.
Like Goodfriend, she said she knew of no studies that measured the effective of the stations on combating the spread of Lyme disease, but said researchers at Cornell University are currently conducting a study.
Positive results or not, she said they do have their limitations since they only kill ticks found on deer. (Ticks acquire the bacteria that causes Lyme disease from white-footed mice while deer move ticks from place to place.)
If and when permitted in Virginia, she said the stations would likely be deployed as a complement to other disease-prevention techniques, like checking for ticks after being outside.
“By itself," Monroe said, “I don’t think it would work.”
Source: Loudoun Independent
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: City Council Seeks More Data on Deer Impacts
The Morgantown City Council is waiting for more discussion and data to be collected before authorizing a controlled bow hunt within city limits.
The council heard a report from the city’s Urban Deer Committee and concerns from members of the community regarding the proposed bow hunt meant to control the deer population. While the council is waiting before authorizing a hunt, it indicated it would act as quickly as its next regular meeting to pass an ordinance to ban the feeding of deer.
The committee, headed by Dave Samuels, a former wildlife management professor at West Virginia University, proposed several measures, including a controlled bow hunt, to curb the deer population.
"Our approach is to try and use as much science as possible," Samuels said. "But you are going to have anecdotal evidence."
Community members expressed concern over collecting data before a hunt is permitted.
Hunts are highly controlled, Samuels said, and would only take place in select locations.
"Never has there been an accident with an urban bow hunt in the United States involving a non-hunter," he said.
Studies from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and anecdotal evidence from residents indicate overpopulation of deer, Samuels said. Two to five deer per square mile is an acceptable number within city limits, he said, but he has seen photos showing up to 17 deer in one yard.
The ecology of parks in the Morgantown area, including the WVU Core Aboreatum, Samuels said, has been greatly disturbed by the large deer population. He said many types of wildflowers have been eradicated from the Arboreatum, and those present are there because they are not appetizing to deer.
Barton Baker, a professor with the WVU division of plant and soil sciences, told Samuels approximately $400,000 of grant money was lost because of deer overpopulation around the WVU organic farm.
Many within WVU’s Agricultural Sciences Department had asked for an urban deer hunt for almost a decade, Samuels said.
Randy Hudak, vice president of Facilities Management at WVU, represented the University on the committee and was able to gain administrative support, Samuels said.
Samuels’ other suggestions included: the council adopting regulations prohibiting the feeding of deer within city limits; a section of the city’s website be dedicated to receiving complaints regarding deer and endorsed the use of repellents to deter deer from feeding on plants around peoples’ homes; and deer "exclosures" be built in parks throughout the city, including the Arboreatum.
While the committee is not totally sold on a comprehensive deer "census," Samuels said it was not a bad idea. He also said for many people on either side of the debate the exact number of deer is unimportant.
Source: Daily Athenaeum
The council heard a report from the city’s Urban Deer Committee and concerns from members of the community regarding the proposed bow hunt meant to control the deer population. While the council is waiting before authorizing a hunt, it indicated it would act as quickly as its next regular meeting to pass an ordinance to ban the feeding of deer.
The committee, headed by Dave Samuels, a former wildlife management professor at West Virginia University, proposed several measures, including a controlled bow hunt, to curb the deer population.
"Our approach is to try and use as much science as possible," Samuels said. "But you are going to have anecdotal evidence."
Community members expressed concern over collecting data before a hunt is permitted.
Hunts are highly controlled, Samuels said, and would only take place in select locations.
"Never has there been an accident with an urban bow hunt in the United States involving a non-hunter," he said.
Studies from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and anecdotal evidence from residents indicate overpopulation of deer, Samuels said. Two to five deer per square mile is an acceptable number within city limits, he said, but he has seen photos showing up to 17 deer in one yard.
The ecology of parks in the Morgantown area, including the WVU Core Aboreatum, Samuels said, has been greatly disturbed by the large deer population. He said many types of wildflowers have been eradicated from the Arboreatum, and those present are there because they are not appetizing to deer.
Barton Baker, a professor with the WVU division of plant and soil sciences, told Samuels approximately $400,000 of grant money was lost because of deer overpopulation around the WVU organic farm.
Many within WVU’s Agricultural Sciences Department had asked for an urban deer hunt for almost a decade, Samuels said.
Randy Hudak, vice president of Facilities Management at WVU, represented the University on the committee and was able to gain administrative support, Samuels said.
Samuels’ other suggestions included: the council adopting regulations prohibiting the feeding of deer within city limits; a section of the city’s website be dedicated to receiving complaints regarding deer and endorsed the use of repellents to deter deer from feeding on plants around peoples’ homes; and deer "exclosures" be built in parks throughout the city, including the Arboreatum.
While the committee is not totally sold on a comprehensive deer "census," Samuels said it was not a bad idea. He also said for many people on either side of the debate the exact number of deer is unimportant.
Source: Daily Athenaeum
NEW YORK NEWS: Village Seeks Deer Management Consultant
I am not accepting new clients at this time. -TR
The Cayuga Heights village board's environmental assessment on its plan to reduce the deer herd is available on the village website.
The trustees formally adopted the assessment, which is required by state regulations, on March 27, Mayor Kate Supron said.
The village must now find a consultant to conduct further study on the two issues the board deemed as having a "significant effect on the environment," which are the reduction in deer population by approximately 150 deer, and the public controversy over that proposal, Supron said.
The trustees' environmental impact statement lays out the case they've made for sterilizing 20-60 does in the village, then culling or killing the rest of the deer herd. It includes supportive statements from Cornell Lab of Ornithology director John Fitzpatrick and Cornell Plantations botanist and natural areas manager Robert Wesley, among others.
In Wesley's statement, he asserts that diverse native plant species have "dwindled greatly or disappeared" as the deer population has grown.
"I believe that reducing the density of deer could only have a positive effect on any or all rare, threatened or endangered plant species in the area," he wrote.
Fitzpatrick wrote that "the white-tailed deer population boom has reached a stage I now describe as 'menacing' for biodiversity." Deer impact on understory plants reduces and eliminates habitat for a variety of bird species, he wrote.
The village's environmental assessment asserts that most villagers support the plan, citing recent village elections and an October public hearing. It also acknowledges strong opposition to the plan by some villagers and residents of surrounding municipalities, which has been organized primarily through the citizen's group Cayugadeer.org.
James LaVeck and Jenny Stein of Cayugadeer.org criticized the trustees' assessment for choosing only two issues as worthy of further study.
"What does it say about the Cayuga Heights trustees that they are willing to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to a consultant to perform a study of 'public controversy,' and not a penny to obtain expert advice on the potential dangers of discharging deadly weapons hundreds of times near residences and roadways?" they wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.
The village sent out a request for proposals to 10 consulting firms, but has not yet heard back from anybody, Supron said. Because of the uncertainty in finding a consultant, Supron said she couldn't provide an estimate on when the village might enact its deer plan.
"I was quite hopeful that it would be well under way by now," she said.
Source: Ithaca Journal
The Cayuga Heights village board's environmental assessment on its plan to reduce the deer herd is available on the village website.
The trustees formally adopted the assessment, which is required by state regulations, on March 27, Mayor Kate Supron said.
The village must now find a consultant to conduct further study on the two issues the board deemed as having a "significant effect on the environment," which are the reduction in deer population by approximately 150 deer, and the public controversy over that proposal, Supron said.
The trustees' environmental impact statement lays out the case they've made for sterilizing 20-60 does in the village, then culling or killing the rest of the deer herd. It includes supportive statements from Cornell Lab of Ornithology director John Fitzpatrick and Cornell Plantations botanist and natural areas manager Robert Wesley, among others.
In Wesley's statement, he asserts that diverse native plant species have "dwindled greatly or disappeared" as the deer population has grown.
"I believe that reducing the density of deer could only have a positive effect on any or all rare, threatened or endangered plant species in the area," he wrote.
Fitzpatrick wrote that "the white-tailed deer population boom has reached a stage I now describe as 'menacing' for biodiversity." Deer impact on understory plants reduces and eliminates habitat for a variety of bird species, he wrote.
The village's environmental assessment asserts that most villagers support the plan, citing recent village elections and an October public hearing. It also acknowledges strong opposition to the plan by some villagers and residents of surrounding municipalities, which has been organized primarily through the citizen's group Cayugadeer.org.
James LaVeck and Jenny Stein of Cayugadeer.org criticized the trustees' assessment for choosing only two issues as worthy of further study.
"What does it say about the Cayuga Heights trustees that they are willing to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to a consultant to perform a study of 'public controversy,' and not a penny to obtain expert advice on the potential dangers of discharging deadly weapons hundreds of times near residences and roadways?" they wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.
The village sent out a request for proposals to 10 consulting firms, but has not yet heard back from anybody, Supron said. Because of the uncertainty in finding a consultant, Supron said she couldn't provide an estimate on when the village might enact its deer plan.
"I was quite hopeful that it would be well under way by now," she said.
