The Good News Magazine

Deer, Oh Dear!!

The current deer population on the Eastern Shore, and indeed in much of the mid Atlantic region, is an example of an ecosystem out of whack. Any natural patterns of co-existence during the time of our earliest settlements here are long gone unless we can artificially manipulate the balance. According to a recent Maryland Department of Natural Resources report, deer were plentiful in Maryland in the 1600s when Western European immigrants first came to these shores. Native Americans relied on deer for food, shelter, clothing and tools and taught colonists to do the same. When colonists cleared large tracts of land for agriculture, homebuilding and shipbuilding, the deer population further declined. By 1729, a law was passed to limit the hunting season for deer but the fine of 400 pounds of tobacco for each violation was not enforced, in part, because need was great. In the meantime, the demand for deer hides to support the leather industry both here and in England grew. By 1900 deer were found only in remote Western Maryland counties and the hunting season was closed in 1902.

In the 1920s two deer refuges were created and one was near Berlin on the Eastern Shore. During the Depression, modern forestry and soil conservation encouraged tree planting on marginal farm lands, thus increasing habitat for deer. Deer were actually released in this state until the 1960s as part of the state conservation commission’s charge to protect and propagate wildlife. Human intervention, both inadvertent and deliberate, created a new ecological balance for deer that promoted a surge in population. By the 1980s, there were far too many deer.

White-tailed Deer

Since the early 1900s when white tailed deer were reintroduced to their former territory, much of the Mid Shore has become a deer “park.” Burgeoning suburban human population has contributed to the rise in deer population. When land is cleared for housing, deer have less to eat and fewer places to hide, but when gardens are planted party crasher deer come running to the banquet. They particularly appreciate the non-native delicacies we have unwittingly introduced: Hostas, Daylilies and Lilies, Pansies and Violas, Nellie Stevens Holly and even the nice green grass with which we carpet our lawns. In nature, deer live on understory plants and when landowners clear underbrush in wooded areas, deer quickly move toward gardens. In addition to the tempting array of neighborhood appetizers, farmers plant grains now that are more nutritionally valuable to all sorts of animals. For the year 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the State of Maryland suffered $9 million in crop damage from wildlife, 84% of which was from deer.

When Disney produced “Bambi” in 1942, we thought differently about deer because there were less of them. Our vision of Bambi and his world is still very much alive, and a young fawn, the majesty of a buck, or the sight of a herd in a nearby field on an autumn night can still be magical. Part of the Cervidae family that includes Moose, Elk and relatives of Rudolph, the dear deer mate from late October into November during the “rut” season in which males compete for females, sparring antler to antler for dominance. One to three fawns may be born to a doe in late spring. After a fawn is born, the mother will leave it up to four hours at a time, usually hiding it in the undergrowth of forest. Though fawns are certainly potential prey to dogs or coyotes, which kill up to 40% in some parts of the state, there are even reports of does birthing and leaving offspring in the open on residential lawns belonging to charmed “owners.”

Female fawns stay with the mother for about two years and males leave after the first year, then living in a group of young bucks. Except for the mating season, does and bucks live apart. The average lifespan of a deer in the wild is 10 or 11 years.

Though various species of deer are native to every continent except Antarctica and Australia, the white-tailed deer and occasionally the Sika, as in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, are the only ones that share the Eastern Shore with us. A full-grown white-tailed deer may weigh from 100 to 300 pounds and can run 40 miles an hour. They have excellent eyesight and hearing and are also good swimmers. The variety of sounds they make includes the fawn’s bleat that its mother recognizes, a severe distress call, and an aggressive snort that signifies challenge from male to male. A foot stomp accompanied by a snort draws attention to possible danger, as does the raised tail when running. Glands on the forehead and hindquarters are used for leaving scent for other male deer in the area, especially during breeding season. And antlers, used to fight other males, are shed annually and regrown after the rut season. Antler size depends on the amount of calcium deer have, which is in turn dependent on the mineral content of the soil in which their food grows. Generally, deer grow bigger antlers in Texas…though the weight of the overall animal is far greater here in Maryland.

One could argue that deer are formidable opponents of both our landscape and our automobiles. In addition, it is thought by many that they are primary contributors to the human Lyme Disease problem, though certainly smaller animals, including mice, are also culprits. The Department of Natural Resources and others are investigating ways to thin the herd. Fencing and birth control darts are currently only viable in small contained populations as, perhaps, on Wye Island. Unfortunately for the deer, hunting is still the best solution, though we have far fewer hunters and many more neighborhoods where it is dangerous to shoot.

If one hunts deer or would like to, it is important to know that since 2002, $1 for the deer license goes to the state’s Farmers’ and Hunters’ Feeding the Hungry program. Frase’s Meat Shop in Preston participates by butchering deer that hunters do not wish to keep and giving it to those in need. They are paid by the state for butchering a certain number of deer, after which certain customers report that they give above and beyond.

Whether or not we hunt, whether or not we eat deer meat, we and the deer have a mutual problem. There are too many of us living in the same space. We humans must work toward a reasonable coexistence. Hopefully, further research will result in practical solutions and, in the meantime, white tail up, drivers take warning!