Deer Management News This Week

New deer regulations, WMA proposal: Here's what you need to know. April 19, 2019 Mississippi, Jackson Clarion Ledger
... We know from our data and Tennessee's that yearling bucks can be CWD-positive."  Under current regulations yearling bucks are largely protected by the minimum antler requirements, so that class of deer is underrepresented in the department's testing effort for chronic wasting disease...

...  the hunter did not notice any outward signs of disease ... The disease has been identified in northwest Virginia for more than nine years, but this is more than 40 miles from the nearest positive deer in Frederick and Shenandoah counties...

Public Asked to Report Dead Deer April 18, 2019 South Dakota, Yankton.net
... deer mortalities across the state believed to be caused by the severe winter... majority of deer mortalities have been documented in northeast South Dakota where very cold January and February temperatures coupled with deep snow through much of March ..,

Crow Wing County Farm Closes Under Deal To Contain Deer Disease - April 18, 2019 Minnesota


...  “We are proposing that we increase the bag limit on does in parts of the state as well as the bucks. One of those deer would be any antlered bucks on any private lands.” ...

Neonicotinoid exposure could be harming mammals April 18, 2019 South Dakota, Chemistry World
... White-tailed deer fawns suffered malformations and higher death rates when imidacloprid, a widely used neonicotinoid, was pipetted into their drinking water. Researchers led by Jonathan Jenks at South Dakota State University ... body weight and survival of fawns decreased ... research

Deer winter in towns to avoid predators April 18, 2019 Maine, WAGM
... "We had the spruce bud worm outbreak, in the '70s and '80s, and there was a lot of salvage logging that went on. They lost a lot of their cover, and right at the same time the coyote showed up." ...

Deer population up between 2013 and 2016 on Mitkof Island April 18, 2019 Alaska, Petersburg Pilot
... ADF&G uses deer pellet surveys, hunter harvest rates and aerial surveys. Between 2004 and 2008, the deer population on Mitkof Island was on a downward trend, but between 2013 and 2016, the deer population was on a upward trend ...

Meet Gracie: The Resident 'Bark Ranger' at Montana's Glacier National Park April 18, 2019 Mental Floss
... In the winter, Gracie also helps shepherd deer out of highly populated areas in an effort to keep predators—namely mountain lions—away from people. Gracie completed a 10-week training program in Florence, Montana, where she learned how to control her direction and speed...

CWD-positive deer farm closed in central Minnesota April 17, 2019 KSTP-TV
... In 2018, four more deer tested positive, and a wild deer near his farm was found to have CWD this past January. So Schmidt agreed to have his farm depopulated ... paid by the USDA for his herd ...

WILD Act will spark wildlife conservation innovation April 17, 2019 Wyoming, Jackson Hole News&Guide
... the Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver Act — or WILD Act... will promote technological innovation to protect threatened wildlife and control invasive species...

Find dead deer for science April 17, 2019 Wyoming, Ecowatch
... Wyoming wildlife managers are inviting the public to participate in the annual deer mortality surveys of the Wyoming Range and Uinta mule deer herds... Wyoming Range survey is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 4 in Cokeville ...

More People Take Part In Wisconsin Conservation Congress Spring Hearings April 17, 2019 Wisconsin Public Radio News
... A majority of participants approved a proposal to conduct a chronic wasting disease "payment for positives" pilot program. Paying hunters for bagging infected deer was proposed as one way to address the spread of CWD across the state and would require legislation to implement...

Supervisors say no to elk — again April 16, 2019 Virginia, Coalfield.com
...  passed a resolution Thursday objecting to Wise County’s designation as part of an elk management zone ... states that elk can carry diseases that could harm cattle and that elk can damage farm crops, lawns, shrubbery and flower gardens...

... The Chronic Wasting Disease Research Act, H.R. 2081, would authorize funding under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which would make grants to states, institutions of higher education ...

Food plots enhance property for deer April 16, 2019 Arkansas, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... Various broadleaf herbaceous plants make up a majority of a deer's diet throughout the growing season. Iron-clay cowpeas, Quail Haven soybeans, and Roundup Ready soybeans are three types of legumes that meet this broadleaf category well that deer will find quite attractive on your property...