Source: Ithaca Journal
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
COLORADO NEWS: Rabid Deer Fed by Residents
In a recent notification from the Office of Emergency Management via the Code Red System, residents of Elbert County were alerted that a mule deer, which had been acting aggressively within the Town of Elizabeth had tested positive for rabies. Certainly not good news, but worse was to come when the animal was necropsied by the Colorado State University Lab it became clear that the deer had likely been fed by local residents as its stomach contained sliced apples, rolled corn and bird seed.
The notification went on to say that rabies has now been found in all areas of Elbert County and that residents should ensure their animals are vaccinated against the rabies virus. In addition, the Colorado Division of Wildlife regulations do not permit feeding wild animals and encourages residents to secure their feed for pets and livestock.
Elbert County is now considered to be an area endemic for the rabies virus in wild animals.
Source: The Examiner
The notification went on to say that rabies has now been found in all areas of Elbert County and that residents should ensure their animals are vaccinated against the rabies virus. In addition, the Colorado Division of Wildlife regulations do not permit feeding wild animals and encourages residents to secure their feed for pets and livestock.
Elbert County is now considered to be an area endemic for the rabies virus in wild animals.
Source: The Examiner
Monday, May 03, 2010
INDIANA NEWS: DNR Plans to Reduce Deer Numbers
There will be some significant changes to Indiana's white-tailed deer hunting seasons, along with rules and regulations that govern the hunts.
The state's Department of Natural Resources is hedging on when those changes will be made, but they could come as early as this fall.
"It remains to be seen," DNR deer management biologist Chad Stewart said about a timeline. If not this year, it's almost certain that the changes will be made for the 2011 deer seasons.
The proposed changes include an antlerless quota system, bag limits, licensing, hunting equipment, special deer control permits, hunter access and restructuring hunting season dates.
Those are some major changes and Stewart has a quick answer for why they are needed.
"Bottom line? To reduce the deer population," he said.
That population continues to increase despite record numbers killed by hunters during five various deer seasons from September through January.
A month after hunters killed 132,752 deer during the last season, changes looked imminent when Stewart said, "It's kind of predictable any more. We're going to have a record or near-record harvest every year unless things change."
For several months, the DNR has met with what it calls "stakeholders" to plan a strategy for how to reduce the state's deer herd.
The size of that herd is anybody's guess, and that includes Stewart, who has a good handle on deer numbers despite admitting "we don't know in actual numbers."
What he does know is that as the annual deer harvest increases, so does the deer damage to state park ecosystems and private property, along with vehicle-deer collision reports.
So the state once again turns primarily to hunters for help.
The DNR got advice from members of organizations who understand the problem, including the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Indiana Sportsman's Roundtable, Indiana Bow Hunters Association, Indiana Deer Hunters Association, Indiana Farm Bureau, The Nature Conservancy, Quality Deer Management Association, Indiana Woodland Owner's Association and the DNR's fish and wildlife and law enforcement divisions.
The department also consulted sporting goods retailers and solicited advice from individual hunters through a survey that was posted on its free wild bulletin online site.
The survey left little doubt that there would be changes. It stated that the DNR's fish and wildlife division would use the information it gathered to gauge interest in season structure and equipment use "for upcoming changes" to the deer season.
So where is the fly in this ointment?
The hunters I talked with said they are not interested in killing more deer; their freezers are filled with deer meat. Nor are they interested in harvesting deer for deer donation programs.
Source: IndyStar
The state's Department of Natural Resources is hedging on when those changes will be made, but they could come as early as this fall.
"It remains to be seen," DNR deer management biologist Chad Stewart said about a timeline. If not this year, it's almost certain that the changes will be made for the 2011 deer seasons.
The proposed changes include an antlerless quota system, bag limits, licensing, hunting equipment, special deer control permits, hunter access and restructuring hunting season dates.
Those are some major changes and Stewart has a quick answer for why they are needed.
"Bottom line? To reduce the deer population," he said.
That population continues to increase despite record numbers killed by hunters during five various deer seasons from September through January.
A month after hunters killed 132,752 deer during the last season, changes looked imminent when Stewart said, "It's kind of predictable any more. We're going to have a record or near-record harvest every year unless things change."
For several months, the DNR has met with what it calls "stakeholders" to plan a strategy for how to reduce the state's deer herd.
The size of that herd is anybody's guess, and that includes Stewart, who has a good handle on deer numbers despite admitting "we don't know in actual numbers."
What he does know is that as the annual deer harvest increases, so does the deer damage to state park ecosystems and private property, along with vehicle-deer collision reports.
So the state once again turns primarily to hunters for help.
The DNR got advice from members of organizations who understand the problem, including the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Indiana Sportsman's Roundtable, Indiana Bow Hunters Association, Indiana Deer Hunters Association, Indiana Farm Bureau, The Nature Conservancy, Quality Deer Management Association, Indiana Woodland Owner's Association and the DNR's fish and wildlife and law enforcement divisions.
The department also consulted sporting goods retailers and solicited advice from individual hunters through a survey that was posted on its free wild bulletin online site.
The survey left little doubt that there would be changes. It stated that the DNR's fish and wildlife division would use the information it gathered to gauge interest in season structure and equipment use "for upcoming changes" to the deer season.
So where is the fly in this ointment?
The hunters I talked with said they are not interested in killing more deer; their freezers are filled with deer meat. Nor are they interested in harvesting deer for deer donation programs.
Source: IndyStar
Thursday, April 29, 2010
WISCONSIN NEWS: New Hunt Structure Aims to Increase Deer
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved a fall deer hunt structure on Wednesday aimed at increasing the antlerless deer population.
Hunters will be allowed to kill only bucks in 18 management zones, instead of the previous 13 zones. The board also reduced the number of zones with antlerless-only herd control hunts from 50 last year to 46 this fall.
Hunters recently complained DNR strategies to control herds have actually depleted the population and endangered the sport of hunting.
DNR officials are optimistic that the new structure will increase the overall population. The board voted 6-1 to approve the measure at its meeting in Green Bay on Wednesday.
Source: WKOW
Hunters will be allowed to kill only bucks in 18 management zones, instead of the previous 13 zones. The board also reduced the number of zones with antlerless-only herd control hunts from 50 last year to 46 this fall.
Hunters recently complained DNR strategies to control herds have actually depleted the population and endangered the sport of hunting.
DNR officials are optimistic that the new structure will increase the overall population. The board voted 6-1 to approve the measure at its meeting in Green Bay on Wednesday.
Source: WKOW
Monday, April 19, 2010
NEVADA NEWS: Mule Deer Declining, Predators Targeted, Biologists Ignored
Declining western deer herds have biologists, sportsman groups and environmentalists clashing over whether mountain lions and coyotes are largely to blame and should pay with their lives.
On one side are those who believe the number of deer predators should be reduced through targeted hunting programs. Others say factors such as the loss of natural habitat and wildfires are the issue.
It's an emotional debate, says Jim Heffelfinger, regional game specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
"The scenario plays out in just about every state, Heffelfinger says. "When these things flare up, they're white hot."
That's the case now in Nevada, where the issue of killing lions and coyotes that prey on deer has state Department of Wildlife officials at odds with a governor-appointed commission that oversees them.
Nevada's mule deer numbered about 106,000 in 2009, down from a high of 240,000 in 1988, according to state estimates. Mule deer, characterized by their large, mule-like ears, are common throughout the western United States.
"We've got a war going on," says Cecil Fredi, president of Hunter's Alert, one of two hunters groups that petitioned the Nevada Wildlife Commission to approve three predator-control projects last December. It did so against the advice of department Director Ken Mayer and his biologists, who said killing mountain lions and coyotes was not scientifically justified.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, which has the final say, refused to proceed. Doing so without full support of state wildlife officials would put them in an "untenable position," says Jeff Green, director of the western region for Wildlife Services.
State biologists say the deer's troubles are not due to predators but to continuing loss of habitat from development, wildfire and invading non-native grasses.
Tony Wasley, Nevada's mule deer specialist, says when lack of habitat is the problem, "all the predator control in the world won't result in any benefit."
Gerald Lent, chairman of the Nevada Wildlife Commission, says predators are an important part of Nevada's mule deer problems and addressing them is "long overdue."
The issue is also heating up in Arizona and Oregon. Arizona's mule deer number about 120,000, half the size of the herd in 1986, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Oregon's mule deer numbered 216,154 in 2009, down from 256,000 in 1990, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Duane Dungannon, state coordinator of the Oregon Hunters Association, says that even though mountain lion hunting is allowed year-round, "it's not even putting a dent in the state's cougar population."
"It's no longer that uncommon to bump into a cougar when you're deer or elk hunting, but it's becoming more uncommon to run into a deer or elk," he says.
Brooks Fahy, executive director of the non-profit Predator Defense, based in Eugene, Ore., worries the state's cougar population is "crashing" because of year-round hunting.
Source: USA Today
On one side are those who believe the number of deer predators should be reduced through targeted hunting programs. Others say factors such as the loss of natural habitat and wildfires are the issue.
