Deer Overrunning Massachusetts Suburbs

By Jim on June 8th, 2008

The deer population on the South Shore has more than doubled in the past decade, wildlife officials say, and it is showing up in nibbled shrubs, chewed-up vegetable gardens and more close calls and collisions for motorists.

Blue holly and Japanese yew rank high on the “great eats” list for deer, but garden experts say there is practically nothing the animal won’t eat.

“We get it all the time,” said Philip Wyman, owner of Wyman’s Nursery in Hanson. “People come in with the branch of a shrub that’s obviously been eaten by a deer. They say, ‘I don’t have deer in my yard. I don’t live in the woods.’ But that’s what it is.”

The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife would like to see a deer population of 15 to 20 deer per square mile in Bristol and Plymouth counties. That’s the stated goal of the agency’s wildlife management plan.

But estimates from the 2007 hunting season place the area’s deer population at between 20 and 25 deer per square mile, with some areas as high as 30 per square mile. Hanover, Scituate, Cohasset, Hingham, Duxbury and Pembroke are all on the higher end of that range, said Tom O’Shea, assistant director for wildlife at the state agency.

Overall, deer populations are down from the all-time highs reached in 2005, state officials say, but development, fewer hunters and more restrictions on hunting are keeping the number of deer up in many local communities.

William Hart, Pembroke’s animal control officer and a hunter, said firearm laws have hampered hunting.

“People hear a gunshot and they panic,” he said. “That’s understandable, but there are a lot of deer and if no one has a chance to harvest them, you’re going to have a problem.”

Hart said there are far fewer licensed gun owners and hunters than there were just a decade ago.

“It’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth to hunt around here, and to me, it’s a straight line between that and the deer problem.”

This is what you get when you demonize guns and hunters in popular culture, raise hunting license fees and prohibit Sunday hunting. Why would any hunter waste his or her time hunting deer in Taxachusetts? Screw the idiots down there. They voted to persecute, malign and abuse gun owners and hunters and now they’re getting exactly what they deserve.

However, I will consider going down there and maybe doing some bow hunting for deer. But only if Massachusetts pays me. Not only would I require the payment of an hourly fee (at least as much as a cop gets down there for traffic detail), I would also require gas mileage to be covered and I would also demand a written thank you from each citizen that lived in the area I was hunting in.

If my demands are not met, then MA can swim in deer until they drown in them.