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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We are affecting evolution," she said.

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

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

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

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

Source: Philly.com

PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Valley Forge NP Sued Over Deer Management

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Philly.com

MAYRLAND NEWS: Sligo Creek Park Battles Deer

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

Her pride turned quickly to panic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Washington Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: wkowtv

KANSAS NEWS: Shawnee Mission Park Cull Nets 313 Deer

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

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

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

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

Source: KansasCity.com

NEW YORK NEWS: Municipality Supports Deer Management

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full story is available at: Ithaca Journal

WISCONSIN NEWS: Where the Deer Are

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

ARKANSAS NEWS: A Look at Historic Deer Harvests

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

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

The statistics are not on their side, however.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Baxter Bulletin

OPINION: Counting Deer in Wisconsin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Source: NBC26

NEW JERSEY NEWS: Noise Devices Deployed to Reduce Collisions

Essex County will purchase and install noise-emitting devices to deter deer from roadways and potentially dangerous collisions with passing cars.

The devices will be put along Parsonage Hill Road and JFK Parkway in Millburn and around the East Orange Water Reserve in Livingston, county Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced Thursday.

The devices, which will be purchased through a $75,000 state Department of Transportation grant, emit a high-frequency noise to scare deer and prevent them from running into traffic. They are activated by sensors that detect headlights of approaching motor vehicles.

Hundreds of deer are struck and killed on county-managed roads each year, DiVincenzo said. Several dozen are also killed on municipal roads, county surveys revealed. The county has recorded 196 such accidents through September this year.

“The overabundance of deer in Essex County has destroyed the forest in our reservations and created dangerous situations on our roads. As we move forward in the third year of our culling program and accelerate the regrowth of our forests with an aggressive planting program, expanding the use of these reflectors will be a tremendous asset to make our roads safer and prevent deer-related accidents,”
DiVincenzo said in a news release issued Thursday.

The devices should be in place by the spring.

Last year, the county kicked off its deer deterrent pilot program last year when it installed similar devices along a 3-mile stretch of Cherry Lane, a county road that cuts through the South Mountain Reservation. That effort was funded by the Essex County Parks Foundation.

The county has already requested funding from the DOT to expand the program to include additional roadways.

Source: NJ.com

NORTH CAROLINA NEWS: Deer and Deer Management at Duke Forest

here wasn't a deer in sight 38 years ago when Duke professor Norm Christensen began a long career studying the ecosystem of Duke Forest.

Now, deer are so abundant they've inserted themselves into his research. Christensen now studies how deer affect plant life just as he studies how hurricanes or climate change do.

"It really complicates what we're trying to understand," he said of sharing his research laboratory with so many deer. "But we're trying to make lemonade out of lemons."

Christensen may soon be documenting a drop in the deer population. Duke is in the midst of its second controlled hunt at Duke Forest in two years. Last fall, hunters killed 75 deer; this year, Duke officials hope to cull 100 white-tailed deer from a forest thought to hold as many as 600.

The exercise speaks to a problem that goes beyond the boundaries of the 7,000-acre Duke Forest. North Carolina's deer population has increased from about 670,000 in 1984 to more than 1.25 million in 2007, according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

In such numbers, the deer are causing trouble. In addition to playing havoc with research in Duke Forest, they feast on people's gardens and landscaping and have caused 20 motor vehicle-related deaths in the last two years.

But the most popular solution -- regulated bow-hunting -- is hard for some people to stomach and has prompted public conversation and head-scratching about how best to handle the ubiquitous deer.

Some say the hunts are too dangerous. Others think they're morally wrong.

Lee Glenn fears the hunt will tear apart deer herds -- animal families that rely on each other. Glenn lives near Duke Forest in Orange County and has gotten to know a herd that frequents her backyard. They're close-knit and reliant on each other, she said.

"It would sort of be like if you had a brother or sister and someone decided to pick your brother or sister off," she said. "Just to thin you out a little."

Jane Norton, a sustainability educator, moved to her home in rural Orange County 22 years ago to be near Duke Forest. She doesn't think there are too many deer.

