Why do we have so many deer?

[gundog]

The problem with hunting is these deer sometimes are in areas where you can't hunt......at least with a gun. The other problem with controlling populations is that to do so you have to kill does. Killing bucks will not lower the population at all. If you kill 90% of the bucks ...all the does will get knocked up anyway.....but a lot of hunters do not want to shoot does.......many have been programmed that it is wrong. In some states you are forced to shoot a doe first.....and then a buck, just for thast reason.

Some areas have hired hunters to shoot as many as possible using bows..... to thin out a heard that is destructive to it's own habitat.

[Carlos]

The problem with hunting is these deer sometimes are in areas where you can't hunt......at least with a gun. The other problem with controlling populations is that to do so you have to kill does. Killing bucks will not lower the population at all. If you kill 90% of the bucks ...all the does will get knocked up anyway.....but a lot of hunters do not want to shoot does.......many have been programmed that it is wrong. In some states you are forced to shoot a doe first.....and then a buck, just for thast reason.

Some areas have hired hunters to shoot as many as possible using bows..... to thin out a heard that is destructive to it's own habitat.

Yup. And the problem with thinking it's wrong to shoot does is twofold. Not only does an over abundance of does cause inordinate deer populations, it's also poor herd management. Too many does means that ALL the bucks get to impregnate a doe which means the shallow end of the gene pool gets perpetuated. With lower doe numbers, the competition for breeding goes up which means the bigger bucks with better genetics become responsible for a higher percentage of the next generation of deer.

[doubledip1]

In the town I grew up in, there are SO many deer but it's too residential to allow hunting, so every year they hire a wildlife management company and sharpshoot a hundred or so in the winter. They've actually had deer walk IN TO their house when they left the back door open for a breeze... You can walk out in their backyard and yell at them, they won't move. Honk your horn, they won't move. They are incredibly tolerant of people, which is not good!

[Carlos]

In the town I grew up in, there are SO many deer but it's too residential to allow hunting, so every year they hire a wildlife management company and sharpshoot a hundred or so in the winter. They've actually had deer walk IN TO their house when they left the back door open for a breeze... You can walk out in their backyard and yell at them, they won't move. Honk your horn, they won't move. They are incredibly tolerant of people, which is not good!

I've never poached but that would definitely tempt me. Lol

[ZRabbits]

LOL, there was a big meeting here many years ago about coyote control. Birth control was suggested. Some farmer got up and sputtered, "Heck, they want to eat my lambs, not sc4ew them."

lol, not just the deer here, but the bears as well. I can't imagine the money spent trying to figure out how to do this, when the most easiest is to allow hunters to do what they do best. I think I read that instead of the hunting the property taxes went up so that they townships can have money to go around picking up the carcasses. So backwards, all because some remember "Bambi" and think bears are just little teddy bears deer. Not cute when you hit a deer with your car, or when a bear decides to come strolling through your yard. And if a bear is sighted, well, there's $$$$ for the government, they have to send someone out. So backwards.

KAZ

[Snowshoe]

A story about deer entering houses. This happened when my OH was a game warden and he was one of the ones called out.

The deer didn't just enter. She jumped in through a big plate glass window. Then she somehow made it to the basement. Broken glass and blood ALL OVER. The home owner was OPP, Ontario Provincial Police. He emptied his service revolver trying to shoot her and missed every time. Meanwhile his baby son sat upstairs and luckily emerged from whole thing unscathed by either the deer or his idiot father. The other game warden shot the deer and he and my OH removed her body.

This was back in the days when we still had budget to send Conservation Officers out on wildlife calls day, night or weekend. Now in a similar situation the call would go directly to OPP who call our Ministry of Natural Resources at their discretion. Be afraid, be very, very afraid.