Deer Population

The two-week firearms hunting season for deer opens across Maryland Saturday, and wildlife managers expect liberal bag limits and an abundance of whitetails through most of the state to produce an excellent harvest.Last season, with hunters allowed separate bag limits for each of the four management regions in the state, a record 41,073 deer were bagged, including nearly 22,000 antlerless deer."Maryland's new deer management structure increased the total antlerless deer harvest by almost one-fourth within sections of Maryland with elevated deer numbers," said Michael Slattery, director of Wildlife and Heritage for the Department of Natural Resources.

Howard County's campaign to reduce the deer population in Columbia's Middle Patuxent Environmental Area removed 50 animals during the first three days of the hunt this week, natural resources specialist Philip C. Norman said yesterday.The 28-day hunt will resume Monday and continue next month and in December until the county's goal of removing 125 animals from the herd is reached.Norman said 24 deer were killed Monday, the first day of the hunt, and 13 each Tuesday and yesterday. If the goal is reached before the full 28 days scheduled, the hunt will end early, Norman said.

Maryland's bow season for white-tailed and Sika deer opens Wednesday, with good prospects of a second successive record harvest and continued liberal bag limits in most areas of the state.The season will run through Jan. 31.Bowhunters killed a record 16,300 deer last year, 22 percent more than in the 1997-1998 season, according to statistics compiled by the Department of Natural Resources.Although liberalized bag limits initiated last year have helped to slow the growth of the deer population in rural areas, game managers still are concerned that numbers of deer continue to increase in outer suburban areas.

Although more than 160 people have applied to Howard County in the past two weeks for a managed deer hunt this fall, county officials have extended the sign-up period through Friday.Philip C. Norman, hunt manager for the county's Department of Recreation and Parks' effort to thin herds in the 1,018-acre Middle Patuxent Environmental Area, said the county wants more hunters to apply because the list is often sharply reduced to provide the safest and most experienced people."There's a number of different community groups and neighborhood associations concerned with the hunt who want to be sure we have well-qualified, safe hunters in there," he said.

Another 52 deer were killed by hunters last week in Howard County's Middle Patuxent Environmental Area as part of a controlled hunt.Natural resources specialist Philip C. Norman said 102 deer have been taken in the eight shooting days since the hunt began Oct. 18.Because the county set a goal of removing 125 deer from the 1,000-acre wooded refuge, the hunt may last only another day or two when it resumes Nov. 8, Norman said.County Executive James N. Robey said he decided to authorize the hunt because the deer population had grown far beyond the land's ability to support it, causing the animals to roam into residential areas and become a hazard on roads.

Just the name of the neighborhood may conjure up the image of merry men on a deer hunt, with the local sheriff none too pleased.But in Anne Arundel County's Sherwood Forest -- a well-to-do waterfront community -- state officials want a select group of hunters to take on a burgeoning deer population that is devouring shrubs and plants and posing a threat of disease.The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced plans yesterday for a managed hunt in the 600 acres of woods surrounding the community of 341 homes north of Annapolis.

Editorial erred on appointment of LennonYour journalism is slipping again.I just read your Jan. 12 editorial, "Whose ethics are really in question?" In it, you chastise Carroll County commissioners for not making better choices when appointing members to the planning commission.You point to what you think is a fact -- that Robert H. Lennon was appointed by this 55th board of commissioners of W. Benjamin Brown, Donald I. Dell and myself -- when in reality Mr. Lennon was appointed by the 54th board of Mr. Dell, Julia W. Gouge and Elmer C. Lippy.

The rapidly growing deer population in Columbia and the subsequent effects on vegetation have prompted a call for another managed hunt in Middle Patuxent Environmental Area.In a survey last month of the 4.17-square-mile area, Howard County's Department of Recreation and Parks found 106 deer per square mile, more than three times what the agency considers sustainable."Our primary concern is the ecosystem," said Jeff Duguay, natural resources manager for Middle Patuxent. "They are eating everything that is out there is basically what it boils down to."

HUNTERS AND HOWARD County parks officials weren't counting on smart deer. Local officials had hoped to cull at least 60 deer during a monthlong hunt at the Middle Patuxent Environment Area that ended Feb. 6. The session was considered a success with 50 deer "harvested," as the euphemism goes, even though it fell short of its goal.Among the reasons cited for the shortfall is deer savvy. Deer are not particularly known for possessing great intelligence among non-Homo sapiens in the animal kingdom, unlike dolphins and some others with measurable intelligence.

The Department of Natural Resources has finalized its proposed hunting regulations for the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 seasons, including a new four-zone deer plan expected to help biologists manage whitetail populations more effectively across the state.The state's new approach to deer management was first presented to the public early this year and then discussed in detail at a series of five public meetings in March.DNR Secretary John R. Griffin said the final proposals "have been modified in response to citizens' " comments, as well as legislation enacted by the 1998 session of the General Assembly.

