March 20, 2008

Record-high deer populations create problems on farms

RICHMOND—Wildlife biologists with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries reported a record number of deer harvests for the 2007-2008 fall hunting seasons.

A total of 240,423 deer were reported killed by hunters in Virginia this past season, representing a 7 percent increase from the 223,775 reported killed last season. The game department also reported that the doe harvest was greater than buck kill for the first time since 1947, when the check station system was initiated.

While an increase in deer harvests indicates a healthy population, the animals can be devastating to farmers’ crops and orchards.

“With a year like we had this past summer, very dry and not having much vegetation in the woods to eat, the deer rely on our crops even more so,” said Nick McNeil, a Montgomery County farmer who raises produce, hay and beef cattle. “They eat all types of produce—green beans, sweet corn, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes—pretty much anything that grows in a garden, they’ll eat it.”

He said a small herd of about 20 to 30 deer can wipe out a couple of acres overnight. “They cost us easily $2,500 last year in just pumpkins alone.”

To stem that damage and manage the population, “the best thing you can do is encourage the harvest of the females of the species,” McNeil said. “In five years, one female will be responsible for 30 deer.”

Contact McNeil at 540-392-5113 or Matt Knox, VDGIF deer project leader, at 434-525-7654.