Deer season opens, city hunting

Editor’s Note: This column first appeared in the Greater Ashland Beacon on Wed., Aug. 31, 2011.

By Chris Erwin

Archery deer season is just around the corner. In zone two, which covers our area, the season will begin Sept. 3 and will run until Jan.16, 2012. While most hunters will be scouting their favorite rural locations looking for the perfect place to bag their deer, my email has been stuffed with people talking about city deer and the problems they have been causing.

It wasn’t so long ago that deer were something to read about but were rarely seen in your front yard, especially if you lived in the city. But today, our city has been invaded by a growing population of deer. Every year they spread father into neighborhoods that have never seen these early-morning browsers, who often destroy plants, flowers, and gardens.

In 1945, just a little over 65 years ago, the Department of Fish and Wildlife reports less than 2,000 deer populated the entire state with most of them living on the western end. By 2006, thanks to the efforts of the DFWL, the herd had grown to more than 450,000. Today DFWL estimates put the herd at nearly one million.

The growth has had its ups and downs. Problems such as Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease killed deer in troubling numbers in 2007, but despite setbacks like these the deer herd has continued to grow and the animals have taken up residence closer and closer to highly populated areas.

The first time I saw a deer in my front yard, I was delighted. The very thought of them passing through my yard was such a novelty, that when combined with their over-whelming natural beauty, it created an event I talked about for weeks. Today, I don’t see a deer in my yard; I see a herd, as they make what seems like a monthly three or four night visit.

These city deer have lost much of their fright-to-flight instinct. I once watched these deer walk unshaken past my neighbor’s dog, who was barking his head off at the end of his chain, on their way to invade another neighbor’s garden.

The emails I have received are a testament that this is not a problem in just one area of the city. The reports also very in the condition of the deer reported. Some say the deer are fat and healthy, while others report them to be thin and malnourished.

While this may seem like a problem that is of little importance to some, it is a growing nuisance to many others.

I heard a rumor that it was legal to harvest a deer with a bow or crossbow inside the City of Ashland, so I set out to find the truth. I talked to the Mayor’s Office, the City Manager’s Office and the Chief of Police. They all tell me there is no ordinance covering this issue. They added, however, that while there may be some outlying areas in the city where you could take a deer on your own property without breaking the law, one’s personal liability is not diluted and any damage or harm caused by doing so could be criminal.

They are very few places in the city where harvesting a deer is the answer to the growing deer population. Some residents have reported success in saving their gardens by using temporary six-foot mesh fabric game fences.

Eventually this growing problem may require a more comprehensive approach, but trapping or tranquilizing and moving deer are solutions that will require some type of funding. Until then, I am open to any suggestion we can pass along to help our residents cope with our new wildlife friends.