It's an emotional debate, says Jim Heffelfinger, regional game specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
"The scenario plays out in just about every state, Heffelfinger says. "When these things flare up, they're white hot."
That's the case now in Nevada, where the issue of killing lions and coyotes that prey on deer has state Department of Wildlife officials at odds with a governor-appointed commission that oversees them.
Nevada's mule deer numbered about 106,000 in 2009, down from a high of 240,000 in 1988, according to state estimates. Mule deer, characterized by their large, mule-like ears, are common throughout the western United States.
"We've got a war going on," says Cecil Fredi, president of Hunter's Alert, one of two hunters groups that petitioned the Nevada Wildlife Commission to approve three predator-control projects last December. It did so against the advice of department Director Ken Mayer and his biologists, who said killing mountain lions and coyotes was not scientifically justified.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, which has the final say, refused to proceed. Doing so without full support of state wildlife officials would put them in an "untenable position," says Jeff Green, director of the western region for Wildlife Services.
State biologists say the deer's troubles are not due to predators but to continuing loss of habitat from development, wildfire and invading non-native grasses.
Tony Wasley, Nevada's mule deer specialist, says when lack of habitat is the problem, "all the predator control in the world won't result in any benefit."
Gerald Lent, chairman of the Nevada Wildlife Commission, says predators are an important part of Nevada's mule deer problems and addressing them is "long overdue."
The issue is also heating up in Arizona and Oregon. Arizona's mule deer number about 120,000, half the size of the herd in 1986, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Oregon's mule deer numbered 216,154 in 2009, down from 256,000 in 1990, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Duane Dungannon, state coordinator of the Oregon Hunters Association, says that even though mountain lion hunting is allowed year-round, "it's not even putting a dent in the state's cougar population."
"It's no longer that uncommon to bump into a cougar when you're deer or elk hunting, but it's becoming more uncommon to run into a deer or elk," he says.
Brooks Fahy, executive director of the non-profit Predator Defense, based in Eugene, Ore., worries the state's cougar population is "crashing" because of year-round hunting.
Source: USA Today
Sunday, April 18, 2010
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: WMI Audit Complete, Transparency Sought
A scientific review designed to deflate some of the controversy over the management of deer in Pennsylvania may instead promote it.
The Wildlife Management Institute recently completed a review of the Game Commission's methods for managing deer in the state. It was largely complimentary.
Scot Williamson, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based institute, told members of the General Assembly's Legislative Budget and Finance Committee Tuesday at the state Capitol that the commission's deer program is "scientifically sound" and based on a "credible model."
"But there is room for continuous improvement," he said.
It was one of his team's recommendations for making things better that has already sparked lots of debate.
Williamson pointed out that Game Commission biologists have been estimating deer populations both statewide and within each of the state's 22 wildlife management units. They have not been making those numbers public, however.
He suggested that needs to change.
Keeping the numbers hidden "has weakened the trust placed in the Pennsylvania Game Commission by the public and has affected the agency's credibility."
Carl Roe, the commission's executive director, defended the agency's practice of staying away from numbers.
For decades, the commission estimated deer populations and released those to the public. That did nothing to eliminate controversy over whether the number of deer in the wild fit the available habitat, he said.
That's why the commission has more recently tried to get hunters and others to look at deer impacts rather than deer numbers alone, he said.
"In reality, that actual estimate is irrelevant to (the deer herd's) effect," Roe said.
"We trained (hunters) to look at deer numbers per square mile. We're trying to shift that to get them to look at forest regeneration.
That's all well and good, said state Rep. Dave Levdansky, the Allegheny County legislator who requested this deer audit be done. But he said the commission should share its deer population estimates, too.
"That's like saying it's important to know whether the balance on my credit card is going up or down over time, but not what the actual balance on my American Express is," Levdansky said. "No, I think they're both important."
Regardless of whether the state talks about deer in terms of numbers or impacts, though, the question of whether the deer herd is the right size figures to go on.
The audit points out that the state's deer herd has been reduced by 25 percent since 2002. Rep. Bob Godshall, a Montgomery County Republican, said Tuesday he thinks most hunters would say the herd's been shrunk considerably more than that.
He called the reduction "the decimation" of the deer population.
Yet Bill Healy, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research biologist who collaborated on the report, said problems with forest regeneration — which has many causes — can only be addressed when deer are in balance with their food supply, and Pennsylvania may not be at that point yet.
"A 25 percent reduction looks like a big change. But it may not be quite enough," Healy said.
Deer recommendations
The Wildlife Management Institute's audit of the Game Commission's deer program called for some change. Its recommendations include:
» Discontinuing its use of counting deer embryos to measure deer health. That can work, but only if the commission were able to collect far more embryos than it is now.
» Expanding the monitoring of forest conditions to determine whether the deer program is leading to more forest regeneration.
» Refine its citizens advisory committees to include more non-hunters and/or have the committee on a statewide basis.
» Counting deer taken in the red tag, DMAP and urban deer programs more fully in its harvest totals.
Source: Pittsburgh Live
The Wildlife Management Institute recently completed a review of the Game Commission's methods for managing deer in the state. It was largely complimentary.
Scot Williamson, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based institute, told members of the General Assembly's Legislative Budget and Finance Committee Tuesday at the state Capitol that the commission's deer program is "scientifically sound" and based on a "credible model."
"But there is room for continuous improvement," he said.
It was one of his team's recommendations for making things better that has already sparked lots of debate.
Williamson pointed out that Game Commission biologists have been estimating deer populations both statewide and within each of the state's 22 wildlife management units. They have not been making those numbers public, however.
He suggested that needs to change.
Keeping the numbers hidden "has weakened the trust placed in the Pennsylvania Game Commission by the public and has affected the agency's credibility."
Carl Roe, the commission's executive director, defended the agency's practice of staying away from numbers.
For decades, the commission estimated deer populations and released those to the public. That did nothing to eliminate controversy over whether the number of deer in the wild fit the available habitat, he said.
That's why the commission has more recently tried to get hunters and others to look at deer impacts rather than deer numbers alone, he said.
"In reality, that actual estimate is irrelevant to (the deer herd's) effect," Roe said.
"We trained (hunters) to look at deer numbers per square mile. We're trying to shift that to get them to look at forest regeneration.
That's all well and good, said state Rep. Dave Levdansky, the Allegheny County legislator who requested this deer audit be done. But he said the commission should share its deer population estimates, too.
"That's like saying it's important to know whether the balance on my credit card is going up or down over time, but not what the actual balance on my American Express is," Levdansky said. "No, I think they're both important."
Regardless of whether the state talks about deer in terms of numbers or impacts, though, the question of whether the deer herd is the right size figures to go on.
The audit points out that the state's deer herd has been reduced by 25 percent since 2002. Rep. Bob Godshall, a Montgomery County Republican, said Tuesday he thinks most hunters would say the herd's been shrunk considerably more than that.
He called the reduction "the decimation" of the deer population.
Yet Bill Healy, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research biologist who collaborated on the report, said problems with forest regeneration — which has many causes — can only be addressed when deer are in balance with their food supply, and Pennsylvania may not be at that point yet.
"A 25 percent reduction looks like a big change. But it may not be quite enough," Healy said.
Deer recommendations
The Wildlife Management Institute's audit of the Game Commission's deer program called for some change. Its recommendations include:
» Discontinuing its use of counting deer embryos to measure deer health. That can work, but only if the commission were able to collect far more embryos than it is now.
» Expanding the monitoring of forest conditions to determine whether the deer program is leading to more forest regeneration.
» Refine its citizens advisory committees to include more non-hunters and/or have the committee on a statewide basis.
» Counting deer taken in the red tag, DMAP and urban deer programs more fully in its harvest totals.
Source: Pittsburgh Live
Monday, April 12, 2010
MICHIGAN NEWS: Judge Overturns Deer Feeding Ban
An Otsego County judge overturned Michigan's ban on baiting or feeding deer and elk in the Lower Peninsula.
The decision came after state wildlife officials charged a rural Gaylord man with illegally feeding deer from his multiple bird feeders. Ken Borton fought the charge and this week 87th District Court Judge Patricia Morse threw out the case against him and struck down the ban.
Borton said he didn't expect the law to be voided altogether.
"That's not what I was going after. All I wanted was to feed my birds. I'm shocked," Borton said.
The case began when some viewers of Borton's Web site, www.snowmancam.com, reported to the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment that deer ate around the bird feeders where he trained his digital video camera. State officials twice cited Borton for violating the feeding and baiting ban, enacted two years ago after a penned deer in Kent County tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
Officials told Borton to scoop up empty seed casings daily from around his bird feeders to be in compliance with the law.
Morse instead voided the law as "unconstitutionally vague."
"The statute as drafted gives no guidance as to where and how to exclude wild animals from foraging near bird feeders. It leaves too much room for selective enforcement. It allows fact finders to rely on subjective criteria to determine criminal liability," Morse wrote in her ruling.
