Posts Tagged urbanwildlife

5 results.

Thinning the deer herd

Dec10
by Dale Murrish on December 10, 2019 at 8:59 pm
Posted In: United States

Where deer do not have enough natural habitat and are spilling over into residential neighborhoods, reducing the herd size is necessary for its health and to prevent overpopulation.  The Department of Natural Resources does this in rural areas. They issue a certain number of doe permits if not controlled by normal buck permits.

It’s perhaps more important in urban or suburban areas where deer population has grown unchecked and they pose a bigger safety risk. There are currently many extra deer, so more does will need to be harvested than in an area where hunting is allowed. Lyme Disease is another reason to thin the herd.

The Pittsburgh solution

  • Experienced archers are allowed to hunt in some parks. Herd size is kept to manageable amounts. Pittsburgh has a non-profit organization where hunters donate the first deer and every third deer afterwards, giving the venison to a local foodbank. They have donated 25 tons of venison since 1996.
  • They have strict by-laws with membership by invitation only.
  • Hunters are happy to do this for free; they also don’t have to travel as far – less fuel and travel expenses.
  • See this article for more information: http://usameltingpot.org/urban-deer-overpopulation-and-road-safety/

Hire a company to handle it.

They’ll do whatever the community wants, for a price:

  • Sharpshooters ($200-400 per deer)
    • $70-125 for processing the meat
  • Managed hunts ($100-200 per deer)
  • Transport some of the dear deer
  • Temporary fertility control ($500-$1500 per doe)
  • Sterilization (currently in research stage)

Sharpshooters would probably be needed for the coyote problem. A Bloomfield Township man chased four coyotes off with a baseball bat when they attacked his 65 lb dog. The dog suffered numerous bites but will be OK. See Nextdoor Palmerston for photos and details.

Experienced bow hunters and sharpshooters seem to be the best solutions to the urban and suburban deer overpopulation problem.

See previous articles for more information:

Part 1, Deer Overpopulation and Road Safety

Part 2: The Adams Road Deer Crossing

Part 3, Deer at the Troy Nature Center

Part 4, Troy Neighborhoods & Deer

Part 5, Deer Countermeasures

Part 6, Coyotes & deer – unsafe for pets, people

Part 7, Safety issue – Troy’s deer overpopulation; Regional solution needed

Part 8, Deer Crossing Signs

#deer #urbanwildlife #wildlife #deeroverpopulation

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Deer Crossing signs

Nov27
by Dale Murrish on November 27, 2019 at 11:01 pm
Posted In: United States

Like a railroad or pedestrian crossing, not a general “Watch out for deer” caution sign

Deer are creatures of habit, making trails in the woods. I have a coworker who lives in the country near Midland, Michigan. He has hit deer in the same place three times due to slippery roads.

Frequently they cross roads in the same place. On Adams Road in Troy, Michigan they crossed twice in the same week.

We can put up signs in the known places where they cross. You can’t put “Deer, next 3-5 miles” caution signs all over Troy.

Signs are commercially available for crosswalks, with solar powered LEDs.

Pedestrian crossing signs modified for deer

I now work at the Warren Tech Center (moved office from Pontiac to Warren at the end of June this year). See link for a photo of the new mid-engined C8 Corvette.

The Tech Center has yellow flashing lights on top of yellow caution signs “Pedestrian Crossing” on both sides of the internal roads to warn motorists of pedestrians.

Here are some Hybrid Beacon (HAWK) pedestrian signals used in Traverse City. (activated by a push button).

Could Troy spend $800 to buy a caution sign with LED lights and a deer on it instead of a pedestrian? And convince Bloomfield Township to install the same sign for southbound traffic on Adams Road? Or spend an extra $700 each to have flashing lights on both sides of the road for each direction (what GM uses on their crosswalks to protect people).

This would protect both people and deer and is worth considering. If successful on Adams Road it could be used for other places where deer cross major roads in the city.

This is part 8 of a series on deer overpopulation and safety. Reducing the herd size is the topic for future articles. Here are links for previous articles:

 

Part 1, Deer Overpopulation and Road Safety

Part 2: The Adams Road Deer Crossing

Part 3, Deer at the Troy Nature Center

Part 4, Troy Neighborhoods & Deer

Part 5, Deer Countermeasures

Part 6, Coyotes & deer – unsafe for pets, people

Part 7, Safety issue – Troy’s deer overpopulation; Regional solution needed

#deer #urbanwildlife #wildlife #deeroverpopulation

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Safety Issue – Troy’s Deer Overpopulation

Nov10
by Dale Murrish on November 10, 2019 at 6:21 am
Posted In: United States
  • Overpopulation of deer is unsafe for deer and for people.
    • Deer Vehicle Crashes (DVCs) are on the rise due to loss of habitat (from the improved economy).
    • Car and medical insurance losses, chance of serious injury or death to people. 200 people each year die on U.S. roads. Death to most deer.
    • $2 billion annual property damage, half to vehicles.
    • Also unsafe for pets, especially large dogs (front hooves used as defense).
    • Deer ticks carry Lyme Disease.

