Strategies to Care for Forests and Deer

What Can I Do to Improve Habitat Quality?

White-tailed deer, like all other wildlife species, have certain requirements for food, water, cover, and space. These four elements define habitat. Deer, through browsing, can change their habitat by selecting preferred plant species and changing the composition of plant communities. In many areas, selective feeding by deer has allowed ferns and other non-preferred plant species to dominate the forest understories.

What Can I Do To Reduce Deer Impact?

If you have taken a careful look at your forest and found that deer impact is making it difficult to achieve your management goals, you have many options. These depend on the size of the property that you influence, and your objectives, and your willingness to invest in protection from deer browsing. Increased hunting pressure and fencing to protect resources related to your management goals will be discussed here – see related articles on alternatives to hunting and ways to improve habitat quality for a wider perspective on this question.

Are there other choices besides hunting for controlling deer numbers?

In addition to hunting, several options exist to control deer numbers including allowing nature to take its course, relocation, fencing, repellents, fertility control, supplemental food, sharpshooters, and reintroduction of predators. Allowing nature to take its course means deer herds grow without regulated hunting until deer reach the upper limit the local habitat can sustain. Deer at upper density limits are in relatively poor health, prone to starvation and disease, and exhibit lower birth rates. There are significant costs associated with the “hands off” approach including negative impacts on plants, other wildlife, and the local deer herd.

How does hunting impact the deer/forest interaction?

Hunting has been a tradition in the United States and around the world for thousands if not tens of thousands of years. Hunting deer and other animals in the Eastern United States has been undertaken for a variety of reasons including food, sport, and deer herd management.