Dean Molnar, DNRE law enforcement assistant chief, declined to comment on Morse's ruling, as did spokeswoman Mary Dettloff.
"We have no comment at this time. We're reviewing the opinion," said Dettloff.
She did discuss reasons for the ban.
"The ban was put in place in the Lower Peninsula because of the discovery of chronic wasting disease in Kent County in 2008. We followed the state emergency response plan for chronic wasting disease, which was approved by the Natural Resources Commission and the state Commission of Agriculture," Dettloff said.
Ryan Ratajczak, president of the Northwest Michigan chapter of the Quality Deer Management Association, said his group supported the baiting and feeding ban. He's curious about the impact of Morse's ruling.
"I'm wondering how that works now. I think it was justified at the time. They had the plan in place," Ratajczak said. "I think the biggest issue is making sure we've contained CWD."
Ratajczak said he didn't object to allowing hunters to bait, but he'd prefer the decision be made by state wildlife biologists and not lawyers and judges.
Others hailed the court's decision.
"How can we justify spending time investigating a man feeding birds and prosecuting him?" said Zack Cox, owner of the Natural Farm Products store on M-66, south of Kalkaska.
Cox has long sold carrots, corn and sugar beets used by farmers for their livestock or by hunters to bait deer. He always questioned the state's baiting ban and said he's "very pleased" Morse threw it out.
"There's no logic to it. What's the difference between a deer eating at an apple tree or at a small pile of corn feed?" Cox said.
Source: Traverse City Record Eagle
The decision came after state wildlife officials charged a rural Gaylord man with illegally feeding deer from his multiple bird feeders. Ken Borton fought the charge and this week 87th District Court Judge Patricia Morse threw out the case against him and struck down the ban.
Borton said he didn't expect the law to be voided altogether.
"That's not what I was going after. All I wanted was to feed my birds. I'm shocked," Borton said.
The case began when some viewers of Borton's Web site, www.snowmancam.com, reported to the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment that deer ate around the bird feeders where he trained his digital video camera. State officials twice cited Borton for violating the feeding and baiting ban, enacted two years ago after a penned deer in Kent County tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
Officials told Borton to scoop up empty seed casings daily from around his bird feeders to be in compliance with the law.
Morse instead voided the law as "unconstitutionally vague."
"The statute as drafted gives no guidance as to where and how to exclude wild animals from foraging near bird feeders. It leaves too much room for selective enforcement. It allows fact finders to rely on subjective criteria to determine criminal liability," Morse wrote in her ruling.
Dean Molnar, DNRE law enforcement assistant chief, declined to comment on Morse's ruling, as did spokeswoman Mary Dettloff.
"We have no comment at this time. We're reviewing the opinion," said Dettloff.
She did discuss reasons for the ban.
"The ban was put in place in the Lower Peninsula because of the discovery of chronic wasting disease in Kent County in 2008. We followed the state emergency response plan for chronic wasting disease, which was approved by the Natural Resources Commission and the state Commission of Agriculture," Dettloff said.
Ryan Ratajczak, president of the Northwest Michigan chapter of the Quality Deer Management Association, said his group supported the baiting and feeding ban. He's curious about the impact of Morse's ruling.
"I'm wondering how that works now. I think it was justified at the time. They had the plan in place," Ratajczak said. "I think the biggest issue is making sure we've contained CWD."
Ratajczak said he didn't object to allowing hunters to bait, but he'd prefer the decision be made by state wildlife biologists and not lawyers and judges.
Others hailed the court's decision.
"How can we justify spending time investigating a man feeding birds and prosecuting him?" said Zack Cox, owner of the Natural Farm Products store on M-66, south of Kalkaska.
Cox has long sold carrots, corn and sugar beets used by farmers for their livestock or by hunters to bait deer. He always questioned the state's baiting ban and said he's "very pleased" Morse threw it out.
"There's no logic to it. What's the difference between a deer eating at an apple tree or at a small pile of corn feed?" Cox said.
Source: Traverse City Record Eagle
Thursday, April 08, 2010
RESEARCH NEWS: Gaps Made By Matriarchial Group Removal Do Not Last in High Deer Density Populations
Commentary on Miller et al. (2010). Tests of localized deer management for reducing deer browsing in forest regeneration areas. Journal of Wildlife Management 74: 370-378.
Managing deer on very small spatial scales has traditionally been problematic, but efforts to remove matriarchal social groups of deer may hold promise for reducing browsing impacts for 10-15 years. This could possibly create a spatial hole in the deer population, thereby allowing a sufficient window-of-opportunity for regeneration. The effectiveness of this approach depends on how accurately the "rose petal hypothesis" actually characterizes population expansion. The rose petal theory suggests that within a group, matriarchal does are located near the center and younger individuals establish home ranges that overlap radiating outward. In other words, removing matriarchal social groups will only work if deer exhibit low female dispersal distances, high female survival rates, and high philopatry.
Miller et al. tested the rose petal hypothesis in Randolph County, West Virginia (eastern North American deciduous forest). Deer densities were considered high (and in excess of sustainable numbers), estimated at 12-20 per square km, with a very skewed ratio typical of traditionally exploited deer populations (6-15 males: 100 females).
The authors first collected movement data (via telemetry) on 224 animals. A social group was identified and targeted for removal in a 1.1 square km area in 2002. A total of 51 deer were removed, 39 were female. This was estimated to be 80% of the animals in the 1.1 square km target area. Vegetation monitoring consisted of examining browsable units and actual browsing on tree regeneration. A second removal was conducted in 2005, with 26 of 31 removals being females.
After the 2002 removal, browsing dropped from 15% to 5% after removal and persisted at this level for 3 years. Telemetry data indicated that deer from surrounding areas did gradually shift their home range and fill in the void. Animals removed in 2005 were not closely related genetically to the 2002 removal group.
The authors were not sanguine about the effectiveness of this approach. It did provide a short-term benefit to the vegetation, but the duration of the benefit was brief and unlikely to translate to increased regeneration.
Managing deer on very small spatial scales has traditionally been problematic, but efforts to remove matriarchal social groups of deer may hold promise for reducing browsing impacts for 10-15 years. This could possibly create a spatial hole in the deer population, thereby allowing a sufficient window-of-opportunity for regeneration. The effectiveness of this approach depends on how accurately the "rose petal hypothesis" actually characterizes population expansion. The rose petal theory suggests that within a group, matriarchal does are located near the center and younger individuals establish home ranges that overlap radiating outward. In other words, removing matriarchal social groups will only work if deer exhibit low female dispersal distances, high female survival rates, and high philopatry.
Miller et al. tested the rose petal hypothesis in Randolph County, West Virginia (eastern North American deciduous forest). Deer densities were considered high (and in excess of sustainable numbers), estimated at 12-20 per square km, with a very skewed ratio typical of traditionally exploited deer populations (6-15 males: 100 females).
The authors first collected movement data (via telemetry) on 224 animals. A social group was identified and targeted for removal in a 1.1 square km area in 2002. A total of 51 deer were removed, 39 were female. This was estimated to be 80% of the animals in the 1.1 square km target area. Vegetation monitoring consisted of examining browsable units and actual browsing on tree regeneration. A second removal was conducted in 2005, with 26 of 31 removals being females.
After the 2002 removal, browsing dropped from 15% to 5% after removal and persisted at this level for 3 years. Telemetry data indicated that deer from surrounding areas did gradually shift their home range and fill in the void. Animals removed in 2005 were not closely related genetically to the 2002 removal group.
The authors were not sanguine about the effectiveness of this approach. It did provide a short-term benefit to the vegetation, but the duration of the benefit was brief and unlikely to translate to increased regeneration.
INDIANA NEWS: City Creates Community Deer Task Force
Involving the community at the earliest stages is smart politically. It fosters civic engagement and shares the burden of responsibility of decisions.
A southern Indiana city is looking for ways to deal with worries over more deer showing up in urban and suburban areas.
The Bloomington City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved creating a community deer task force following complaints from residents that the animals pose a safety risk.
Councilman Dave Rollo says he hopes the group will present its recommendations by September.
In September, a petition with 500 signatures was presented to City Council members and Monroe County commissioners asking them to create the task force.
Source: WTHR
A southern Indiana city is looking for ways to deal with worries over more deer showing up in urban and suburban areas.
The Bloomington City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved creating a community deer task force following complaints from residents that the animals pose a safety risk.
Councilman Dave Rollo says he hopes the group will present its recommendations by September.
In September, a petition with 500 signatures was presented to City Council members and Monroe County commissioners asking them to create the task force.
Source: WTHR
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
UK NEWS: Deer-Vehicle Collsions Number 74,000 Per Year
The soaring numbers of wild deer are causing havoc on Britain's roads, devastating ancient woodlands and ruining gardens, wildlife experts warned yesterday.
Conservationists say the UK's deer population has doubled since the 1970s and is now close to 2million - a level not seen since the time of the Norman Conquest.