"I care about all of nature and think it's imperative...to live in harmony with the natural world," Norton said. "I think our purpose on this earth is to learn from nature. I don't believe in playing God."

No easy way

Some say the method of hunting -- bows and arrows -- is both dangerous and inhumane.

Evin Stanford, a deer biologist with the state Wildlife Resources Commission, disagrees. "If there was an "Easy" button to push to resolve the problem, believe me, we would implement it," Stanford said. "But hunting is really the only feasible mechanism we have."

Other methods, such as a contraceptive product called GonaCon, sound more humane but are expensive, difficult to administer and have not proven to have lasting results, Stanford said.

Around the region, local governments and neighborhoods alike are grappling with deer. In Chapel Hill, for example, residents of one neighborhood asked town leaders for permission to conduct a bowhunt. At least one town council member, Sally Greene, said an urban archery program like that was simply too dangerous.

N.C. State operates six forests for research purposes. On at least one, Schenk Forest near the RBC Center, the deer population is growing steadily, said Joe Cox, NCSU's college forest manager.

"It's unusual to go out there and not see a deer," Cox said, adding that NCSU hasn't begun to consider culling deer.

In Duke Forest, an acceptable number of deer would be 15 to 20 per square mile; officials estimate the population is about 80 per square mile, said Judson Edeburn, the Duke Forest Resource Manager. They feast on plants and trees and wipe out saplings before they have a chance to grow. When they venture out of the forest and into surrounding communities, they ravage gardens.

"What people plant in their yards is just a salad bar for deer," Edeburn said.

Over time, the deer population swelled as predators such as wolves and panthers dwindled. And residential development has played a role as well, turning forests into neighborhoods.

The hunt in Duke Forest runs through mid-December. Duke has contracted with two hunting groups, which Edeburn declined to identify. There will be about 70 hunters involved; 50 will use bows while about 20 will use guns. Not all will hunt at once.

Hunters can keep or donate the deer meat.

Duke Forest is divided into six divisions in Durham, Orange and Alamance counties. Hunters are operating in the Durham, Korstian, Blackwood and Hillsborough divisions, Monday through Friday. Those areas are closed to the public at those times, though teaching exercises are still allowed.

The hunters are trained marksmen required to demonstrate their accuracy each year by hitting a three-inch target from 20 yards, Edeburn said. They operate from deer stands perched in trees to shoot down rather than horizontally. They shoot not at the flank, neck or head, but at the lung or heart.

Generally, it takes one quick shot to kill a deer, Edeburn said.

"These are highly-skilled hunters," he said. "These are not amateurs."

Source: News Observer

ILLINOIS NEWS: Deer-Vehicle Accidents Down 5% in 2008

The Illinois Department of Transportation on Wednesday released statistics showing there were 814 fewer crashes between vehicles and deer in 2008 than there were in 2007. There were 24,212 deer-vehicle crashes reported in 2008 in Illinois. The department also says fewer motorists were injured in the crashes -- 758 in 2008 compared with 843 in 2007.

Both the state transportation department and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources say motorists should be aware that deer are more active during the fall and during the dawn and dusk hours. Officials say motorists should wear their seat belts and be alert to deer on roadways.

The article fails to note the connection between accidents declining 5% and the deer population declined about 5% over the same interval.

Source: Chicago Tribune

KANSAS NEWS: Shawnee Mission Park Cull Needs Security

Officials with the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department say there will be tight security as efforts to reduce the deer herd in Shawnee Mission Park get under way.

Efforts to decrease the deer heard by 75% are scheduled to begin by the end of this week. County law enforcement officials are being trained by special sharpshooters. The park will be closed at the time the shooting takes place.

Opposition to the harvest has grown intense in recent weeks. Park spokesman Randy Knight says the county is taking threats by opponents to disrupt the harvest seriously.

Knight: "We're certainly not gonna publicize the dates, and they have not been set yet, but even when they are , it's a law enforcement operation and for public safety reasons we will not inform the public."

The perimeter of the park will be closely monitored by law enforcement officials, and Knight says the shooters will be located in a very small section of the park.