Deer don't get Lyme April 16, 2019 Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard Times
...  a scientific paper  ... research she and fellow scientists conducted on Block Island concluded white-tailed deer play a role in lowering the prevalence of Lyme (Borrelia burgdorferi) infection in black-legged tick nymphs... may call into question the utility of deer culling... “The blood in the deer actively kills the borrelia in the tick as it feeds,” [Columbia University eco-epidemiologist Maria Diuk-Wasser] ...

... a free-ranging white-tailed deer in Alcona County, Mich., testing positive for bovine TB ... Anytime a positive deer is identified, all cattle and bison herds located within a 15-mile radius of the deer must be tested for bovine TB within six months ...

... likely after consuming bullet fragments while scavenging ... Wearing a GPS unit like a backpack, the adult, female eagle had flown outside Yellowstone into areas where hunters pursue game such as elk and deer...

...Mule deer have been below desired levels for more than two decades, before wolves’ returned to Oregon ... ODFW released its draft proposed Wolf Conservation and Management Plan today at www.odfw.com/wolves...

Advisory council seeks input Wednesday on antlerless deer harvest April 15, 2019 Wisconsin, Superior Telegram
... The Douglas County Deer Advisory Council will meet ... The council initially recommended no antlerless tags be issued to the general public...

... Burch believes Milorganite, a fertilizer made from sewage collected in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an effective deterrent...   spread the fertilizer over cotton plots ... From all visible signs, the Milorganite had deterred the deer...

... 1999, the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission began testing for Chronic Wasting Disease ... has tested over 10,000 deer ... For the 2018-19 hunting season, North Carolina tested more than 3,000 white-tailed deer ... 

... Three months in ... More than 200 permits were issued by March 31, and primarily where expected: rural areas with an abundant supply of both wildlife and motorists...

... Forty-eight Kentucky elk made the 14-hour overnight ride from Kentucky ... will join more than 200 elk that make up Wisconsin’s northern elk herd ... the final chapter in our translocation efforts,” said Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole...

... 25 deer were shot and killed in the 1-square-mile Mastic Beach park ... Fire Islanders, many of whom opposed the hunts in public comments on the Seashore’s plan, say the deer are exceptionally tame, and accustomed to eating hand-fed treats...

... The deer population is holding steady, making it through a severe winter that brought more than 13 feet of snow to The County [Aroostook] ... Wildlife Biologist Shawn Haskell says ...

Another Disaster Looms at Interior Department April 13, 2019 New Mexico, Martinsville Bulletin
...  In the year since the order, nearly 20 percent of the Interior Department leases to oil and gas have been within these corridors. In New Mexico, 82 percent of the leases threaten mule deer, elk and pronghorn migrations...

Annual Spring Wildlife Survey Underway April 13, 2019 Iowa, KIOW
... The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) annual spring spotlight survey is underway with Wildlife and Law Enforcement staff conducting nighttime counts of all furbearing animals, and white-tailed deer... will follow the route driving below 20 miles per hour, shining spotlights from both sides of the vehicle...

Chronic Wasting Disease, Could A Mysterious Animal Epidemic Become The Next Mad Cow? April 12, 2019 Wyoming, Wyoming Public Media
... She concluded this version of the disease was not the same as the one circulating in North America. And upon closer inspection, the disease in reindeer was different, too.  Then last year, a moose in neighboring Finland tested positive as well, way over by the Russian border, and in March 2019, the illness showed up in Sweden...

More controlled burns will save lives, property April 11, 2019  North Carolina, The Mountaineer
... The burn, funded by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, aimed to enrich the soil and allow for more young plants to sprout up, which provides the growing herds with more nutrient-rich food... numerous news outlets reported on how a decrease in prescribed burns made the fires far more catastrophic...

Dem Offers Lecture on Chronic Wasting Disease April 11, 2019 Rhode Island Government
... Last year, DEM banned the use or possession of deer scents/lures that contain cervid (including deer, moose, elk) urine or any bodily material while taking, attempting to take, attracting, or scouting wildlife. This new regulation is an extra precautionary step to further minimize the potential for CWD to be introduced into Rhode Island..,

Deer-hunting tweaks head new state hunting regs April 11, 2019 Ohio, Outdoornews
... Deer bag limits remain the same for all counties. The statewide bag limit remains at six deer, only one of which may be antlered ...