According to new figures from the National Deer Collisions Project, the animals cause 74,000 road accidents each year - and kill up to a dozen drivers and passengers.
Yesterday, Dr Jochen Langbein, co-ordinator of the project, warned that the number of accidents would rise unless the creatures were better controlled.
He said 100 people are injured and up to 12 killed each year when deer run into roads.
Last month an inquest heard how a father of two died when a deer crashed through his windscreen. The animal had been hit by another vehicle near Basingstoke, Hampshire, pushing it into the path of his van.
Insurers pay out around £15million a year to repair cars hit by the animals.
The worst accident blackspots are in the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex where more than 300 deer are hit by cars each year.
Accidents involving the animals are often serious because they leap up if they are startled while crossing roads. Some scientists believe they see beams from headlights as solid objects and try to jump over them - ending up crashing into windscreens.
Since the 1970s deer numbers have been rising by three to five per cent a year, and most conservationists agree that 30 per cent of deer have to be shot each year to stop numbers going up.
The muntjac species is a particular nuisance.
Just 20 inches tall, they breed all year round and can be a massive pest for gardeners.
Source: Daily Mail
Conservationists say the UK's deer population has doubled since the 1970s and is now close to 2million - a level not seen since the time of the Norman Conquest.
According to new figures from the National Deer Collisions Project, the animals cause 74,000 road accidents each year - and kill up to a dozen drivers and passengers.
Yesterday, Dr Jochen Langbein, co-ordinator of the project, warned that the number of accidents would rise unless the creatures were better controlled.
He said 100 people are injured and up to 12 killed each year when deer run into roads.
Last month an inquest heard how a father of two died when a deer crashed through his windscreen. The animal had been hit by another vehicle near Basingstoke, Hampshire, pushing it into the path of his van.
Insurers pay out around £15million a year to repair cars hit by the animals.
The worst accident blackspots are in the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex where more than 300 deer are hit by cars each year.
Accidents involving the animals are often serious because they leap up if they are startled while crossing roads. Some scientists believe they see beams from headlights as solid objects and try to jump over them - ending up crashing into windscreens.
Since the 1970s deer numbers have been rising by three to five per cent a year, and most conservationists agree that 30 per cent of deer have to be shot each year to stop numbers going up.
The muntjac species is a particular nuisance.
Just 20 inches tall, they breed all year round and can be a massive pest for gardeners.
Source: Daily Mail
Friday, April 02, 2010
ILLINOIS NEWS: Forest Preserve Considers Public Deer Hunting
This fall, the Will County Forest Preserve District may become the first in Illinois to allow public hunting on its land.
It's part of a proposed program to bring the deer population down to a healthy level for both the animals and nature, forest preserve officials said.
"We're the first to allow public hunting, but we're the only one not doing any culling," forest preserve district executive director Marcy DeMauro said. "The deer are everywhere."
Before final approval of the deer management program in May, the forest preserve district will hold three meetings to discuss it, including one from 5 to 8 p.m. April 13 at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center, McKinley Woods, 25055 W. Walnut Lane, Channahon.
The lack of a previous management program coupled with the urbanization of the county have resulted in deer counts as high as 153 per square mile in Channahon's McKinley Woods. An "acceptable" level is 20 per square mile, officials said.
"All preserves have more deer than can naturally be sustained. We have no choice but to cull the herds," forest preserve board president Cory Singer said. "There is no other reasonable option to consider. Our primary responsibility is to manage and maintain public lands. We have to employ deer management practices. It would be irresponsible not to."
Other options, such as deer repellent, fencing, fertility control and relocation either are too expensive or ineffective, according to forest preserve district research.
Public hunting will be a "small part of the solution," Singer said. A limited number of permits could be issued by a lottery because officials expect high interest from local hunters. Permit fees have yet to be determined.
As in other forest preserves, most herds will be thinned out by sharpshooters - police and trained volunteers who will trap and shoot the deer at night. The meat will be butchered and donated to organizations to feed the hungry.
DeMauro said there would be specified seasons for hunting. Those using firearms would have two three-day sessions in November and December. Archery would be permitted from Oct. 1 through mid-January.
In some areas, trails and preserves would be closed to the public during hunting season, Singer said.
In developing the new deer management program, the forest preserve district must follow the requirements of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Sharpshooting only is allowed in areas with more than 30 acres with a 100-yard buffer from adjacent property owners. Archery and firearms can be used on sites of 70 acres or more, but firearms require a 300-yard buffer. All sites must be fully or partially owned by the forest preserve district.
According to these criteria, 16 sites are suitable for sharpshooting, 14 for archery and eight for firearms, DeMauro said, but it is likely not all will be used.
Singer hopes a successful hunting program will lead to more new programs such as hunting opportunities for youth and people with disabilities and gun safety classes.
Source: Plainfield Sun
It's part of a proposed program to bring the deer population down to a healthy level for both the animals and nature, forest preserve officials said.
"We're the first to allow public hunting, but we're the only one not doing any culling," forest preserve district executive director Marcy DeMauro said. "The deer are everywhere."
Before final approval of the deer management program in May, the forest preserve district will hold three meetings to discuss it, including one from 5 to 8 p.m. April 13 at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center, McKinley Woods, 25055 W. Walnut Lane, Channahon.
The lack of a previous management program coupled with the urbanization of the county have resulted in deer counts as high as 153 per square mile in Channahon's McKinley Woods. An "acceptable" level is 20 per square mile, officials said.
"All preserves have more deer than can naturally be sustained. We have no choice but to cull the herds," forest preserve board president Cory Singer said. "There is no other reasonable option to consider. Our primary responsibility is to manage and maintain public lands. We have to employ deer management practices. It would be irresponsible not to."
Other options, such as deer repellent, fencing, fertility control and relocation either are too expensive or ineffective, according to forest preserve district research.
Public hunting will be a "small part of the solution," Singer said. A limited number of permits could be issued by a lottery because officials expect high interest from local hunters. Permit fees have yet to be determined.
As in other forest preserves, most herds will be thinned out by sharpshooters - police and trained volunteers who will trap and shoot the deer at night. The meat will be butchered and donated to organizations to feed the hungry.
DeMauro said there would be specified seasons for hunting. Those using firearms would have two three-day sessions in November and December. Archery would be permitted from Oct. 1 through mid-January.
In some areas, trails and preserves would be closed to the public during hunting season, Singer said.
In developing the new deer management program, the forest preserve district must follow the requirements of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Sharpshooting only is allowed in areas with more than 30 acres with a 100-yard buffer from adjacent property owners. Archery and firearms can be used on sites of 70 acres or more, but firearms require a 300-yard buffer. All sites must be fully or partially owned by the forest preserve district.
According to these criteria, 16 sites are suitable for sharpshooting, 14 for archery and eight for firearms, DeMauro said, but it is likely not all will be used.
Singer hopes a successful hunting program will lead to more new programs such as hunting opportunities for youth and people with disabilities and gun safety classes.
Source: Plainfield Sun
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: 308,920 Deer Harvested in 2009-10
Erie hunter Tim Weaver said he saw plenty of big bucks this past hunting season.
But figures released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on Monday suggest fewer deer overall are being harvested.
Hunters in Pennsylvania killed an estimated 27,000 fewer deer in the 2009-10 seasons than they did a year earlier.
Game Commission figures show the drop was even more significant in northwestern Pennsylvania, where Weaver shot a 10-point Dec. 28 in McKean Township during the flintlock season.
Weaver said the deer he harvested was with five other bucks. Three of them were legal size, including his, meaning they had at least eight points.
The Game Commission's management plan was designed to put more mature antlered deer in the field by limiting the harvest of yearling bucks. It has drawn support from some hunters and criticism from others who believe the state's deer herd has declined.
"It was one of the best years we've ever had hunting," said Weaver, 46. "I would imagine it depends on who you talk to. The guys I hunt with are after trophy-sized deer, so it's been great for us. But if you talk to someone who's strictly a meat hunter, they might say it's been terrible."
The Game Commission's estimates, based on harvest tags returned by hunters and field and processor reports, show a statewide harvest estimate of 308,920 deer, an 8 percent decline from the 335,850 killed in 2008-09.
The commission said hunters killed 108,330 antlered deer, down 12 percent from the 122,410 killed in 2008-09, and 200,590 antlerless deer. Hunters killed 213,440 antlerless deer in 2008-09.
In Wildlife Management Unit 1B, which includes all of Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Warren and Venango counties, hunters killed 5,100 antlered deer, a 32 percent drop from the 2008-09 estimate of 7,500. There were 9,500 antlerless deer killed, down from 13,400 in 2008-09 -- a 29 percent decline.
Cambridge Springs resident Dan Young, 34, said he saw far fewer antlerless deer last season and fewer deer overall, but more mature bucks.
"I did find a lot of dead bucks in the woods that weren't legal size," said Young, who primarily hunts during the archery season. "I saw a lot of six-points, which tells me someone shot them and realized they were too small, so they left them there."