Source: KCUR

MICHIGAN NEWS: Confirmed - EHD Kills Over 150 Deer

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed today that a virus called epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) has caused more than 150 deer to die in northeastern Livingston County.

State officials said this appears to be the largest outbreak of EHD in the state.

Residents in Deerfield and Tyrone townships have found deer carcasses in rivers, lakes, ponds and marshes in the last two months. The virus causes massive internal hemorrhaging, and the animals are overcome with a fever that forces them to seek out and submerge themselves in water in an attempt to cool off. The deer die soon after coming down with fever.

The disease is spread by a tiny, biting fly, or midge.

State officials said deer develop symptoms of the illness about seven days after exposure. Signs are: Loss of appetite, loss of the fear of humans, growing progressively weaker, excessive salivation.

There is no evidence the disease can be transmitted to humans.

However, state officials recommended residents do not hunt or eat deer they believe are sick.

The first documented EHD outbreak in Michigan occurred in 1955, followed by die-offs in 1974, 2006 and 2008. Last year, roughly 200 deer died from EHD in Oakland and Macomb counties.

Russ Mason, chief of the natural resources wildlife division, said more frequent outbreaks of EHD in the state could be a result of climate changes that favor the northward spread of biting flies that spread the disease.

Source: Livingston Daily

WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: Bridgeport to Allow Hunting in City Limits

Bridgeport has become the fifth city in West Virginia to allow deer hunting within city limits.

City Council voted Monday to allow an urban deer hunt, with officials hoping to get it started on Oct. 7.

The possibility of an urban hunt had been in doubt earlier this year, when state Division of Natural Resources officials said Bridgeport had missed a deadline to apply for a hunt.

They ultimately ruled the deadline didn't apply to the city, and allowed the council's vote to go forward.

A consultant hired by the city estimated this spring there are 38 deer per square mile in Bridgeport.

Barboursville, Charleston, Weirton and Wheeling currently allow urban hunts.

Source: Charleston Gazette

USA NEWS: Every 26 Seconds...

More on the State Farm report.

One in every 228 Illinois drivers will hit a deer this year, according to a State Farm analysis.

Illinois deer-car collisions are up 3 percent from five years ago, a slight uptick compared with the 18 percent increase in collisions around the country in that same time period, State Farm is reporting.

The insurance agency's research suggests that every 26 seconds in America, someone slams a deer with a vehicle.

Dick Luedke, State Farm spokesman, said the data didn't break out specifics for the Chicago metropolitan area.

Illinois drivers don't need to journey far to find themselves more likely to be in the path of one of the beasts.

Neighbors Michigan and Iowa are second and fourth on the State Farm list. Rounding out the top five places drivers are most likely to hit a deer are West Virginia (1), Pennsylvania (3) and Montana (5).

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

HAWAII NEWS: Axis Deer on the Rise

A major and expensive pest has placed state lands, Hawaiian home lands, public and private watersheds, golf courses, parks, ranches, farms and home gardens under siege.

However, it is an extremely cute creature to many. A delicacy to some. And a potential lawsuit to others.

It's the spotted axis deer. But don't ask for an accurate population estimate for Maui County; the experts' answers are mostly anecdotal. However, they agree that the introduced animal's numbers are spiraling out of control.

While hunting education classes are booked five months in advance, fewer people hunt today than a generation ago. And the animals are increasingly finding refuge in town parks and suburbia, where firearms use could land hunters behind bars.

As in other states, Hawai'i has made efforts to increase the number of hunters to deal with exploding deer populations, such as offering popular hunter education classes, no bag limits, a year-round hunting season and cheap licenses.

Jeffrey DeRego, Maui Hunters and Sportsman Club president, said one of the largest obstacles to controlling the deer population — as well as those of feral pigs and goats — is America's litigious society. Rather than allow hunters onto their land to cull the herds for free, large landowners are warned by their insurance companies against allowing individuals onto their properties, he said.

