Neighbors are on opposite sides of the fence on the issue of feeding, harvesting deer
“I will not stop chopping apples to feed to the deer on my back porch, becasue it is my right to do what I want on my property,” said one Salado resident who admitted that she has an “addiction to feeding apples to the deer.
“We think we are helping them, but we are not,” said another Salado resident who confessed to being what she called a “reformed deer feeder.” She added that feeding deer corn was akin to “giving your child a Snickers bar” every day for every meal when it can lead to serious health problems.
Salado aldermen heard from several residents Sept. 3 who are on opposite sides of the fence of the issue of the population of white tail deer in Salado. Residents took to the public comment portion of the meeting to talk about the agenda item: “Discuss the Intentional Feeding and Management of Deer proposed ordinance.”
Correction: I incorrectly reported in the Sept. 3 edition that this item was placed on the agenda by aldermen Amber Preston-Dankert and David Williams. This was wrong. The “Rules of Procedure for Board of Aldermen Meetings” ordinance requires that agenda items be requested by two aldermen: “The Mayor shall include any item requested by at least two (2) Board members. Board members shall submit request to the Mayor and/or the Village Secretary at least seven (7) business days in advance of the day of the meeting.” I assumed the item was added by the two aldermen who voted in favor of the original proposed ordinance. I contacted the city for confirmation of this via text and call and when it was not confirmed either way, I struck the sentence from the story file. However, the edit did not make the page 1A story. I apologize to both Dr. Preston-Dankert and Williams for this incorrect statement. Alderman Fred Brown asked for the topic of the deer to be put on the agenda for discussion and information.
While aldermen took no action on the item, they heard from residents about the feeding of deer and the hunting of deer in the city limits.
Joyce Pennington, the admitted feeder of apples to deer, told aldermen that the white tail deer in Salado are an attraction to residents of larger cities. “They love to come to Salado and enjoy what it is to be in the country,” she said. “We have to figure out a way to manage the deer, but not endanger people through bow hunting.”
Pennington said that she has 30 to 40 deer on her property that she feeds regularly, adding that “there is plenty of ground cover and plenty of plants on my property. I will volunteer to teach people what plants they can plant that the deer won’t touch.”
She said that if the Village is going to prohibit the feed of deer with feeders or fruit, “then you better tell people not to water their yards because the deer will eat their grass and to dig up the flower beds because the deer love flowers and to trim their trees up at least six to eight feet because the deer will eat that high.”
Charles Vickers said that when he moved to his house on Arrowhead three years ago, “there were two does that meandered down the street. Since then the population has bloomed.” On a recent walk around the neighborhood, he said he counted 52 deer in an area of less than 70 houses. “To me, that is an unsustainable situation. Our neighborhood exhibits a deer habitat that is totally exhausted,” he said. “The ground covers are all gone, the smaller shrubs’ foliage has disappeared and the foliage on the trees has been eaten as high as the deer can reach.”
Kate Darnell, the admitted reformed feeder of deer, told aldermen that feeding deer corn is nutritionally a mistake. “The deer suffer from acidosis. They end up with deformed hooves and antlers and a host of other issues because the corn is nutritionally lacking, she said. “We are creating a dependency of the deer on manmade food,” rather than the deer browsing for their food.
“There comes a time when it becomes a public health issue and safety issue,” Darnell said about the overpopulation of deer.
Bill Griffin, a resident on Willow Creek for the past 17 years, agrees that it is “time to recognize that this is a problem Salado has.” He added that Salado should follow what other communities have done that have been successful in controlling their suburban deer population.
Bill Doss referred aldermen and residents to a Texas Agrilife publication entitled “Managing Overabundant White-Tailed Deer.”
The 18-page reference from the Texas Aparks & Wildlife and Texas A&M Agrilife Extension service calculates that 10 does and 10 bucks can grow to a population of 769 in 10 years, assuming 50% fawn recruitment and 50% fawn mortality. This would degrade and exhaust habitat resources, according to the booklet.
Doss said that the deer population in Salado is estimated by Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists at 400 to 500 deer. “Each deer eats five to seven pounds per day. This will required at least 730,000 pounds of forage in one year.
“There is a tipping point,” Doss said. He told aldermen about the habits of deer in his neighborhood. “They start the day by feeding in my backyard and then make their way down what we on Arrowhead Drive call ‘restaurant row.’”
Restaurant row are stops in the yards of local residents who feed the deer daily.
