Deer

Are there too many deer in the Nature Park? Hunting is not allowed in the Nature Park, but the Nature Park Steering Committee is concerned about the effects of overabundant deer on vegetation in the park. To address this concern, we initiated two studies, one with exclosures and one with deer cameras.

Deer Exclosures

We set up 5 x 5 m exclosures in two locations at the Nature Park to assess effects of deer browsing on vegetation. We compare plants growing in exclosures that are inaccessible to deer to control areas where deer continue to feed on vegetation. Our results show that deer are affecting the coverage of vegetation but not the number of plants in the Nature Park.

More information about the deer exclosures.

Deer Surveys

In 2008, we surveyed deer populations in the park using remote infrared-triggered cameras. We used photos from the remote cameras to estimate the total size of the deer population, following the methods outlined by Jacobson et al. (1997).  We identified individual bucks from photos based on their antler configuration.  We excluded photos from analysis when we couldn’t identify animals.  The estimated doe population was calculated using the estimated buck population and the buck:doe ratio based on the total numbers of antlered and antlerless deer in the photos. 

Number of individual bucks identified - 15
Total number of antlerless deer in photos - 239
Total number of antlered deer in photos - 56
Buck:doe ratio  = 239/56 = 4.27
Estimated number of does = 4.27 × 15 = 64.1
Estimated number of bucks and does = 64 + 15 = 79

We estimated the total deer population size at 79 individuals, 64 does and 15 bucks. We will repeat the camera surveys during fall 2009.