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.

The Rev. Edward G. Robinson's flock was reluctant to try the unusual new offering suddenly filling the freezers at his West Baltimore food pantry, so one Sunday the pastor decided to use his burgeoning culinary skills to whip up a meal with it. "Most of them thought it was roast beef and they enjoyed it and sampled it and even asked for the gravy," he recalled. What they were eating at Agape House was something perhaps out of place at an inner-city soup kitchen but regularly found on the menus of top-tier restaurants: venison.

The beauty of the Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area is, as the sign proclaims, "enhanced by rare plants and animals." But one breed of animal is overrunning the refuge and devouring the unusual plants, and state wildlife officials say there is only one way to solve the problem. They want bowhunters to thin the deer population. "A few deer is a few deer too many if they get to those plant species and wipe them out," said Paul Peditto, director of the Wildlife and Heritage Service for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.

Howard County has hired a state-qualified sharpshooter to decrease the population of white--tailed deer in the county, officials said Friday. The sharpshooter will be working immediately before and after sunset this month on two county-owned sites - Alpha Ridge Landfill on March 14, 21 and 28 and Blandair Park on March 16, 23 and 30. The measure is being used to help bring down the white-tailed deer population to about 15 deer per square mile. The estimated deer population is 400 deer per square mile at Blandair Park and 62 deer per square mile at Alpha Ridge Landfill, said John Byrd, chief of the county Bureau of Parks and Program Services.

For the first time since Harry S. Truman was president, hunters are taking their weapons into a 1,700-acre section of woodland just outside the little town of Dublin in search of deer. The Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America has opened its Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in northeastern Harford County to hunters in an attempt to control an exploding deer population. "It's the first time since 1948 that hunting has been allowed," said Reed Blom, director of support services for the Boy Scouts council.

For the first time since Harry Truman was president, hunters are taking their weapons into a 1,700-acre section of woodland just outside the little town of Dublin in search of deer. The Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America has opened its Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in northeastern Harford County to hunters in an attempt to control an exploding deer population. "It's the first time since 1948 that hunting has been allowed," said Reed Blom, director of support services for the Boy Scouts council.