However, hunting is a visitor attraction on Maui as well. The 1,000-acre Arrow One Ranch in Kula and Maui Hunting Safari offer "exclusive" hunting grounds for "free-range prey," according to the businesses' Web sites.

State wildlife biologist Shane De Mattos said axis deer have not significantly affected native forests so far, although the potential is there. Still, deer have devoured some wild taro patches on Moloka'i, which were replaced by California scrub brush.

Source: Honolulu Advertiser

USA News: Deer Crash Risks for 2010

West Virginia drivers lead the U.S. in collisions with deer for the third straight year as a larger population of the animals meets increasing traffic in once-rural areas, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. said.

One in every 39 drivers in West Virginia is likely to hit a deer in the next 12 months, State Farm said today. The probability was 1 in 45 in last year’s study. Michigan ranked second, with odds of one in 78, according to State Farm claims data and motor vehicle registration counts from the Federal Highway Administration.

“We see thousands of dollars worth of damage,” said Spyro Nicoloudakis, co-owner of A-1 Body Shop in Charleston, West Virginia. “Everybody, one time or another, has had an experience with hitting a deer.”

Crashes reach their peak from October through December -- deer mating season -- and cause more than $1 billion in vehicle damage annually, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said in a separate study. Urban sprawl and limits on hunting contribute to the increase, wildlife specialists said.

“You have deer that are very actively seeking each other out and competing with each other for mates,” said John Niewoonder, big game specialist at Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources. No matter the time of year, “you have more roads and more people driving around,” he said.

Michigan is combating the problem by advising motorists not to “veer for deer.” People can put themselves at greater risk when they try to avoid hitting the animals, said Bob Felt, a spokesman for the state’s transportation department.

‘Brake Firmly’

“They end up going off the road and hitting a fixed object like a tree or a pole,” Felt said. “They get more seriously injured than they would have. To prevent fatalities and reduce injuries, we ask people to hold on to the steering wheel and brake firmly and come to a controlled stop.”

Hunting restriction in populated regions mean deer are growing more common in suburban areas, said Paul Curtis, an associate professor at Cornell University’s Department of Natural Resources.

“Deer are in those areas to start with, and they have low mortality because they are not hunted,” he said. “Adult does are having twins and occasionally triplets, so the population can increase pretty rapidly.”



Source: Bloomberg

MICHIGAN NEWS: Dead Deer Probably Killed by EHD

Homeowners in the area around Hoisington and Bennett lakes have discovered dozens of dead white-tailed deer in their yards and waterways over the past few weeks.

Department of Natural Resources officials say it appears the deer are victims of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD — an acute, infectious and often fatal viral disease that is spread by a biting fly or midge. However, no definitive lab tests have been conducted at this point to confirm it.

“I don’t think there’s any question that’s what it is, from what they’re describing and seeing. The problem is they’re finding most of these deer by smell when they’re already decomposing and the virus breaks down with decomposition. To confirm EHD we have to work on fresh samples,” said DNR wildlife biologist Tom Cooley.

Cooley and a wildlife technician were enroute to the site on Thursday morning with a field kit in hopes of finding a carcass fresh enough to at least be examined for internal bleeding, one telltale of the disease that isn’t externally visible.

September 30 2009 Update: EHD has been confirmed as the causative agent.

Source: MLive

WISCONSIN NEWS: Thirty-Point Buck Bagged

Remember, if you bag a thirty-pointer, it is due to your hunting prowess. If you get skunked, it is the DNR's fault for ruining the deer herd. -TR

A Fond du Lac resident bagged a 30-point whitetail buck by bow.

Wayne Schumacher shot the deer Sunday night from a tree stand near Rosendale.

Schumacher says the shot covered about 15 yards and the deer ran about 60 or 70 yards before going down.

Schumacher noted he's hunted with bow and gun for more than 30 years and he's known people who have seen the buck but it was hard to believe.

The deer, referred to as "Lucky Buck," has an inside antler spread of 20 inches. Its field-dressed weight was about 225 pounds. Estimates are that the deer is at least 4 years old.

Schumacher says the memory will be preserved with a shoulder mount.

Source: Chicago Tribune