What can we do about it? Lots of options. Several will be examined below and in future articles.

Regional solution is needed

  • Deer do not respect fences unless 8 feet or higher.
  • They will migrate from one city to the next if they lose habitat or more food is available in the next township.
  • Rochester Hills has a staff member who works half time on deer management.
  • Work with DNR to determine size of herd for healthy deer in each township (6×6 square miles, variable amounts of deer habitat).
  • Work together with county government and other cities in Oakland County.
  • Allow limited bow hunting in more parks and other areas (Nature Center for a day or two) than currently?
  • See Pittsburgh solution.

This is part 7 of a series on deer overpopulation and safety. What to do about it is the topic for future articles. Here are links for

Part 1, Deer Overpopulation and Road Safety

Part 2: The Adams Road Deer Crossing

Part 3, Deer at the Troy Nature Center

Part 4, Troy Neighborhoods & Deer

Part 5, Deer Countermeasures

Part 6, Coyotes & deer – unsafe for pets, people

#deer #urbanwildlife #wildlife #deeroverpopulation

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Troy Neighborhoods & Deer

Oct20
by Dale Murrish on October 20, 2019 at 10:13 pm
Posted In: United States

Browsing in the Garden

This is a photo of two fawns browsing some bushes. An adult white-tail deer eats about a ton of vegetation each year.

Deer do not chew the cud like a cow and eat grass, but rather browse on twigs, branches, flowers, bird seed, bushes and of course some vegetables. Carrots, corn and cherry tomatoes but not chili peppers.

The problem with this photo is it’s not from Troy’s Lloyd Stage Nature Center, but rather in a residential garden. Ask Troy residents if they have seen deer in their neighborhood and they will likely answer, “Of course.” Or “They walk around like they own the place and seem very tame.” “I like seeing the wildlife.”

I enjoy seeing them too, but much more in their natural habitat. I’ve seen as many as five does in our yard, staring me down from 20 feet away while I was standing on the driveway. A buck slept in our yard one night.

A doe and her two fawns spent the night in our back yard frequently. I was photographing the deer habitat in the back yards one evening and saw the two fawns by themselves (this photo).

Unfortunately, deer are also dangerous and unpredictable, especially during the fall rut and also in the spring when does are protecting their fawns. A doe can maim or kill a dog with her front hooves if she thinks her fawns are threatened.

One rainy night at dusk a deer with a broken leg limped painfully along the bushes. I called the police, who came quickly, but the officer said he couldn’t do anything unless the deer crossed the street or a road.

This is part 4 of a series on deer overpopulation and safety. What to do about it is the topic for future articles. Here are links for Part 1, Deer Overpopulation and Road Safety.   Part 2: The Adams Road Deer Crossing, and Part 3, Deer at the Troy Nature Center.

#deer #wildlife #deeroverpopulation

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Troy Nature Center & Deer

Sep30
by Dale Murrish on September 30, 2019 at 10:03 pm
Posted In: United States

Beach Road, Nature Center & Deer Crossing

After finishing my morning errands, which included taking photos of the “Deer Crossing” on Adams Road, I went for a bike ride on Beach Road, a favorite ride since moving to the Detroit area 35 years ago.

The snip shows the location of Lloyd Stage Nature Center, a Hundred Acre Wood acquired by Troy, Michigan in the 1970s. The house which served as the nature center building for many years had been the home of a doctor who lived on 23 of the 100 acres. In 1981 the nature center was named after Lloyd Stage, a long-time community volunteer. A larger building replaced the house in 2002.

Trails totaling 1.6 miles take the visitor through forests, meadows and marsh along the Rouge River. Nature programs for kids and families include maple syrup making in the spring.

Troy’s Nature Center is a true treasure. Most of the city (roughly 6 miles square) is residential, with houses, condos, and apartments. Office buildings and businesses line the major streets, along with Somerset Mall and some light industrial areas. The city’s population of 84,000 has a net increase of 52,000 because of daytime commuting to work.

The nature center has long had chicken wire enclosures to protect some of the native plants from the deer. Twenty years ago one of the naturalists remarked that a neighbor told her that “some of your deer got out.” Deer don’t respect fences shorter than eight feet and generally go where they want!

The herd size has increased over the years. The only predators faced by deer in Troy are vehicles. We do have coyotes which sometimes threaten pets, but they cannot bring down a healthy deer. As development returned to Troy after the recession (a ten year drought for SE Michigan), more of their habitat was lost.

Note that the Adams Road location of my 2016 deer incident is on the opposite side of I-75 as the Nature Center. Urban expressways are usually pretty good barriers, although there still are Deer Vehicle Crashes.

This is part 3 of a series on deer overpopulation and safety. What to do about it is the topic for future articles. Here are links for Part 1 and Part 2.

Thanks to Lorraine Campbell of the Troy Historic Village for providing history of the Lloyd Stage Nature Center. More details are available in the Historical Society archives.

Note the snip was taken from Google maps.

#deer #wildlife #deeroverpopulation #TroyNatureCenter

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