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We are loaded with deer in Bergen County. You can tell by all the lollipop shrubs where they eat everything up to about 4-5 feet. It seems that they even eat some deer resistant stuff. You can practically walk right up to them. It wouldn't take much to take them down.
there are a lot of things i plan on doing personally on the property so I have to pick and choose which other things I am going to take the time to do.
The major reservoirs for Lyme disease here are white-footed mice and chipmunks. Deer are a major host for tick populations but aren't a reservoir for Lyme, and they aren't necessary for ticks to get into your yard. Ticks can even be dropped by birds as they fly over.
If you are concerned about ticks on your property, I would start with tick tubes. Make your own, don't by them! You can make them at home with used toilet paper rolls, permethrin and cotton. White footed mice favor the use of cotton as nesting material, so when you leave the tick tubes out, the mice will take the cotton with the permethrin on it and it will kill the ticks in the nest. They are very effective for tick control.
You should then do everything that you can to control the mouse population on the property. There are several ways to do it. For the record, if you have foxes on your property, they do a great job of keeping the mouse issue down. There have been studies that have shown that incidences of Lyme and other disease infected deer ticks are negatively correlated (inversely proportional) to the number of foxes in an area.
Several of the larger species of snakes are great mousers too (rat, pine, corn, milk) but many people are horrified to think of co-existing with them. I wouldn't kill them if I found them on my property and wanted to keep the mice down but I acknowledge that I am more tolerant of them than many.
If you have a field on your property, consider putting up a Kestrel box. Kestrels are small falcons that are incredible mousers. They can actually see the UV from the sunlight bounce off of the urine on the mouse trails. Sometimes you'll get a bonus of getting a screech owl in the box instead, which will work the night shift to keep the mice down.
Good luck!
Interesting idea.
BTW, bobcats are great too...but as you probably know they are pretty rare. We are fortunate to have a few out here in PA...and some fox too (oh and even hawks). Still they all can't control the population of the little pests totally.
We need to introduce wolves that will hunt deer. That is the only natural solution. Although not in my town please We don't have a deer problem, we have a rabbit infestation.
We need to introduce wolves that will hunt deer. That is the only natural solution. Although not in my town please We don't have a deer problem, we have a rabbit infestation.
I assume your wolf suggestion is just a humorous response.
Not only do they hunt herbivores like deer, but - more importantly - they make the deer and other animals more careful. This creates fewer opportunities for the deer and other out-of-control populations to eat, breed, and rest. I suspect that wolves would also curtail the populations of rabbits and Canadian geese.
thanks. we havent moved yet but i have been doing yard work some weekends and i see lots of deer crap. so they will have to find somewhere else to crap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJJersey
Actually, wolves would be a great contribution to the ecosystem. They have restored the ecosystem in Yellowstone:
Not only do they hunt herbivores like deer, but - more importantly - they make the deer and other animals more careful. This creates fewer opportunities for the deer and other out-of-control populations to eat, breed, and rest. I suspect that wolves would also curtail the populations of rabbits and Canadian geese.
its all fun and games until someone loses a small child or their yorkie.
Not only do they hunt herbivores like deer, but - more importantly - they make the deer and other animals more careful. This creates fewer opportunities for the deer and other out-of-control populations to eat, breed, and rest. I suspect that wolves would also curtail the populations of rabbits and Canadian geese.
Not only do they hunt herbivores like deer, but - more importantly - they make the deer and other animals more careful. This creates fewer opportunities for the deer and other out-of-control populations to eat, breed, and rest. I suspect that wolves would also curtail the populations of rabbits and Canadian geese.
Ecologically speaking, you are correct, but pragmatically, such an introduction program would likely fail miserably. Considering how much of New Jersey is developed, along with the human population density, resources and territory available for the wolves, etc., I think that at least one very significant and tragic wolf-human conflict is inevitable, and this would be the catalyst for their second extirpation. I've heard similar ideas about the reintroduction of a variety of other large carnivores, and my feeling on it is the same (look up Pleistocene megafauna reintroduction or "Re-Wilding" for an extreme but very interesting example).
For the record, black bear and coyote do prey on deer fawns and they do help to some extent to keep the deer population down, although the extent is questionable depending on who you talk to.
I'm with you and others on here who say that deer overpopulation is a concern. Aside from the human impacts of spreading ticks and causing motor vehicle collisions (which we've addressed), I've seen the effects that deer can have on an ecosystem and some of the most extreme examples were quite sad. They can decimate a forest sublayer and allow invasive species to take over. Most of our native flora can't compete with some of the nasty invasives that take over when deer overbrowse our natives. They really can tip the scales unfavorably for a lot of other plants and animals. I think that hunters are our greatest conservationists when it comes to keeping the deer population at numbers that are healthy for the deer and for the ecosystem that they inhabit, and reducing the number of deer-human conflicts as well.
I am not sure it is true but I hear the coyote population in southern NJ is increasing rapidly. They go after the deer fawns.
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We don't have a deer problem, we have a rabbit infestation.