... Hunters could buy a baiting privilege license to hunt white-tailed deer or feral hogs over bait. The annual cost of the license would be $16 for Alabama residents and $51 for non-residents...

CWD, posting are top concerns April 11, 2019 North Dakota, Minot Daily News
...  In response to the positive test for CWD on the deer found in Williston, Game and Fish harvested 52 deer from northwest North Dakota for the purpose of CWD testing. None of the deer tested positive for the disease...

Upsetting news about Alaska wildlife management April 11, 2019 Anchorage Daily News
... The commentary that has riled state wildlife officials is titled “Large carnivores under assault in Alaska.”... The abstract asserts that Alaska’s gray wolves and both brown and black bears “are managed in most of the state in ways intended to significantly reduce their abundance in the expectation of increasing hunter harvests of ungulates ...

... Reduced the number of antlerless elk permits available in southeast Washington... Eliminate this season’s antlerless white-tailed deer hunts to conserve deer populations in northeast Washington...

10 Big Trends in the U.S. Deer Harvest  April 10, 2019 QDMA
     Every year QDMA gathers data from state and provincial wildlife agencies, the nation’s leading deer researchers, and other sources to provide the only “State of the Whitetail”  ...

... California Fish and Game Wardens’ Association raised some concerns ...  about allowing “unlicensed, untrained, and unregulated citizens to engage in the killing of injured roadside wildlife” particularly the safety issue raised by firearms being used on the side of the road which conflicts with existing state law...

... agencies also are seeking proposals for research on CWD prion behavior and persistence in the environment; development of new detection and testing methods, such as rapid tests and field and live animal tests; development and delivery of innovative educational materials ...

April GFP Commission Proposals and Finalizations April 10, 2019 South Dakota, GFP News
... New Special Any Whitetail License Proposed, Apprentice Hunter Deer Season Approved, Tag Increases for Black Hills Deer Hunting Season Proposed, GFP Commission Proposes Changes to Custer State Park Deer Hunting Season, GFP Commission Proposes Criteria for Resident and Nonresident Future Allocations ..,

Watching the whitetail, research project April 11, 2019 Idaho, Coeur d'Alene Press
... “Whitetail populations drive a lot of the predator populations because there are more whitetail than anything else ... We are trying to figure out how predators use whitetail deer and how that impacts other ungulate like elk.” ...

... counter-arguing the baiting and feeding ban supported down in the Lower Peninsula, which was created due to increased risk of CWD, or chronic wasting disease...

Deer harvest report up for hunters in 2018 April 10, 2019 New York, Poughkeepsie Journal
... The increase in antlerless harvest is a welcome change from the lower-than-desired antlerless harvest in 2017... 58.8 percent: Percentage of all adult bucks harvested that was 2.5 years or older. That's the highest in New York history, the DEC said, and up from 40 percent a decade ago...

Staunton, Police snipers cull more than 50 deer in Staunton April 10, 2019 Virginia, Staunton News Leader
... came across a disturbing find a couple of weeks ago when he spotted a dead deer with half of its face shot off. Johns said the animal did not immediately die ... it makes sense that the city received so few complaints considering the cull was done in secret...

Subdivisions in north valley facing deer problems April 10, 2019 Montana, Bitterroot Star
... “The wildlife is not ours, FWP does not own the wildlife. The government does not own the wildlife. In Montana, the wildlife belongs to the public,” said Mowry. “It’s my job to see that we are not doing something biologically harmful to the animals.” ...

... There were 1,060 white-tailed deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin during the 2018 surveillance year, which ran from April 1 through March 31. This compares to 597 that tested positive during the 2017 surveillance year; however state wildlife heath officials say the number of deer tested in 2018 was double that of 2017..,

Effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on deer studied April 9, 2019 Montana, Bitterroot Star
... birth defects and health issues that she was observing in white-tailed deer in the Bitterroot Valley were possibly related to the use of insecticides and/or herbicides being sprayed on potato fields located upwind in Idaho and Washington. Now recent research ... some results that appear to bolster Hoy’s concerns...