Source: GoErie
But figures released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on Monday suggest fewer deer overall are being harvested.
Hunters in Pennsylvania killed an estimated 27,000 fewer deer in the 2009-10 seasons than they did a year earlier.
Game Commission figures show the drop was even more significant in northwestern Pennsylvania, where Weaver shot a 10-point Dec. 28 in McKean Township during the flintlock season.
Weaver said the deer he harvested was with five other bucks. Three of them were legal size, including his, meaning they had at least eight points.
The Game Commission's management plan was designed to put more mature antlered deer in the field by limiting the harvest of yearling bucks. It has drawn support from some hunters and criticism from others who believe the state's deer herd has declined.
"It was one of the best years we've ever had hunting," said Weaver, 46. "I would imagine it depends on who you talk to. The guys I hunt with are after trophy-sized deer, so it's been great for us. But if you talk to someone who's strictly a meat hunter, they might say it's been terrible."
The Game Commission's estimates, based on harvest tags returned by hunters and field and processor reports, show a statewide harvest estimate of 308,920 deer, an 8 percent decline from the 335,850 killed in 2008-09.
The commission said hunters killed 108,330 antlered deer, down 12 percent from the 122,410 killed in 2008-09, and 200,590 antlerless deer. Hunters killed 213,440 antlerless deer in 2008-09.
In Wildlife Management Unit 1B, which includes all of Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Warren and Venango counties, hunters killed 5,100 antlered deer, a 32 percent drop from the 2008-09 estimate of 7,500. There were 9,500 antlerless deer killed, down from 13,400 in 2008-09 -- a 29 percent decline.
Cambridge Springs resident Dan Young, 34, said he saw far fewer antlerless deer last season and fewer deer overall, but more mature bucks.
"I did find a lot of dead bucks in the woods that weren't legal size," said Young, who primarily hunts during the archery season. "I saw a lot of six-points, which tells me someone shot them and realized they were too small, so they left them there."
Source: GoErie
DELAWARE NEWS: State Restructuring Deer Management for Population Control
By introducing new population-control measures and recruiting non-traditional hunters, state officials hope to reduce agricultural and property damage caused by white-tailed deer.
The state's first long-term deer management plan, which officials say will be finalized in April, could allow the use of crossbows during archery season, reduce the antler width limit to 14 inches and require unlicensed hunters to obtain a free identification number.
"Hunting is the most cost-effective tool we have to help control the deer population," said Joe Rogerson, a large mammal biologist at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Division of Fish and Wildlife.
According to Rogerson, the number of hunters purchasing licenses has dropped from about 30,000 in 1975 to 18,000 last year.
"If the declining trend continues, we may not have enough hunters to help control the deer population," he said. "That's why we have to recruit new hunters..."
Many of the proposals in the plan, including those that will be discussed at a March 25 public hearing, are designed to encourage more involvement in hunting, he said.
Although many of those who would turn out for a crossbow season would be existing hunters, Rogerson said its use has led to larger harvests in neighboring states. He believes it will also encourage hunters who had retired from the sport to return.
"It could help older folks who aren't able to draw a bow out like they used to," he said.
The proposal to reduce the antler size restriction came after biological data indicated more fawns and younger deer were making it to adulthood, Rogerson said, adding that the identification number will help better track hunters who aren't required to obtain licenses.
The 10-year-plan also calls for the recruitment of young hunters and those in non-traditional groups, such as nature enthusiasts who also spend time in the forests, he said.
Charles Steele, owner of Steele's Gun Shop in Lewes, said most hunters are satisfied with the existing rules, but expanding hunting could be a good thing.
"Anything you can do to make the sport better and limit the amount of car crashes with deer would be great," he said.
Source: Delmarvanow
The state's first long-term deer management plan, which officials say will be finalized in April, could allow the use of crossbows during archery season, reduce the antler width limit to 14 inches and require unlicensed hunters to obtain a free identification number.
"Hunting is the most cost-effective tool we have to help control the deer population," said Joe Rogerson, a large mammal biologist at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Division of Fish and Wildlife.
According to Rogerson, the number of hunters purchasing licenses has dropped from about 30,000 in 1975 to 18,000 last year.
"If the declining trend continues, we may not have enough hunters to help control the deer population," he said. "That's why we have to recruit new hunters..."
Many of the proposals in the plan, including those that will be discussed at a March 25 public hearing, are designed to encourage more involvement in hunting, he said.
Although many of those who would turn out for a crossbow season would be existing hunters, Rogerson said its use has led to larger harvests in neighboring states. He believes it will also encourage hunters who had retired from the sport to return.
"It could help older folks who aren't able to draw a bow out like they used to," he said.
The proposal to reduce the antler size restriction came after biological data indicated more fawns and younger deer were making it to adulthood, Rogerson said, adding that the identification number will help better track hunters who aren't required to obtain licenses.
The 10-year-plan also calls for the recruitment of young hunters and those in non-traditional groups, such as nature enthusiasts who also spend time in the forests, he said.
Charles Steele, owner of Steele's Gun Shop in Lewes, said most hunters are satisfied with the existing rules, but expanding hunting could be a good thing.
"Anything you can do to make the sport better and limit the amount of car crashes with deer would be great," he said.
Source: Delmarvanow
Friday, March 19, 2010
NEBRASKA NEWS: Antlerless Season Extended in Effort To Reduce Population
Nebraska's deer population has increased about tenfold in the last 40 years. This has brought the usual complaints from farmers and drivers. Now Nebraska is proposing some deer season changes in an effort to reduce the state's deer population size. The key provisions:
If there are enough hunters in the woods and fields and they are supportive of this direction, the policy change will likely be effective in moving the deer population in the desired direction.
Source: Nebraska TV
Nebraska Game and Parks officials have adopted a new set of regulations designed to help cut Nebraska's plentiful supply of white-tailed deer.
Among others changes approved Friday by the commissioners at their meeting in Lincoln, they expanded the October antlerless season to 10 days from three and increased the hunting area.
Commissioners also lengthened the January antlerless season to 24 days from 15.
If there are enough hunters in the woods and fields and they are supportive of this direction, the policy change will likely be effective in moving the deer population in the desired direction.
Source: Nebraska TV
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
NORTH DAKOTA NEWS: Deer Tests Positive for CWD
A sick-looking mule deer taken last fall in western Sioux County of southwestern North Dakota has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials were notified of the diagnosis this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services. It marks the first time CWD has been detected in a North Dakota animal.
Dr. Dan Grove, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said a hunter in Unit 3F2 shot an adult buck that did not appear to be healthy.
“As we do with our targeted surveillance efforts, we collected the sample to test for CWD and bovine tuberculosis,” Grove said in a news release.
The Game and Fish Department’s targeted surveillance program is an ongoing, year-round effort that tests animals found dead or sick.
“We have been constantly monitoring and enhancing our surveillance efforts for CWD because of its presence in bordering states and provinces,” said Greg Link, assistant wildlife division chief for Game and Fish in Bismarck.
In addition to targeted surveillance, the department annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In January, more than 3,000 targeted and hunter-harvested samples were sent to a lab in Minnesota. As of today, about two-thirds of the samples had been tested, with the one positive result. The remaining samples will be tested over the next month.
Link said monitoring efforts have intensified in recent years, and all units have been completed twice throughout the entire state.
“The deer population in Unit 3F2 is above management goals, and hunter pressure will continue to be put on the population in that unit again this fall,” Link said. “We are going to be aggressive with licenses and disease surveillance in that unit.”
Since the department’s sampling efforts began in 2002, more than 14,000 deer, elk and moose have tested negative for CWD.
CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.
Source: Grand Forks Herald
North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials were notified of the diagnosis this morning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Services. It marks the first time CWD has been detected in a North Dakota animal.
Dr. Dan Grove, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said a hunter in Unit 3F2 shot an adult buck that did not appear to be healthy.
“As we do with our targeted surveillance efforts, we collected the sample to test for CWD and bovine tuberculosis,” Grove said in a news release.
The Game and Fish Department’s targeted surveillance program is an ongoing, year-round effort that tests animals found dead or sick.
“We have been constantly monitoring and enhancing our surveillance efforts for CWD because of its presence in bordering states and provinces,” said Greg Link, assistant wildlife division chief for Game and Fish in Bismarck.
In addition to targeted surveillance, the department annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In January, more than 3,000 targeted and hunter-harvested samples were sent to a lab in Minnesota. As of today, about two-thirds of the samples had been tested, with the one positive result. The remaining samples will be tested over the next month.
Link said monitoring efforts have intensified in recent years, and all units have been completed twice throughout the entire state.
“The deer population in Unit 3F2 is above management goals, and hunter pressure will continue to be put on the population in that unit again this fall,” Link said. “We are going to be aggressive with licenses and disease surveillance in that unit.”
Since the department’s sampling efforts began in 2002, more than 14,000 deer, elk and moose have tested negative for CWD.
CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.
