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Well, only because of hunting restrictions in suburban areas.
Not true. The first sentence from your citation says:
"The state had a growing population of white-tailed deer until either-sex seasons were liberalized in the early 1990s."
The population increased from 10,000 in 1990 to about a million in the early 1990's, when the hunting of anterless deer was instituted in order to keep the population stable and avoid overpopulation.
As far as development "taking away" habitat:
"Deer are so adaptable that they are found in almost any type of habitat. They like creek and river bottoms, oak ridges, pine forests, farmlands, or any other type of habitat that offers food, water, and cover. They adapt well to suburban sprawl. "
Wake County has one of the highest deer density populations in NC.
Timely. There were at least half a dozen on a side-road just yards from Glenwood Ave. this morning. One or two around here every once in a while isn't unusual, but a whole herd was unexpected.
If you care about white-tailed deer, I'd urge you to consider stopping the practice of feeding them from a corn pile (or any concentrated feeding). Please have a look at this article regarding chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer and elk.
My apologies if you meant something else by the phrase "corn pile".
I have seen the elephant of CWD. I have hunted in Wisconsin in the DEZ (disease eradication zone) during the height of their CWD scare. I've seen an areas deer population wiped out by a 365 day open rifle season in response to CWD.
I don't disagree with the article. however I'm not concerned about NC and CWD. We don't allow deer farming here. Neither does Virginia or South Carolina or Georgia. When you look at CWD maps, you find that everywhere that has a notable instance of the disease had an infected deer farm. Areas that don't, whether they allow baiting or feeding of deer, don't have notable CWD instances. Even in Virginia, the only counties that have CWD border West Virginia which does allow deer farming.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gus2
No. There have always been a ton, but I think the nonstop development is taking away their habitat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gus2
Well, only because of hunting restrictions in suburban areas.
No, deer like fragmented habitat. Period. There are fewer deer in the Mountains than there are here, because 100,000+ Acres of unmanaged National Forest don't provide them habitat to exist in huge numbers. The seasons reflect that; in Wake County the rifle season is 2.5 months long; in the mountains you get a couple weeks.
When I lived in MN and hunted the huge swaths of paper company land open to the public, you'd actually try and figure out where they had clearcut; the clearcuts were full of young, green browse.
Has anyone noticed an uptick in the number of deer this year vs prior years? I've noticed more than usual on the road, my corn pile and my neighbor's corn pile.
I would say an increase of 25%.
Anyone else notice more deer than usual?
I noticed the "normal" amount of young roadkilled bucks on the road about three weeks ago, chalk it up to adolescent hubris.
I think that the increase in deer you're seeing is more due to the cold weather we've been having.
If the high is 75-80, I hardly bother hunting unless I have both a new moon and cloud cover. The deer will move at night.
When the highs don't touch 60, I see a lot more deer moving during daylight.
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