By D. Chris Draughn
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Bill Yardley had just finished an afternoon hike at North Point State Park when he stopped to chat with a fellow hiker in the parking lot.
“Have you ever been in the woods and had the feeling that something was watching you?” Yardley said.
He pulled a smartphone from his pocket to show a photo of a six-point buck standing just inside the tree line beside the trail.
“He was massive and wasn’t afraid of me,” Yardley said. “I had plenty of time to take his picture.”
Most Marylanders enjoy seeing a white-tailed deer while hiking in the woods, and the autumn increases the chances of catching a glimpse of these animals. From the end of October through December is the mating season for white-tailed deer, a time when they are more active.
In suburban Maryland, it is also the time of year when deer are more likely to be struck by cars. If deer populations aren’t managed properly it can cause problems for communities, from property damage caused by the deer feeding in backyards to auto accidents.
Nick Sperro, Maryland master naturalist of Glen Arm, has been hiking the trails around Loch Raven Reservoir for years and has seen the damage deer can do to wooded areas when their numbers are unchecked.
“It is natural for deer to browse the undergrowth, but if there are too many deer eating the young trees and acorns in one place it limits the forest’s ability to replenish itself,” Sperro said.
“They can cause area farmers and gardeners headaches too because they’ll go anywhere,” Sperro said. “White-tailed deer have adapted to living around people and they have no natural predators in this area.”
On a recent autumn morning, Lauren Lear, a Baltimore County park ranger, pulled into the parking lot at Lake Roland Park and saw at least 15 white-tailed deer casually grazing near the tree line. They barely paid her notice.
“I love seeing them and they are mostly unafraid, but I think that can often lead to problems on the occasions they do get spooked and run onto highways,” Lear said.
State Farm Insurance releases yearly studies on car accidents with animals and has ranked Maryland as one of six states that saw a rise in claims over the last five years.
The 2015 State Farm report says that the odds drivers will have a claim from hitting a deer is 1 out of 169, the same as it was in 2014. The report also notes the likelihood more than doubles during October, November and December, when deer collisions are most prevalent.
The white-tailed deer mating season, or rut as it is commonly referred to, is when white-tailed bucks are full of testosterone and generally less cautious.
Allan Ellis, host of the Outdoorsman Radio Show on WCBM, said that white-tailed bucks compete with each other to breed with females and it results in the herds being on the move more often during daylight hours.
Ellis is also the director of the Maryland Hunting Coalition and says that overpopulation of deer doesn’t need to be a problem in suburban areas.
“Hunters are more than willing to step up and help where there are wildlife management issues,” Ellis said. “All it takes is for county officials to be willing to address the issues.”
Ellis had high praise for the way Howard County successfully integrated hunters in controlling the deer population. He thinks that many times politicians are reluctant to face criticism from animal rights activists who are generally opposed to hunting programs.
“The Howard County Recreation and Parks Department has had a deer management program for over 15 years,” Ellis said. “In the beginning, some Howard residents opposed the managed hunts. Once the benefits were realized – less auto encounters, less vegetation damage, lower risk of Lyme disease and unhealthy deer and reduced deer density – the program was generally well accepted.”
Bow hunter Tony Messer was scouting locations for the coming archery season at Loch Raven Reservoir and said that hunters are often misunderstood.
“Every hunter I know wants to preserve wildlife for future generations,” Hess said. “The fact that there aren’t natural predators for deer means that hunters play an important role in keeping a balance.”
Messer used to live in Ohio where the deer herds suffered from Chronic Wasting Disease.
“I’d hate to see that happen here,” Hess said. “If deer are allowed to become too numerous, their populations can crash from diseases and even starvation.”
A study commissioned by Baltimore County in March 2009 reported an average deer density in the county of 95 deer per square mile, with higher than average densities in parks and suburban areas. Wildlife and forest managers recommend deer densities of 15 to 20 deer per square mile as a desirable herd density that will not degrade forests.
Messer suspects that people feed deer in the suburbs for amusement because of the way they react when he encounters them.
“Their initial reaction isn’t to run or move away, they come closer to check you out,” Messer said. “It’s almost like they are expecting to be fed peanuts like squirrels in a park.”
In fact, YouTube has dozens of videos of people hand feeding deer slices of bread and other items not in the deer’s natural diet.
Ellis speaks out against the habituation of wild animals because it isn’t safe for humans or healthy for the animals.
“Even though deer are prevalent in suburbia, it’s not their ‘natural’ environment. Rather, they have adapted to it,” Ellis said. “Deer become accustomed to the everyday activities of humans but are by no means domesticated – they continue to be wild animals.”
“Citizens who feed deer are doing the deer a disservice by attracting them into areas where they should not be. They further complicate the well-being of the herd by feeding inappropriate food at inappropriate times,” Ellis said.
Birdwatcher Lisa Moore admitted that she sprinkles birdseed and bread and sometimes hangs pieces of fruit from trees to attract birds.
“I’m sure that deer and other mammals come in and take what I put out for the birds, but I never put out large quantities,” she said.
Sperro said that humans and animals have lived among each other for thousands of years and that few ecosystems remain static in the grand scheme of things.
“Change and adaptation are a part of the natural order,” Sperro said. “But I hate to see deer adapting by eating slices of bread in our parks. It isn’t right.”