TWRA monitoring chronic wasting disease in deer April 9, 2019 Tennessee, Cleveland Daily Banner
... “At one time there were only 350 deer left in Tennessee,” Barnes [wildlife information specialist for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s region 3]  said. Today, there are 1 million,” ... TWRA monitors and tests deer populations for the presence of chronic wasting disease ..,

Southold deer harvest reaches record numbers once again April 9, 2019 New York, Suffolk Times
... For the second consecutive year, Southold Town saw record high numbers in its deer management program for the 2018 hunting season, which ran from October to the end of January.  The total harvest for the regular and nuisance season was 339 ...

Final 2019-20 Hunting/Trapping Seasons Approved April 9, 2019 Pennsylvania, PGC News
... The board voted to allocate 903,000 antlerless deer licenses statewide, which is up from the 838,000 licenses allocated for 2018-19... The board also voted to issue 142 elk licenses (32 antlered, 110 antlerless) for 2019-20, but two additional elk seasons and lottery drawings for licenses have been added..,

... established a firearms deer season to begin Saturday, Nov. 30... a measure that simplifies requirements to wear fluorescent orange material while hunting... The Game Commission is 100-percent committed to putting into place measures to manage CWD...

G&F Commission increases CWD testing funds April 9, 2019 Wyoming, 
The Torrington Telegram
... Dube called to increase the budget for testing for the disease by 50 percent, from $100,000 to $150,000. He didn’t get any argument from his fellow commissioners, with the motion passing by a unanimous vote...

... . Distribution of infected deer was strongly related to presence of other infected deer. Annual survival rates of mule deer and population rate-of-increase suggested little effect of CWD on population-level mortality given observed prevalence. Transmission and reservoirs of CWD in the SAM were likely limited by low deer densities, patchy distribution, and environmental characteristics (i.e., low clay content of soils) unfavorable to prion persistence, characteristics that are typical of most mule deer populations in the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion...

... a 5-3 vote on Tuesday.  Rifle season for hunting deer in Pennsylvania has kicked off the Monday after Thanksgiving since 1963 ...

No Signs Of Deadly Deer Disease In North Carolina April 8, 2019 North Carolina, WUNC
... The agency does annual tests for what's called chronic wasting disease... did not find the protein in tests of more than 3,000 deer carcasses ...

West Bend Deer Management update April 9, 2019 Wisconsin, washingtoncountyinsider.com [video]
... The West Bend Deer Management Committee got the lowdown from U.S.D.A. certified wildlife biologist Charles Lovell regarding the 2018-19 effort to remove up to 60 whitetail deer from Lac Lawrann and Ridge Run Park..,

SD deer hunting seasons proposed April 8, 2019 South Dakota, Capital Journal
...increase the harvest of whitetailed deer in areas where there are too many ... both the East and West River regions ... Black Hills region. The northern and eastern edges of the region have too many whitetailed deer ...

... State wildlife biologists counted 137 wolves in Oregon this past winter, a 10 percent increase over last year’s count of 124, according to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2018 Annual Report released today at odfw.com/wolves..,

... Report contains annual data back to 1954 and details on the 2018-19 season..,

Deer numbers drop as beer, bobcats thrive April 7, 2019 Connecticut, Republican-American
... The state’s growing bear population, now poised to survive another round of legislative efforts to give hunters a shot at thinning their numbers, is taking a bite out of Connecticut’s deer population ...

... Historically, the public hunting areas in Oklahoma have been off-limits to private individuals who want to profit from guiding...

Staten Island, City spending $600000 to fight ticks, Lyme April 7, 2019 New York, SILive.com
... funding is going after the Island’s mice, rather than deer, which experts have said has played a significant role in the spread of Lyme in the borough... will buy $25 bait boxes that will trap mice ... [four poster] stations are too expensive to maintain and that only some studies have shown the stations can reduce tick populations...







Searching the internet to find and conserve deer information.  

Deer in the News

Why would deer leap to their deaths? Wildlife experts speculate after two deer jump off Creek Turnpike overpass April 18, 2019 Oklahoma, Tulsa World
... The deer jumped over a concrete barrier and fell between the east- and westbound lanes of the divided highway to plummet about 30 feet to their deaths ... “I’m sure a lot of it involved a fight-or-flight response ...