Source: Grand Forks Herald
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
RESEARCH NEWS: Coyotes Not Decimating Pennsylvania Deer
It’s a question that has captured the imagination of Keystone State deer hunters and wildlife lovers: Has increased predation on helpless deer fawns by an growing population of Eastern coyotes resulted in dwindling whitetail numbers across Pennsylvania’s rugged northern reaches? The answer is no, according to a deer researcher in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
“It’s a cruel world out there for wildlife,” said Duane Diefenbach, adjunct professor of wildlife ecology and leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit housed in the college’s School of Forest Resources, “but it’s no crueler in Pennsylvania than other states.”
There is no question the coyote population has grown dramatically in the Northeast in recent decades, he said, and everyone agrees that coyotes do prey on fawns, “but our data tell us that coyote predation is not an issue in Pennsylvania.”
Diefenbach should know. Nationally recognized for his deer research, he has been involved in all the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer studies since 2000, overseeing a groundbreaking fawn-mortality study completed in 2002. For the last decade he and his students have been monitoring hundreds of deer they captured and fitted with radio collars, about 3,000 in total, carefully documenting the animals’ movements, behavior and fates.
“Significantly, very, very few adult deer in our studies have succumbed to predation from coyotes, bears or anything else,” he said. “We now know that in this state, once a deer reaches about 12 months of age, the only significant mortal dangers it faces are getting hit by a car or being harvested by a hunter. By far, most of the time when a coyote eats venison, it is from a road-killed animal, or from a deer that was wounded by a hunter but not retrieved.”
We know fawns often are killed and eaten by coyotes and bears, Diefenbach said, but that has always been the case.
“When we monitored more than 200 radio-collared fawns from 2000 to 2002, the survival rates of fawns in Pennsylvania were similar to what was previously found in Maine, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and New Brunswick, Canada,” he said. “Our research has shown that overall mortality here is not extraordinary.”
About 50 percent of fawns make it to six months of age, Diefenbach said.
“The general pattern in Pennsylvania and in other states and provinces is that we have seen slightly higher fawn survival rates in agricultural areas because there is less predation, and in forested habitats we see slightly lower survival rates.”
According to Diefenbach, the literature shows that fawn survival for the first year of life in forested landscapes is about 25 percent.
“Our work showed that Pennsylvania came in at about 28 percent,” he said. “Our research also showed that fawns in Pennsylvania agricultural landscapes have a 52 percent survival rate.”
Some people have encouraged the Game Commission to implement a study of fawn predation by coyotes, but Diefenbach contends that it is not needed.
“I know this may be an unpopular view, but it is not readily apparent to me how another study on fawn mortality will help us better manage deer,” he said. “Our 2000-to-2002 fawn study showed that fawn-predation rates were normal here, and I don’t have any evidence that anything has changed since then — no available data, such as changes in hunter-success rates in harvesting deer, suggest that coyote predation is increasing. If it is, then hunters should be harvesting fewer young deer, and we are not seeing that.”
Diefenbach points to information contained in recent years’ deer-hunter harvests that show fawn predation is not growing at an alarming rate.
“The fawn component of the hunter harvest — typically about 40 percent of antlerless deer killed by hunters — has remained largely unchanged for many years. If fewer fawns were surviving because of increased coyote predation, they would not be available to hunters.”
Still, Diefenbach understands the emotional reaction of hunters and wildlife lovers to fawns being killed and eaten by predators such as coyotes, and he said that continuing deer research conducted by his unit at Penn State is examining fawn numbers and survival.
“Peoples’ natural reaction to hearing and seeing coyotes, and knowing that they are everywhere in Pennsylvania, is to wonder how many fawns they kill,” he said, “but I don’t know what we would learn if we conducted another fawn-survival study, especially because of what we already know about deer-coyote ecology. I am advising a graduate student right now who is evaluating the assumptions and methods that we use to track and monitor deer-population trends in this state. His research is focused on the validity of the model we use to manage deer. All of his work done so far — both in the field and with computer simulations — doesn’t show any evidence of a decline in deer numbers because we are not recruiting fawns into the population.”
Source: GantDaily
“It’s a cruel world out there for wildlife,” said Duane Diefenbach, adjunct professor of wildlife ecology and leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit housed in the college’s School of Forest Resources, “but it’s no crueler in Pennsylvania than other states.”
There is no question the coyote population has grown dramatically in the Northeast in recent decades, he said, and everyone agrees that coyotes do prey on fawns, “but our data tell us that coyote predation is not an issue in Pennsylvania.”
Diefenbach should know. Nationally recognized for his deer research, he has been involved in all the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer studies since 2000, overseeing a groundbreaking fawn-mortality study completed in 2002. For the last decade he and his students have been monitoring hundreds of deer they captured and fitted with radio collars, about 3,000 in total, carefully documenting the animals’ movements, behavior and fates.
“Significantly, very, very few adult deer in our studies have succumbed to predation from coyotes, bears or anything else,” he said. “We now know that in this state, once a deer reaches about 12 months of age, the only significant mortal dangers it faces are getting hit by a car or being harvested by a hunter. By far, most of the time when a coyote eats venison, it is from a road-killed animal, or from a deer that was wounded by a hunter but not retrieved.”
We know fawns often are killed and eaten by coyotes and bears, Diefenbach said, but that has always been the case.
“When we monitored more than 200 radio-collared fawns from 2000 to 2002, the survival rates of fawns in Pennsylvania were similar to what was previously found in Maine, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and New Brunswick, Canada,” he said. “Our research has shown that overall mortality here is not extraordinary.”
About 50 percent of fawns make it to six months of age, Diefenbach said.
“The general pattern in Pennsylvania and in other states and provinces is that we have seen slightly higher fawn survival rates in agricultural areas because there is less predation, and in forested habitats we see slightly lower survival rates.”
According to Diefenbach, the literature shows that fawn survival for the first year of life in forested landscapes is about 25 percent.
“Our work showed that Pennsylvania came in at about 28 percent,” he said. “Our research also showed that fawns in Pennsylvania agricultural landscapes have a 52 percent survival rate.”
Some people have encouraged the Game Commission to implement a study of fawn predation by coyotes, but Diefenbach contends that it is not needed.
“I know this may be an unpopular view, but it is not readily apparent to me how another study on fawn mortality will help us better manage deer,” he said. “Our 2000-to-2002 fawn study showed that fawn-predation rates were normal here, and I don’t have any evidence that anything has changed since then — no available data, such as changes in hunter-success rates in harvesting deer, suggest that coyote predation is increasing. If it is, then hunters should be harvesting fewer young deer, and we are not seeing that.”
Diefenbach points to information contained in recent years’ deer-hunter harvests that show fawn predation is not growing at an alarming rate.
“The fawn component of the hunter harvest — typically about 40 percent of antlerless deer killed by hunters — has remained largely unchanged for many years. If fewer fawns were surviving because of increased coyote predation, they would not be available to hunters.”
Still, Diefenbach understands the emotional reaction of hunters and wildlife lovers to fawns being killed and eaten by predators such as coyotes, and he said that continuing deer research conducted by his unit at Penn State is examining fawn numbers and survival.
“Peoples’ natural reaction to hearing and seeing coyotes, and knowing that they are everywhere in Pennsylvania, is to wonder how many fawns they kill,” he said, “but I don’t know what we would learn if we conducted another fawn-survival study, especially because of what we already know about deer-coyote ecology. I am advising a graduate student right now who is evaluating the assumptions and methods that we use to track and monitor deer-population trends in this state. His research is focused on the validity of the model we use to manage deer. All of his work done so far — both in the field and with computer simulations — doesn’t show any evidence of a decline in deer numbers because we are not recruiting fawns into the population.”
Source: GantDaily
WISCONSIN NEWS: No Urban Hunt for Winona Public Lands
Deer hunting will not be expanded inside the city after a Winona City Council vote Monday night.
Council members voted 4-3 against expanding hunting to publicly owned lands, ending the latest round of debate over a topic that has spurred strong reactions from residents both in favor and against the proposal.
Mayor Jerry Miller and council members Tim Breza, Gerry Krage and George Borzyskowski voted for the motion to deny expanding hunting, while council members Debbie White, Deb Salyards and Al Thurley voted against that motion.
Breza previously advocated for the expansion, but made the motion against it Monday because of the divisions over the issue, he said.
"To go forward with a hunt at this time, I think, is counter-productive," he said, calling it a "lose-lose situation."
Hunting, by bow or shotgun, is already allowed on agriculturally zoned lands in Winona, but an ordinance specifically prohibits the use of bow and arrows on publicly owned lands. That restriction affects conservancy-zoned areas of Winona, including much of the blufflands facing the Mississippi River, and council members have previously discussed lifting that constraint.
Council members heard impassioned pleas from residents on both sides of the issue during a public hearing last month. That public involvement spilled over into Monday night's meeting, with Miller saying he had received one petition in favor of the hunt signed by 67 residents and another citizen presenting a survey he helped conduct in which about 65 percent of respondents were against it.