Doss said that there is not evident support for hunting of the deer in the Village. “I don’t think it is a workable solution. It is going to take something else.”
He added that the “poster child for deer management is the Lakeway community on Lake Travis. They have been at it for 15 years and are having success.”
Dr. Paul Cromwell told aldermen that “culling the herd by hunting is an egregious approach to getting the deer population down.” He added that since he lives a block outside the city limits, “I will continue to feed them.”
Almost every speaker said that they wanted some solution to the problem, most wanting to stop short of hunting the deer in the Village limits.
“You have one aldermen that has been telling everybody that they can kill the deer in their back yard,” Hans Fields said. “That is true as long as it is in season, they have a license and they harvest the meat.”
He added that “a lot of people feed the deer and lover the deer and are certainly against bow hunting,” The Managed Lands Deer Program is cited in the ordinance.
Jon McDurmitt said that the Village should carefully “manage the deer,” and not “eliminate the deer.” He said that many people come to visit Salado for the golf course and the creek and are happy to “see the deer.”
Texas Parks & Wildlife works with communities to help them establish programs for managing deer populations through both lethal and non-lethal means.
Among the non-lethal approaches are making the landscape less “palatable” to deer through planting of deer-resistant plants and local regulations prohibiting the supplemental feeding of deer.
Supplemental feeding”cannot increase the carrying capacity of an area,” according to the TP&W and Agrilife document. “It can however, artificially sustain populations above the acceptable limits of the natural habitat. In supplementally fed habitats, populations are vulnerable to volatile and unstable population growth and crashes.”
The deer population has an impact on the ecology of an area, according to the document: “The impact of deer on a plant community has a cascading effect on deer and other animal populations. Invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, birds, small and large mammals rely on diverse plant communities for food and cover, especially within those zones easily reached by foraging deer. Recovery of habitat affected by deer is impacted not just by short-term deer numbers, but also by the history and severity of over-browsing, soil conditions, and climate. Some studies indicate that drastic reductions in deer numbers have little effect on increasing plant diversity over the short-term and vegetation recovery may only occur through extended periods of low deer densities.”
The booklet suggests these non-lethal approaches:
• Fencing off at least 8 feet and electric fences to keep deer off of properties. The locally owned company Skilled Fencing is offering special rates on electric fences to help combat the deer problem.
• Unpalatable Landscape Plants that will cause deer to go to other areas for forage. Forrest W. Appleton in his article “Coping with the deer by the use of deer resistant plants” on the Aggie horticulture website lists these plants as being not so favored by deer.
Shrubs
Agarita (Berberis trifoliolata)
Boxleaf Euonymus (Euonymus japonica ‘Microphylla’)
Bush Germander (Teucrium fruiticans)
Ceniza/Texas Sage (Leucophyllum spp.)
Elaeagnus or Silverberry* (Elaeagnus pungens)
Esperanza (Tecoma stans)
Evergreen sumac (Rhus virens)
Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Goldcup (Hypericum spp.)
Gray Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster glaucophylla)
Japanese Boxwood (Buxus microphylla japonica)
Japanese Yew (Podocarpus macrophyllus)
Nandina (Nandina domestica)
Oleander (Nerium oleander)
Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)
Pomegranate (Punica granatum)
Primrose Jasmine (Jasminum mesnyi)
Reeve’s Spirea (Spirea reevesiana)
Soft Leaf Yucca (Yucca recurvifolia)
Sotol (Dasylirion spp.)
Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora)
Upright Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Viburnum (Viburnum spp.)
Yaupon Holly (regular and dwarf) (Ilex vomitoria)
Yucca (spp) All yucca with a sharp, stiff point
Thryallis (Galphimia glauca)
Ground Covers
Prostrate Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus)
Germander (Teucrium chamaedrys)
Gray Santolina or Lavender Cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus)
Green Santolina (Santolina virens)
Thyme (Thymus spp)
Wedelia (Wedelia trilobata)
Frog Fruit (Phyla incisa)
Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis)
Perennials
Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum)
Amaryllis (Hippeastrum x Johnsonii)
Angel Trumpet (Datura spp )
Bouncing Bet / Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)
Silver King Artemisia (Artemisia ludoviciana)
Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii )
Bearded Iris (Iris spp)
Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata)
Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
Copper Canyon Daisy (Tagetes lemonii)
Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria)
Elephant Ears (Alocasia spp./Colocasia spp.)
Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)
Goldmoss Sedum (Sedum acre)
Gray Santolina or Lavender Cotton (Santolina hamaecyparissus)
Green Santolina (Santolina virens)
Hummingbird Bush (Anisacanthus wrightii)
Indigo Spires Salvia (Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’)
Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
Lantana (Lantana spp)
Mallow Hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Marguerite (Chrysanthemum frutescens)
Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea )
Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha)
Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnaris)
Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera )
Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida)
Mexican Oregano (Poliomintha longifolia)
Oxeye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)
Rock Rose (Pavonia lasiopetala)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Spined Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia spp)
Split Leaf Philodendron (P. selloum )
Texas Betony (Stachys coccinea)
Wedelia (Wedelia trilobata)
Wormwood (Artemisia absinthum)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
Cape Honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis)
Evergreen Pavonia (Pavonia hastata)
Jerusalem Cherry (Solanum Pseudocapsicum)
Perilla/Shiso (Perilla frutescens ‘Atropurpurea)
Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Society Garlic (Tulbaghia fragrens)
Ornamental grasses
Inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)
Maiden Grass (Miscanthus sinensis)
Gulf Muhley (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
Lindheimer’s Muhley (Muhlenbergia lindheimeri)
Pampas Grass(Cortaderia selloana)
Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum)
Flowers
Indigo Spires (Salvia spp.)
Larkspurs (Delphinium consolida)
Marigolds (Tagetes spp)
Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea )
Periwinkles (Catharanthus roseus)
Zinnias (Zinnia spp)
Spider Flower (Cleome Hasslerana)
Other deterrents could include visual, auditory or olfactory. Visual deterrents such as shiny pans, scarecrows, and other items can deter deer from an area, but the deer “quickly habituate to visual deterrent techniques
and become less scared of them,” according to the Agrilife document.
Noise making devices can do the same, but may be troublesome to neighbors. Deer acclimate to noise as well in the long term.
Odors can be used to repel deer, according to Agrilife service. “Several commercial repellants are available, but their efficacy is questionable.” Carnivore urines can help keep deer out and there are lists of commercial products to keep the deer away. Some suggest that spreading human hair on the ground near a garden will keep the deer out of it.
Agrilife service states in the resource document that Dogs are an effective deterrent for keeping deer out of your yard.
While these approaches may work in your own backyard, how does this affect the rest of the community when some neighbors may be throwing deer corn on the ground and others are throwing human hair on the ground to keep the deer away?
Community programs that are non-lethal could include Trap and Transport. However, these are expensive and are not always effective. The cost of Trap, Transport and Translocation of deer is estimated by Agrilife extension at $150 to $750 per deer. And not all the deer survive that are transported. According to “Survival and Movements of Translocated White-tailed Deer in South Texas” the “annual survival of all translocated deer was lower in the partially fenced property (64 percent) compared to the unfenced property (80% percent), but overall survival was similar to survival rates of adult native south Texas deer reported in previous studies (68–74 percent).”
Lakeway uses Trap and Transport as part of its deer management plan outlined in the Comprehensive Plan for the city. According to that plan, “since 1999, 1,613 deer have been removed through trap and relocation permits, including 768 relocated to ranches in Mexico in the 2000 –2001 season through an arrangement between TP&W and entities in Mexico.”
Fertility programs are even more expensive, estimated at between $350 to $1,100 per female.
Lethal approaches could include trap, transport and harvest approaches, which cost $175 to $350 per deer; individual hunting programs through Land Management plans that cost $85 to $300 per deer and sharpshooter programs that cost $250 or more per deer.
Sources:
“Managing Overabundant White-Tailed Deer, Texas Parks & Wildlife and Texas A&M Agrilife Extension:
http://www.lakeway-tx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/19212
“Living with Overbundant White-Tailed Deer in Texas”
https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_w7000_1137.pdf
“Managing White-Tailed Deer in Suburban Environments”
http://wildlifecontrol.info/pubs/Documents/Deer/Deer_management_mechs.pdf
City of Lakeway Comprehensive Plan:
http://www.lakeway-tx.gov/documentcenter/view/17431
Coping with the deer by the use of deer resistant plants. by Forrest Appleton:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/deerbest.html
Managing White Tailed Deer
http://irnr.tamu.edu/media/242347/managing_white_tailed_deer.pdf
“Solving Deer Problems” By H. Peter Loewer
https://books.google.com/books?id=5s7OOJ9VrP0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
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