Too many deer hurts everyone

Some landowners must play larger role in herd management

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  11/14/2007 8:11 am

Keith McCaffery likes to say, only half jokingly, that it is often safer to talk about sex, religion, and politics than it is to discuss deer management.

The retired research biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also admits that in the 45 years he worked with deer populations, he didn't recall that a hunter ever accused him or the DNR of under-estimating the deer herd size. However, he believes that most hunter-landowners do under-estimate deer numbers on their land and thus shoot too few animals to control the herd. The result is often damage to their woods and their neighbor's woods.

"The current abundance of deer is not really good for deer, for deer hunters, nor for the DNR," McCaffery said.

It is bad for deer because it has cheapened their value. It is not good for hunters because non-hunting constituencies tend to blame hunters for having badgered the DNR into allowing higher population goals and permitting herds to grow.

It is bad for DNR because it gives the appearance that the DNR is incapable of managing deer at goal levels.

"Finally, the current abundance of deer is bad for our woodlands. Agricultural crop damage and car/deer crashes seem to get most of the attention, but deer browsing and the impact on forest plant composition is apparently too subtle to excite the common person," McCaffery said. "However, woodland owners should know enough about what is happening in the woods to be excited."

He is chagrined that many landowners are doing exactly what should not be done: feeding deer.

Many landowners feed deer near their house in order to see them. It is understandable that they enjoy seeing wildlife, but feeding can cause problems, even if it is just a little amount of feed put out each day.

If people put out two gallons of shelled corn per day, year-round, in a year they will have provided 2.5 tons of feed per site. Multiply this by the number of neighbors who are also feeding and it adds up to thousands of tons of deer-feed being dumped into the system.

"Not only does this increase deer productivity and survival, it changes their behavior and distribution," McCaffery said.

McCaffery also noted that baiting and feeding is "like playing with fire." There are a dozen communicable diseases that can occur in deer, McCaffery said, including chronic wasting disease and Bovine TB. People should not be fostering conditions favorable for transmitting disease.

He also has his reservations about so-called "quality deer management programs (QDM)," which he believes contribute to over-abundant deer in many parts of Wisconsin.

In North America, wildlife is held in public trust and is to be scientifically managed by the state for the benefit of all citizens. The material benefits, like hides and carcasses, are allocated by law rather than by social status, land ownership, or money.

Under the European model, wildlife is essentially owned by the landowner who controls not only who hunts but what is shot. McCaffery said that QDM is the catalyst that is moving away from the North American model and toward the European model.

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  11/14/2007 8:11 am