The county government has announced its schedule for this season's deer hunts, which are intended to achieve a balanced white-tailed deer population in parks. County officials say the hunts are needed to reduce a large population that they say has led indirectly to more incidents of Lyme disease transmission, damage to vegetation and ecosystems in parks, and added to the danger of collisions for motorists. The hunts, which are managed by the Department of Recreation and Parks, will include bow and shotgun hunting, with hours from dawn until noon.

Killing is wrong way to deal with the deer "Thinning" the deer herd at Loch Raven Reservoir would be something more like a massacre ("Loch Raven in balance," editorial, Aug. 27). County officials have recently argued that their goal for the deer population is to reduce it to as few as 10 deer per square mile or about one deer for each 64 acres. That could mean killing up to 90 percent of the area's deer. The state's plans for this year's deer hunt call for unlimited killing of does from Sept.

Despite strong objections from animal advocates, county officials are planning to continue managed deer hunts in a half-dozen undeveloped parks this fall, based on the results of a new public opinion survey. The 10-minute telephone survey of random respondents was conducted in April, and the results were released this week. "We wanted to find out in general what attitudes were," said Gary J. Arthur, director of the county Department of Recreation and Parks. If the survey had revealed a swing to overwhelming public opposition to hunting, the county would have revisited the plans, he said.

New strategy is making headway on homicides Annie Linskey reports in The Sun that some city judges are concerned about requests to strictly enforce probation violations for violent repeat offenders ("Sweep aims at the most dangerous," July 13). Judges are reportedly concerned about the erosion of their discretion. Judicial autonomy cannot be undermined, and any efforts to co-opt this branch of government must be squashed immediately. However, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is not asking judges to indiscriminately detain probation and parole violators.

Baltimore city and county officials have talked for years about thinning the population of deer in Loch Raven Reservoir by allowing hunting. Now, they say, they only need to work out the details of a managed hunt this fall, such as whether to extend the invitation to bowhunters and sharpshooters. "As stewards of the reservoir, it's our job to make sure that the forest can regenerate," said Kurt Kocher, a city public works spokesman. "That's not going to happen with the current deer population.

Hunters allowed in undeveloped Howard County parks have killed 168 deer this season, compared with 120 animals killed in the 2006-2007 season, but the only store in the county that had butchered the animals is refusing the work. Phil Norman, the county's deer project manager, attributes this year's higher numbers largely to one day in October when 40 deer were killed in the 1,000-acre Middle Patuxent Environmental Area. He also said factors include good hunting weather, a large acorn crop and development along Route 108 that pushed more deer into parklands.

A few weeks ago, this column was an unrestrained tirade on the subject of deer - focusing on the animals' insidious quest to crash through the windshields of passing motorists. That same day, through no design I'm aware of, another section of The Sun ran a sensitive and sympathetic feature by Abigail Tucker about two Baltimore County women who have made it their mission to protect the adorable white-tailed creatures from the depredations of bloodthirsty hunters. Judging by the e-mail received by Tucker and myself, our readership is rich in Bambi-phobic misanthropes.

FINKSBURG -- The start of one of Maryland's most popular hunting seasons gave state wildlife managers their first look at the effects of a deadly virus on the white-tailed deer population. Biologists were at taxidermy and butcher shops yesterday for the first day of the two-day-early muzzleloader season to look at the health of deer and to ask hunters whether they have seen signs of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, a naturally occurring outbreak that happens every year on the East Coast.

This deer season is a little different from the past dozen or so. Doug Hotton has left the building. Hotton, the affable, folksy leader of the Department of Natural Resources deer management team, has boxed up his belongings and gone home. "My wife retired two years ago and I want to have some of the fun she's having," said Hotton, 58. "I feel you need to walk away when you can still hit 'em in the gap and get on base." He leaves behind the legacy of having shepherded Maryland's first deer management plan into place 10 years ago and has helped his replacements, biologists Brian Eyler and George Timko, prepare the next edition, which will take effect for the 2008-09 season.

Deer test negative for fatal affliction For the fifth consecutive year, Maryland's wild deer population has tested negative for a fatal affliction similar to mad cow disease, the Department of Natural Resources reported yesterday. Federal, state and local biologists, and veterinarians took brain stem and lymph gland samples from 969 deer during the 2006-2007 hunting season and found no trace of chronic wasting disease. Tests on 13 deer that appeared sick also turned up negative. "Most of the samples came from hunter-harvested deer, and we appreciate their cooperation and understanding as we try to keep Maryland CWD-free," said Bob Beyer, DNR associate director for game management.