For Voorhees resident Wayne Boclair, the situation is out of control.
“I was able to visually count the herd in the Stafford Farm area last fall,” Boclair said, noting he saw as many as 80 animals. “I’m sure there are other populations in the immediate area.
“The number of deer per square acre should ideally be two to three animals,” he added. “I would expect the Stafford Farm population to be 120 animals, minimum, this fall.”
And the problem could be growing. Boclair said a mature doe can produce two fawns a year — either as single births or as twins.
“With adequate numbers of mature bucks, there is no limit to the number they can produce,” he said. “There are no longer any predators in South Jersey to control the population, hence the rapid expansion.”
All of which could lead to some unpleasant encounters. Boclair said the most immediate danger is collision with automobiles at dusk or after nightfall. Voorhees Township Manager Larry Spellman said there are about 15 collisions between cars and deer in the township per year.
“In addition, as the numbers increase, the deer will look for alternate sources of food in the form of the ornamental plantings of residents as well as shrubbery,” Boclair said. “This is already happening.”
But the deer population seems to be limited to certain areas of the state, officials said.
“Where hunters have unrestricted access to properties, deer populations are not in excess,” said Careole A. Stanko, deer project leader for the N.J. Division of Fish & Wildlife. “Problematic areas include deer refugia, such as suburban neighborhoods where hunting isn’t desirable, corporate parks and other large landholdings where hunting isn’t allowed, and any other areas large and small that may harbor deer where hunters are not allowed.”
According to Stanko, New Jersey already has some of the most liberal deer hunting regulations in the country. The state is broken down into 60 deer management zones, which are placed into one of seven regulation sets. These sets all have different season lengths and bag limits, and zones are placed into one of them, according to deer densities, human densities, land use and habitat quality.
“Even our most restrictive regulation set has 100 days of deer hunting,” Stanko said. “The most liberal one has five and a half months of deer hunting — every day except Christmas from the second Saturday in September to the third Saturday in February.
“Two-thirds of the state has unlimited antlerless bag limits, meaning a hunter can virtually take as many deer as he wants to,” she added. “The Division of Fish & Wildlife provides the tools (hunting dates and bag limits), it is up to property owners to allow hunter access to do the rest.”
An exploding deer population isn’t just potentially hazardous to humans, but also can impact the deer themselves, Boclair said.
“As the numbers of deer approach 200 in the Stafford Farm area (estimate of 2013), the amount of vegetation to support their numbers will dramatically decrease, and starvation may begin,” he explained. “The deer may then die in places other than the forest — namely, on the lawns and driveways of residents.”
So what can be done in areas where hunting isn’t an option? The Division of Fish & Wildlife has had a Community Based Deer Management Program in effect since 1995 for those communities experiencing problems with deer where hunting is impractical or undesirable.
According to Stanko, several communities per year take advantage of these permits. In 2009, the Fish & Game Council adopted DMAP (Deer Management Assistance Program) for those property owners experiencing localized problems that don’t warrant a regulation change to an entire zone. To date, no one has applied for a DMAP permit.
“This is exactly what happened in Valley Forge National Park,” Boclair said. “The acreage of the park will support roughly 200 animals. The herd numbered 1,150 animals last October. There was very little vegetation of any kind remaining in the park.”
Boclair said that between November 2010 and March 2011, professionals removed 600 animals from the national park. The meat was processed and distributed to the poor in Philadelphia through shelters, soup kitchens and the like.
Boclair said there are several methods to solve the problem locally:
1.) Trap and transfer — this involves darting the does with an anesthetic to immobilize them. The cost is quite high and would be prohibitive for the numbers in Voorhees.
2.) Euthanasia — this would involve trapping the deer and killing them with a bolt gun. It is very controversial and expensive with questionable results.
3.) Contraception — again, this involves darting the does with an anesthetic to immobilize them. They would then be tagged with an ear tag and injected with the contraceptive. Some contraceptives require two inoculations and most have been shown to be only mildly effective at best. The expense would approach $1,000 per animal with questionable results. In some areas that used contraceptives, 33 percent of the treated does became pregnant.
4.) Deer herd management — this involves hiring sharpshooters with silencers mounted on rifles as has been done in Valley Forge Park.
Boclair said townships receiving a CBDMP may opt to hire a company to cull deer outside the traditional deer season dates, without bag limit restrictions. Millburn, Bernards, Bridgewater, Hanover, Princeton, Watchung, Mountain Lakes and Summit hired a private company to shoot deer on properties that were deemed too small to allow for traditional sport hunting.
Spellman said hunting is Voorhees’ way of controlling the deer population. He also said some have suggested fencing, but he believes they keep deer in as well as out. Spellman also said the deer issue is not only in the township and the state, but in the entire Northeast.
A check of a few other South Jersey towns revealed that deer population isn’t a problem, or that plans already are in place to deal with the animals.
Shamong Township Administrator Susan Onorato said her township does not have a deer problem because of the copious open space there. An official from Tabernacle also said there is no major deer problem there. The Evesham clerk said the state and the county deal with its deer population.
“I am unaware of any deer problem that the township has been asked to look into,” Medford Township Manager Christopher Schultz said. “Given the location of the community, it is inevitable that we will have deer.”
But in Cherry Hill, Mayor Bernie Platt said the township has multiple deer herds that populate the township in both the Camden County Park System and throughout preserved open space along Springdale Road.
“Those herds can be a challenge to residents and have been roaming our community for years,” Platt said. “At this point in time, the deer population has been decreasing due to an overall lack of food options.”
Historically, deer have used Springdale Farms as a primary source of food, which was denied to them in 2005 when the farm erected a deer fence on both sides of Springdale Road. Since that time, the numbers have decreased, but the herds still remain in the wooded areas and live among residents today.
Additionally, Cherry Hill allows construction of fences up to six feet in height on the rear and side of properties. Homeowners may find these helpful in keeping deer away from their backyards and landscaping.
So what should you do if you think your community has a problem with deer?
Stanko said it is not necessary for residents to report deer.
“We know deer are present in all 21 counties of New Jersey,” she said. “If there are deer problems, we encourage property owners to open their property to hunters and to work cooperatively with their neighbors in this effort. If this is not possible, they should advise their township of the problem so that the township may consider opening township properties such as parks to hunting or applying for a CBDMP permit.”
According to Platt, there are a number of preventive measures homeowners can take to protect their landscaping from deer. Many home improvement stores sell natural deer repellants that make the shrubs distasteful to deer — ingredients such as cinnamon and garlic help add natural odors that are offensive to deer.
Also, several plant species are also distasteful to the deer — including daffodils, forget-me-nots and thyme.
Rutgers University has an online resource for deer resistance methods that can be found here.
The Division of Fish & Wildlife’s White-tailed Deer Research Project is funded by a federal grant entitled Federal Aid to Wildlife Project, Stanko added. The monies for this grant are enabled by the Pitman-Robertson Act, which places an excise tax on sporting goods related to hunting and fishing, and is collected by the federal government and redistributed to the states via this grant system.
“We also receive money from the division’s Hunter and Angler Fund, which is derived from hunting and fishing license and permit sales,” Stanko said. “We get no monies from the general treasury of the state of New Jersey to manage deer, although deer management benefits all New Jersey residents.”
For more details, visit www.njfishandwildlife.com.
