Whether you are for or against deer hunting, one thing is certain − deer overpopulation carries a heavy price tag.
Beyond the visible impacts along the side of the road – orchards and home landscapes take a heavy toll when deer numbers exceed the environment’s carrying capacity.
And the foraging qualities that make deer a nuisance in our gardens and yards are also degrading forests.
Deer are selective grazers. When conditions are good, they focus on flowering plants, acorns and fallen fruits, and tender new plant growth. But during harsh winters, when deer are hungry and resources are scarce, they fill up on the bark, twigs, and buds of many woody plants.
Overgrazed forests have a barren understory, with few seedlings and saplings. Deer palates determine which young plants survive. Less appetizing species like beech and tree-of-heaven are spared, while valuable hardwoods such as young maple, ash, oak, and hemlock are erased from the landscape.
Because deer don’t like to eat them, invasive plants such as garlic mustard and barberry gain a foothold on the forest floor. The problem is that these invaders provide poor forage and shelter.
In deer-dominated forests, the next generation of hardwood trees is lost … a problem when canopy trees die of old age or are harvested … and song birds, salamanders, and other forest animals are forced to search for better quality habitat.
In the absence of native predators like wolves, hunting keeps deer populations in check. It’s a much better alternative than predation by automobiles, which carries costs and dangers to all of us.
Photo, taken on December 13, 2006, courtesy of Michael Glasgow via Flickr.