"There were 1.5 million deer and vehicle crashes in 2003, injuring 13,713 people and causing $1.1 billion in vehicle damage, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released in November."

We need more fast food outlets like :
{{!gwi}}
Mmmmmmm....Bambi burgers..mmmm good

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...Ena Eats, Buck Burgers, Stag Steaks, Roe Rocks!

DH did his part. He's only allowed 5 (2 bucks, 3 doe)in the county he hunts in. Here in Texas they are becoming a menace also. In some parts they roam residential areas and aren't the least bit frightened of human activity.
Extending the season would be a good idea but the limit should also be higher (at least that's what my dogs think).

To put this in perspective:

In 2002 alcohol figured in 15,019 fatal crashes, or 35% of all fatal crashes killing 43,005 people. In the same year we drove about 3,800 BILLION miles. The number of injured is not reported largely because of the vast numbers involved.

So, what is this other threat to Americas and The American Way? Or was this a call from the NRA?

Here is a link that might be useful: some statistics -- see additional links

A few years ago I spent a couple of weeks in Texas looking at farms for sale and generally sizing up the place. What struck me was the juxaposition of high electrified fences around some farms to keep out deer next to houses with one or more deer feeders nearby. It was explained to me that Texans were great hunters but smart enough to train the deer to come to their yards and within easy rifle range.

I never wondered when later I received a BD gift of a device to be mounted on my pickup hood, a device to warn off deer. While I saw thousands of roadside deer in Texas, they are darn rare here in California.

The deer are a real problem on the roads here in Indiana. Myself, I had one pass so close in front of me one dark morning, I thought the rear hoof might have made a slight click as it finished passing in front of me. Then one evening after dark one smashed into the side of our car.

Deer are a problem here in Illinois too. Deer are even a larger problem in my home state of Wisconsin. The deer have really adapted to suburban areas and are wreaking havoc on natural areas - stripping all vegetation to about 6' off the ground. and of course the over exagerrated chronic wasting disease scare.

although the CWD problem was exagerrated, it did help politically open up limits on deer in many areas. in the county where my brother lives, he was able to harvest as many does as he wanted to. he had to take a doe first to get a buck tag and then for every deer that was registered you could get another doe tag and the hunting season was extended. i think he got seven deer this year. the local meat processor would donate the processing for any deer that was donated to the local food shelter, which also was a great incentive for hunters to take more deer than they normally would.

That sounds like a good solution but likely won't help in suburban settings where hunting is limited or banned. When I was a yound fella in NH, we were allowed to take one buck a year. Deer were scarce then compared to now according to friends still living in the area.

As the article states the deer problem is one of human making. To further compound the problem there is little in the way of realistic planning for human population growth in terms of land management. Communities typically set aside a token amount of greenspace and then allow developers to build as they please. This creates not only urban/suburban sprawl, but additional direct pressure placing huge deer populations in conflict with human interests.

Here in NY the DEC's approach has been to increase control and reduce deer populations through hunting methods. This is all well and just dandy except for a few significant oversights. One is the DEC continues their deer nurturing programs due to hunting lobby pressure. When setting game regulations one would think in order to reduce deer populations they would require the taking of at least 2 doe before issuing a buck permit. This would only make sense since the taking of bucks does little or nothing to reduce populations. In fact the taking of a disproportionate number of bucks only insures a better winter food supply for the surviving doe's. Which means a possible twin birth of fawns come spring!

Further, with the majority of land posted the majority of deer after the first day easily hide from hunters. They quickly become almost completely nocturnal in their behavior and adapt into moving toward human populated areas that cannot be hunted and provide an abundance of easy garden pickings.

Its become a big mess and an expensive one with a ridiculous number of car accidents, increased insurance fees, property damage, so on ... .
Will humans never learn.

Fifty years ago there were few or no white tail deer in my area of the state.....period. I still do not see what has changed that much in my area.

In my area of Georgia, 50-60 years ago white-tailed deer numbers had fallen so low that my Uncle worked with wildlife officals to reintroduce them from outside the state. When I was a child, they had recovered significantly but it were still rare enough that on my rural school bus, a deer sighting would prompt a shout from one of the farm boys followed by everyone rushing to one side of the bus. A few years later, as a teenager, hunting deer in my valley required preparation and planning including scouting out deer trails and evidence of antler rubbing and one was lucky to see a doe much less a buck. Today, deer are so common that car collisons happen frequently and it takes no real skill to hunt them. My nephews kill them for the meat, but do not see it as any sort of sport.

