There is only one deer left.

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is in the top 3 areas in the US with the highest number of white tail deer populations.- also bears. If you aren't from PA, Monday, Dec. 9th was the start of the white tail deer hunting season. Since spring, I've had three deer munching on my property everyday.

The deer, here, are so used to seeing humans; they don't react to us. You can walk by them, and they just keep munching away. Well, today, there was only one deer in my yard. It looked lonely to me. I don't hunt. But unfortunately, I did see what happens with over population. On year, we had few hunters, and lots of deer. By spring, the deer looked rather bad-scrawny, lousy coats, sickly, etc. What are your thoughts about there aren't good choices at times?
 

'Controlling' nature is tricky
ODF@W here in Oregon, has found out many things in regard to that.
One, cleaning out streams to make it better for fish to migrate/spawn
Three years later they put back all the deadfalls, limbs, and deciduous natural debris

Deer
Coyotes
Other predators
Were once controlled

Turns out, they control themselves
 

Roe deer are virtually a pest here. Our friends with the market garden have had crops disappear overnight - eaten by deer. In the highlands, the Red deer population is managed by hunting under the guidance of experienced stalkers.

Some people have suggested the introduction of Lynx or Wolves to help control the deer population.
 
My city is using hired guns from the department of agriculture to thin the deer population this year.

The venison is being processed locally and will be made available to the local food banks.

I have mixed feelings about it but I don't see any good options that would control the population and allow us to coexist.
 
The thing I like about natural control is that the predators usually kill the easiest to catch: the old and sick or disabled and the young, those that will have a hard time making it through the winter. The hunters go for the biggest racks or biggest bodies which are usually reproducing adults. Nature is the best at wildlife management. Disclaimer: I'm not a hunter and am a vegetarian for 35 years, but will admit that if faced with starvation with NOTHING else available to eat, I would hunt. My main disgust with hunting is the ''blood sport'' version of it, not the survival version.
 
Burnet, Llano and San Saba counties in Central Texas have had an excess of White Tail Deer. In the spring dozens and dozens of dead deer are found in clumps where they have starved to death.

The deer are a cash crop to the large ranchers; they also have the political clout to thwart any thinning out of deer
A deer lease, the last time I was informed, cost $500.00 per weekend. City folk from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio… willing pay this as they are almost guaranteed to bag a deer.

If the deer were thinned out, this would place the income the ranchers receive every deer season in jeopardy. The deer are’ Money’ the situation will not change.
 
Capt Lightning said:
Some people have suggested the introduction of Lynx or Wolves to help control the deer population.
Click to expand...
Did that a couple decades ago here in Oregon
The timber companies were losing fir seedlings to deer
They imported coyotes
Now, those prairie wolves control deer, cattle, and pets....and a good lot of them live in town
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is in the top 3 areas in the US with the highest number of white tail deer populations.- also bears. If you aren't from PA, Monday, Dec. 9th was the start of the white tail deer hunting season. Since spring, I've had three deer munching on my property everyday.

The deer, here, are so used to seeing humans; they don't react to us. You can walk by them, and they just keep munching away. Well, today, there was only one deer in my yard. It looked lonely to me. I don't hunt. But unfortunately, I did see what happens with over population. On year, we had few hunters, and lots of deer. By spring, the deer looked rather bad-scrawny, lousy coats, sickly, etc. What are your thoughts about there aren't good choices at times?
Click to expand...
Rifle deer season opened on Saturday, the 30th of November and runs through the 14th of December, in Pennsylvania. All opening days now start on Saturday. In 2020, they are adding 3 Sunday hunting days. Our hunting laws have been changing in PA.

So this could be the reason why you are not seeing all your deer at one time. Some are more cautious than others, especially when hunting season is in. They would rather hide and come out closer to dark time.

Come Spring, the deer are shedding their winter coats, so it's natural that they will look different than they have during the winter; thinner and scraggly.

I live in NorthCentral PA and there isn't much deer hunting going on here this season. Licenses increased in price, is one reason. Another reason, hunters are worried about CWD in the deer population which is striking the Southern region of our State. Folks in that region that harvest a deer can have it tested for CWD for free. Other regions will have to pay $75 to have their deer tested which is a deterrent to hunt.

The deer I see every day on my property look quite healthy and are thriving. Some days, I'll see a herd of 20 deer. When the weather gets worse, they'll have a tougher time foraging for food, especially if we get an ice storm which makes it difficult for them to move around.
 
jerry r. garner said:
Burnet, Llano and San Saba counties in Central Texas have had an excess of White Tail Deer. In the spring dozens and dozens of dead deer are found in clumps where they have starved to death.

The deer are a cash crop to the large ranchers; they also have the political clout to thwart any thinning out of deer
A deer lease, the last time I was informed, cost $500.00 per weekend. City folk from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio… willing pay this as they are almost guaranteed to bag a deer.

If the deer were thinned out, this would place the income the ranchers receive every deer season in jeopardy. The deer are’ Money’ the situation will not change.
Click to expand...

I seem to recall that the deer were nearly gone from those counties back in the seventies. Then they worked to bring them back. It's not just the ranchers who profit. The motels are full, and the restaurants are busy. The grocery stores do well, too. During hunting season, the line at Cooper's BBQ is huge! I have been through some small towns in Texas where businesses put up "Welcome Hunters!" signs because it brings a boost to the local economy.

In our Sun City, the residents were getting angry because the deer were eating their landscaping plants. Of course, the fools didn't plant deer resistant shrubs, so it was like a salad bar for wildlife. There was a big flap over it a while ago. I think they paid to have the deer relocated, but in a year they were back. We have deer in our neighborhood, and they barely pay attention to people.
 
Regarding post 7, there is much more to this event that presented in that post;
The rich folk come to the hunting/fishing lodges to drink, , gamble, run women, which are provided by the owner of the lodge
They may go out a day or so in order to say, " I was out there hunting."-the owner of the lodge would pay the natives to go out and poach deer. Consequently, the hunters stayed around the lodge, doing their fun things.

There are groups of common folk that that hunt on state owned land; the locals avoid It as the hunters are city folk and shoot at things other than deer.
On the opening day of dear session it sounds like a war-it is dangerous. These are the poor folks that did not stay at the high dollar lodges..
These poor folks, if they are lucky enough to get a deer, take it to the process plant where it is cut into edible folks. These are the
people that support the local merchants and these are the real deer hunters.
(See post 10, Carolfrom TX)

The rich folks stay at the lodges were everything is provided; they do not have their deer processes. They tie the dear on the outside of the car, drive back to the big cities: "Look honey I got a deer. I was out there every morning hunting,."

The last time I was there was 2011, the social dynamics had not changed.
 

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