Several council members spoke in favor of asking city staff to work on an ordinance that would have allowed hunting on city-owned lands.
"Other cities have done this for many, many years," White said. "There is an issue. There is a problem."
But no motion to pursue an ordinance was offered, and the motion denying it passed.
Source: Winona Daily News
Council members voted 4-3 against expanding hunting to publicly owned lands, ending the latest round of debate over a topic that has spurred strong reactions from residents both in favor and against the proposal.
Mayor Jerry Miller and council members Tim Breza, Gerry Krage and George Borzyskowski voted for the motion to deny expanding hunting, while council members Debbie White, Deb Salyards and Al Thurley voted against that motion.
Breza previously advocated for the expansion, but made the motion against it Monday because of the divisions over the issue, he said.
"To go forward with a hunt at this time, I think, is counter-productive," he said, calling it a "lose-lose situation."
Hunting, by bow or shotgun, is already allowed on agriculturally zoned lands in Winona, but an ordinance specifically prohibits the use of bow and arrows on publicly owned lands. That restriction affects conservancy-zoned areas of Winona, including much of the blufflands facing the Mississippi River, and council members have previously discussed lifting that constraint.
Council members heard impassioned pleas from residents on both sides of the issue during a public hearing last month. That public involvement spilled over into Monday night's meeting, with Miller saying he had received one petition in favor of the hunt signed by 67 residents and another citizen presenting a survey he helped conduct in which about 65 percent of respondents were against it.
Several council members spoke in favor of asking city staff to work on an ordinance that would have allowed hunting on city-owned lands.
"Other cities have done this for many, many years," White said. "There is an issue. There is a problem."
But no motion to pursue an ordinance was offered, and the motion denying it passed.
Source: Winona Daily News
Friday, March 12, 2010
UTAH NEWS: CWD Detected in Elk
The first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in an Utah elk has been confirmed by state wildlife officials.
Lymph nodes from 1,400 animals -- the bulk of them mule deer and elk, but also some moose -- were collected last fall during the hunting seasons.
Results from Utah State University were returned to Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials recently. Five of the mule deer samples came back as positive for CWD,
a fatal and transmissible neurological disease.
One of the 300 elk samples also came back positive. None of the moose tests showed signs of CWD. The positive elk sample came from a cow elk taken in the La Sal Mountains east of Moab.
"It was not really a surprise," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease specialist with the DWR. "It came from an area where we have the highest prevalence of CWD in deer in the state. Elk do not have a high prevalence of the disease."
Thirty-four of the 48 cases of CWD infected deer have come from the La Sals. Another hot spot for CWD in deer is south and east of Mount Nebo in central Utah where seven, including two this year, have originated.
McFarlane said all but one of the positive samples came from animals killed by hunters. The other was a sickly-looking deer reported by the public on the La Sals.
None of the moose samples came back positive. There was some fear that it could have spread into northern Utah after a cow moose in southwestern Wyoming showed up positive in the fall of 2008.
There have been few developments in research or preventing the spread of CWD in the last year and McFarlane said the state wildlife agency is sticking with its position on the threat to people.
"There is no connection of any kind with human health issues," she said. However, McFarlane and the agency still encourages people to avoid eating any big game animals that appear sick and to use caution when handling animals in the field.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Lymph nodes from 1,400 animals -- the bulk of them mule deer and elk, but also some moose -- were collected last fall during the hunting seasons.
Results from Utah State University were returned to Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials recently. Five of the mule deer samples came back as positive for CWD,
a fatal and transmissible neurological disease.
One of the 300 elk samples also came back positive. None of the moose tests showed signs of CWD. The positive elk sample came from a cow elk taken in the La Sal Mountains east of Moab.
"It was not really a surprise," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease specialist with the DWR. "It came from an area where we have the highest prevalence of CWD in deer in the state. Elk do not have a high prevalence of the disease."
Thirty-four of the 48 cases of CWD infected deer have come from the La Sals. Another hot spot for CWD in deer is south and east of Mount Nebo in central Utah where seven, including two this year, have originated.
McFarlane said all but one of the positive samples came from animals killed by hunters. The other was a sickly-looking deer reported by the public on the La Sals.
None of the moose samples came back positive. There was some fear that it could have spread into northern Utah after a cow moose in southwestern Wyoming showed up positive in the fall of 2008.
There have been few developments in research or preventing the spread of CWD in the last year and McFarlane said the state wildlife agency is sticking with its position on the threat to people.
"There is no connection of any kind with human health issues," she said. However, McFarlane and the agency still encourages people to avoid eating any big game animals that appear sick and to use caution when handling animals in the field.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
MARYLAND NEWS: Deer Can Be Destructive Indoors, Too
So you're sitting in your home on a quiet Sunday afternoon, when all of a sudden a thunderous roar erupts. You get up to find that two deer have smashed through your front door. One is stuck in the door and the other is now in a tornadic tantrum in your living room.
This was the reality for WTOP staffer Pat Puglisi at his home in Damascus Sunday.
"Suddenly, there was a noise that sounded like the roof came off the house," recalls Puglisi.
"Debris was flying, chairs were coming apart, pots and pans were crashing. It was clear that these two deer had hit my front door like a SWAT team."
Scrambling to make sense of the situation, Puglisi was finally able to usher one deer out another door. The other deer stuck in the glass of the front door was seriously hurt and eventually put down by police.
Traumatic experience? You bet. Costly, too. But as it turns out, this sort of thing is not all that uncommon, especially considering what the deer population looks like in Maryland right now.
"Generally, if you have 20 to 30 deer per square mile, most people can live with that," says Brian Eyler, deer project leader for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.
"However, right now, in some urban and suburban areas there are 80 to 100 deer per square mile."
The main reason for the population explosion? A lack of predators.
"Humans are pretty much the only predator left when it comes to deer," says Eyler.
"Suburban developments are very good deer habitats -- but a lot of times, hunting is out of the picture. So if you take hunting out of the equation, there's nothing left to control the population."
Eyler says the average deer sets up a "home range" in square miles that is not all that expansive. When there are offspring, those deer also will set up a home range -- often overlapping the original area. Without any predator, the deer survive, thrive and multiply.
State Farm Insurance estimates that every year, about 25,000 accidents on Maryland roads are caused by deer.
Source: WTOP
This was the reality for WTOP staffer Pat Puglisi at his home in Damascus Sunday.
"Suddenly, there was a noise that sounded like the roof came off the house," recalls Puglisi.
"Debris was flying, chairs were coming apart, pots and pans were crashing. It was clear that these two deer had hit my front door like a SWAT team."
Scrambling to make sense of the situation, Puglisi was finally able to usher one deer out another door. The other deer stuck in the glass of the front door was seriously hurt and eventually put down by police.
Traumatic experience? You bet. Costly, too. But as it turns out, this sort of thing is not all that uncommon, especially considering what the deer population looks like in Maryland right now.
"Generally, if you have 20 to 30 deer per square mile, most people can live with that," says Brian Eyler, deer project leader for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.
"However, right now, in some urban and suburban areas there are 80 to 100 deer per square mile."
The main reason for the population explosion? A lack of predators.
"Humans are pretty much the only predator left when it comes to deer," says Eyler.
"Suburban developments are very good deer habitats -- but a lot of times, hunting is out of the picture. So if you take hunting out of the equation, there's nothing left to control the population."
Eyler says the average deer sets up a "home range" in square miles that is not all that expansive. When there are offspring, those deer also will set up a home range -- often overlapping the original area. Without any predator, the deer survive, thrive and multiply.
State Farm Insurance estimates that every year, about 25,000 accidents on Maryland roads are caused by deer.
Source: WTOP
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
MISSOURI NEWS: CWD Detected in Captive Deer Population
The Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services and USDA announced Feb. 25 that a captive white-tailed deer in Linn County has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose.
"There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans," said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. "We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations."
The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the state's CWD surveillance and testing program. The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa conducted preliminary tests.
Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri's departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.
CWD is transmitted by animal-to-animal contact or soil-to-animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
"Missouri's proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago are proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow pre-established steps to ensure Missouri's valuable whitetail deer resource remains healthy and strong," said Jason Sumners Missouri's deer biologist.
Source: Missouri Ruralist
"There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans," said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. "We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations."
The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the state's CWD surveillance and testing program. The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa conducted preliminary tests.
Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri's departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.
CWD is transmitted by animal-to-animal contact or soil-to-animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
"Missouri's proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago are proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow pre-established steps to ensure Missouri's valuable whitetail deer resource remains healthy and strong," said Jason Sumners Missouri's deer biologist.
Source: Missouri Ruralist
Monday, March 01, 2010
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
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
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
Friday, February 19, 2010
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
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
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
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
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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
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.
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
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
Monday, February 15, 2010
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
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
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
Friday, February 12, 2010
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
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
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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
"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
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
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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
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
Monday, February 08, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
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
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
Monday, February 01, 2010
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
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
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
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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
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
Saturday, January 23, 2010
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
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
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