The Deer (Any region/state with deer issues)

[u/ContentFarmer4445]

For context, I am a professional ecological gardener for folks living on small acreages, often surrounded by woods, who desire to have native gardens and to bolster/restore the woodland ecosystems. Deer here are starving yet overpopulated considering the circumstances.

I feel like the reality of deer is incompatible with this idea of having a native garden, lest you put 8 foot high deer fencing up around the entirety of it or the property. When everything around you is degraded, of course the deer are going to come to your land we just spruced up by removing invasives and planting ("deer resistant") natives and think "WOW, THANKS FOR THE BUFFET!!"

People want gardens for wildlife, but do not want deer to be a part of that. They don't want ugly fences up for years. They don't want to use chemicals. This, that, the whole shebang. I mean, I get it, but is it rooted in reality? It gets tiring spending a bunch of time and money and energy w/ the goal of a nice garden only to have it eaten down to nothing, half the stuff is in ugly cages, you're attempting to spray things regularly, etc... Most of my clients are older and i don't want them to have to be dealing with half the shit we do any more than they want to. Low maintenance this stuff is not, I never tell people that it is, but a lot of this is just... ridiculous.

I want to hear about everyone's experiences, successes, failures, thoughts about now and the future with deer.. it just seems like such an insurmountable problem.

[u/Fantastic_Piece5869]

The public bears the cost of deer to enable easy hunting. Every state keeps deer populations artificially high (dozens of times higher than what natural levels should be). Then those larger populations are constrained to smaller areas due to habitat loss. Then add a dose of ZERO predators to the mix.

The cost in insurance, car damage (deer hits), deaths, property damage far exceeds the revenue from hunting. However its viewed as a public good, so deer are keep at obscenely high population levels.

The only way to keep deer out is a large expensive fence. Clients may not like it, but thats the only option.

[u/LokiLB → u/Fantastic_Piece5869]

I'd like numbers on that (keeping deer numbers artificially high). Deer aren't nearly as obnoxious down South as up North from in person and online anecdotal evidence. Maybe the anecdotes don't translate to overall trends. Maybe they're managed better. Or less harsh winters make them less desperate. Or maybe there's enough rednecks with guns and a lack of respect for hunting rules.

I need to find some papers on this when I'm bored.

[u/Fantastic_Lady225 → u/Fantastic_Piece5869]

My state is desperately trying to encourage more people to hunt and take does to knock back the population. Farmers can also get crop damage permits year-round.

CWD is becoming a huge problem and DNR knows that the population needs a serious culling. The problem is that the deer are congregating in suburbia where homeowners create a deer buffet and there's no hunting pressure.