Oldest deer shot in 2018 was a 20-year-old doe April 16, 2019 Vermont, Rutland Herald
... The oldest deer shot by a hunter last year was a 20-year-old doe. The oldest buck taken by a hunter was 12 ... Hunters are asked to send to the state a tooth ...

... a buck deer valued at more than $8,000 was killed in Mooney's backyard, according to charging documents... sent photos to a few friends of the deer. One individual received an image of the deer deceased in the bathtub," ...

Baby deer rescued after mom killed by vehicle April 11, 2019 Florida, News4Jax
... the male fawn is only one or two days old. When Kelly found the fawn it was sitting by his mother's side, grieving...

DNR: Leave deer fawn alone April 10, 2019 South Carolina, WCBD
... It's part of nature's plan for a doe deer to leave her fawn or fawns alone for their first few weeks of life... the fawn at this age is better protected away from the doe. The presence of the doe nearby would attract predators because the doe lacks the protective coloration of the fawn, and the older and larger doe has a much stronger odor...

The nimble Tesla proves to have saved me from this collision with a deer last night! - April 14, 2019


Evergreen firefighters rescued a deer from an icy lake early Saturday morning. - April 13, 2019 Colorado


AllOutdoor
...  a whitetail doe was killed by a vehicle from Kentucky traveling through Georgia in 1999, her young fawn was left defenseless and unwilling to leave its mother’s side... Prissy was never restrained physically, but she simply didn’t want to get very far from home. The dogs never left the farm, so she had to return in order to visit them...

For this video, I keep my mouth shut and let you just watch the young Mule Deer with relaxing music in the background by Wayne Jones. - April 8, 2019


This video consists of photos taken by US Forest Service game cameras near Buffalo Pass, Colorado on June 26, 2015. It shows an elk herd, with cows and calves, grazing where Flash of Gold mountain bike trail would be built later. This was their home. - April 5, 2019


Firefighters Rescue Deer Stuck In Fence March 28, 2019 California, CBS Sacramento
... As the dangling deer tried to break free, it cried out for help... firefighters arrived, placing a coat over the animal’s eyes as animal services gave it a sedative to calm it down...

Here's a quick compilation showing some of the elk I was able to capture footage of this March! - April 2, 2019 Utah


'Deery' doing well at film festivals March 27, 2019 South Dakota, Brookings Register
... Deery is a campy comedy which features a young lady, Jan, and her remarkable pet deer, Deery... The crazy but lovable cast of characters rely on Deery and her heroic actions to save them... 

... seriously injured a deer, which was then put down by Town of Tonawanda police, is under investigation by the state Department of Environmental Conservation...

New RI plate on the 'wild side' March 26, 2019 Rhode Island, Warwick Beacon
...  Save Wildlife [license] plate framed by a squirrel, raccoon, fox, owl and deer... The plates cost $40, with half the money going to support the WRARI. In the course of a year, the group helps between 4,000 and 5,000 injured, sick or orphaned wild animals...

  Deer pen in Fond du Lac park getting a makeover March 25, 2019 Wisconsin, WBAY
... The buck and four doe in Fond du Lac's Lakeside Park bring people in year round. It's an attraction that's been around for decades... make it look and feel more like what the deer would experience in the wild...
Discovery of dead deer shows danger of feeding wildlife March 21, 2019 Colorado, OutThere Colorado
... A dead deer was recently found in the San Luis Valley with stomach contents containing corn and grain... 

Deer rescued from frozen Derry pond, then euthanized March 19, 2019 New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader
...  Firefighters and police rescued a deer from a frozen pond Tuesday morning, only to euthanize it after determining it had suffered a mortal wound overnight...

Residents rally to pull deer from Lake Erie March 14, 2019 Ohio, Chronicle Telegram
... able to tie a rope around it and the two men dragged it onto the boat. That’s when they noticed it had suffered a badly broken front leg...  the Ohio Department of Natural Resources doesn’t allow people to have deer as pets, so the only option was to euthanize it...