We have the identical problem here with kangaroos (and wallabies)...
I have probably a hundred or more on my 100 acres, but they don't bother me unless they get near the vegies/orchard...then Bess the Blue Heeler goes into action.

They're a real danger on the roads, though...we're the only nation I know that eats (half) our national emblem...bet no-one here knows what the other half is!

Regards,

Shax

Well, the kangaroo and the emu are unofficial emblems on your coat of arms.

It seems to me that deer only try to take care of their families. Their habitat is being destroyed by people building homes, townhouses etc. and destroying every piece of habitat left for animals. They don't care about wildlife, they run dirt bikes, make unreasonable noise, shoot anything that moves, if they should see a deer, fox,O'Possum,ground-hog, chipmunk, ITS KILL IT MENTALITY. Let the wild things alone, we can coexist.

As far as deer habitat is concerned, there is close to the same amount of wooded area in my area as 100 years ago. Housing areas were open fields previously where deer did not spend much time. I don't see that much change yet the deer have exploded.

I don't know any hunters that shoot all wild things seen. Taking a bonehead exception and making the generalization discounts credibility. I hunt a little bit, but mainly I purchase land work to preserve nature and promote wildlife. I found that taking a few deer reduced local auto collisions, improved ground nesting birds procreation, allowed threatened plants which had been deer favorites to reseed, and put some food on the table. All the while my expenses help fund wildlife and natural resource projects. My perceived "kill it mentality" is part of my heritage (Native American), provides an oppurtunity to interact with the motherland, and I help feed the poor (Hunters for the Hungry). I preserve land, aid threatened populations, help people in need...etc, and yet some will slander. I will continue being me, and walk lightly and embrace tightly the wonders of Mother Nature.

I hit a huge buck in my little Honda Civic back in 2004. Over $10,000 damage to a 3 month old car. The emergency responders said I was extremely lucky he didn't crash all the way through the windshield given the speed I was going and the size he was. I now drive that stretch of highway like an old lady forever scanning the sides for suicidal deer. That whistle thing that you put on the front of the car seems to work. I've seen a few run the other way rather than jump out in front of my car since I've been using it.

For some reason, I have no deer in my neighborhood. Probably since there's no good source of fresh water. As a result, a lot of bird species nest in the salt water marsh behind my house. It's nice to have them all back there. I've been working on establishing more bird friendly plants back there.

I'm not a fan of killing anything, but I would like to see more states explore methods of sterilization to help reduce the population...the deer too. (hee hee) It's just no fun hitting a deer in a Honda!

nellie2 Have you done any research on the subject, deer are not running out of habitat, there just aren't enought predators, deer can live even in urban habitats, it doesn't matter if we were to tear down all of our structures and build under ground, there are far too many deer and they are destroying the habitat for other native north american critters and even impacting the global climate, they are a huge cause of deforestation, in pensilvania deer remove more oak trees than people, and they don't plant any, infact they eat the acorns and seedlings down to nothing.

Marshall,

deer are rare in coastal scrub vegetation, not California in general (coastal scrub offers little protection from predators). Naturally, since most of California's population lives near the coast, and chaparral tends to revert to scrub near urban areas (higher fire frequency) deer aren't seen often by most.

I saw several when I drove out to Mt. Pinos via highway 33 and Lockwood Valley Road last weekend. I also see them nightly on walks around my neighborhood here at the base of Bishop's Peak in SLO (thankfully, between low evening traffic and low speeds on these residential streets away from any major thoroughfares, collisions are rare).

Another thing to keep in mind is that the sides of most major highways in this state are grazed by cattle where they aren't bordered by farms or cities. Weed abatement keeps the areas on the freeway side of cattle fences clear of deer fodder (though you have to be careful travelling between Paso Robles and SLO on 101 at twilight).

Ryan

I travel all 48 and OH & PA have deer carcasses every mile on the interstate. Most other states either the deer are smarter or the highway workers pick 'em up regularly or the population is lower or the turkey buzzards and other carrion eaters clean 'em up better or all of the above!

I'm like the Texans. I have them come right into my yard (in TN) so I can harvest right from my deck! I have a few regular does, "Flossie", "Loretta" and "Dolores" and 3 yearlings who will eat out of my hand, and Flossie I can actually pet and hug. I would never eat my regular gals! Feel bad for 'em in the summer; so many ticks and flies bugging them constantly. BTW , Dolores and Loretta are definitely expecting very soon! Ain't seen Flossie in at least two months. They lay up under my deck sometimes all day long. That's what I call living in harmony with nature!