(UPDATE: This story got picked up by Google so a lot of non-local comments are attached, most of which say “Just allow more hunters!” – but the number of people with hunting licenses in NH has gone down for decades. It’s not that big a part of modern culture. The state does allow extra tags for deer in the worst areas but hunting alone will never solve the problem. Deer reproduce too fast.)
When it comes to New Hampshire’s forests, Bambi has a lot to answer for.
“If you’re trying to manage and grow healthy, resilient forests, (deer) are a problem,” said Wendy Weisiger, managing forester for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. “They’re actually changing the composition of our forests in many places.”
As anybody who has tried to grow arborvitae in their yard knows, white-tailed deer are voracious browsers. In Northeast forests, they will eat all the saplings of oak, sugar maple, birch and other desirable hardwoods that grow up in areas where sunlight reaches the ground, such as after a timber harvest. That leaves behind less biodiversity and more openings for invasive plant species. It’s a major problem.
A tour last weekend of a logging site in Henniker was part of efforts to control this cute but destructive pest using “slash,” the debris such as treetops, branches and small trees that are left over after marketable lumber is removed. Studies in other parts of the country have shown that slash can be piled up to create walls that will keep out deer for a half-dozen years, enough to let hardwoods get established to withstand the four-hoofed invaders.
It’s one thing to use slash as a deer deterrent but another thing to know exactly how to do it. Saturday’s tour brought attention to two test plots, covering about seven acres, to help determine best practices.
At one site, loggers built a slash wall all around the protected area, creating what Weisiger called “a big donut.” The wall is huge — 8 feet high and 10 feet wide — because deer are really good jumpers, as anybody knows who has installed a deer fence to protect their garden and then lost their garden.
On the other test site, loggers spread the slash over the entire ground to a depth of about 4 feet, basically making it so annoying to walk that deer would stay away. That site has a secondary advance of providing more cover for small mammals and birds.
Game cameras were installed to see how wildlife respond to each. The Forest Society will examine regeneration over coming years.
The idea is not just to see what works better but to get data on which is more feasible for a working logger to guide landowners who want to reduce deer damage.
What does it cost, how long does it take, how viable is it for other landowners to do,” said Weisiger. “We want to provide advice and information to others who want to try to do it.”
There’s a bigger story here because white-tailed deer are an example of what are sometimes called “rat species,” although the technical term “synanthrope” sounds more professional. These are species of wildlife that don’t mind being around people — they thrive even as we destroy their natural habitat and drive away their competitors.
Examples include rats, pigeons, coyotes and raccoons but deer are right up there. With their natural predators largely gone, deer numbers have soared throughout the eastern U.S. Attempts to control populations through hunting or birth control have failed, partly because society is reluctant to go all-out in a War On Bambi.
Rat species are a sobering reminder that you can’t predict what will happen when we alter nature. Cut deer killing off the forests we love is a perfect example, although their role helping spread Lyme disease through ticks is pretty potent, too.
The answer, of course, is to stop messing around with nature.
Yeah — like that’s going to happen.
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Hi,
I live kin BC Canada and we have deer problems too, when we replant logged areas we have a protective tube that prevents deer from chewing on the saplings.
Good topic…dont believe nature is something man should seek to conquer but rather a tapestry of life balanced within this operating field. Growing up on a large farm I felt I had a front row seat to man’s sutle and acute impacts on the local environment, neither of which seemed to have what I would deem “long-term impact.” Our ability and WILL regarding resource management is a cornerstone to the vitality and variety of not only naturally sustained ecosystems but also our immediate everyday environment. (Mpg, cut off a light.) Seems reasonable
the quantifiable influence of human activity be considered in our attempts to mitigate imbalance however, the idea that our existence is more than but a stroke within that tapestry is unrealistic.
Treat that which cradles you with respect. Be good to one another and be good to nature 🙏
Deal with the problem at hane, not the one you wish you had. The deer herd can be reduced by extending hunting seasons and increasing harvest limits but the branch of government responsible for managing the state’s deer herd refuses to do that fearing hunting license revenue will plummet. Also, access to land for hunting is a growing problem. The Forestry Department and the Wildlife Management Department are operating at cross purposes.
The answer is simple—stop “managing for lumber only “ clear cut vast areas that will reproduce lots of trees …more than the deer can eat Then protect the money trees until they are mature for timbering Look at the history of the forests years ago logging and fires clear cut the forests when no one managed them they grew up and so side the deer herds Now the forests are being managed for lumber and nothing else
To say that more hunting harvests would not correct the problem is a false statement. Deer do not reproduce to fast to maintain a healthy herd through hunting. New Hampshire’s current bag limits are insufficient. One deer per season of course can’t keep up. Sounds like the anti-hunters make it impossible to hunt, especially in southern New Hampshire. I wouldn’t be surprised if, just like covid, deer diseases weren’t introduced through lab bourne viruses.
Grub hungry greedy people always blame the deer, bears, beavers or wolves. In reality it’s all mankind’s doing and if this attitude continues America could turn into Australia. Our true wealth and strength come from this great land not in our economy, money, God bless America! Than you for your insight
Same problem in southeast Pennsylvania. We have, more so, an access problem, instead of a harvest problem
Can you provide me with some information on upper cheuamagan national forest in Asland Wisconsin. I belonged to a deer hunter group and we’re not seeing the deer since they introduced wolves.
Douglas..Bayfield .Ashland County has way to many Wolves..DNR n State Government need to have a legal Wolf Hunt. The hunting public is ready n willing.
I believe you are very wrong about deer. They were here way before any of us humans. My people were here first, Native American Indian people co-habitated with all animals, and what was here as visitation. As the European, white people came they and all new to this continent marveled at what was here. Since they have tried to change and think they know best. Seems most of the time they are wrong. Need to learn and adjust what should be done, versus think they know. Nature is always right,may be hard to see . Time is a huge factor, hundreds of years are what we forget to acknowledge. Earth is very old been around along time. Change is much slower than what is expected. Our urgent need to have things happen quickly isn’t how the earth and environment works. People need to learn to slow down.
Wolves and bears were abundant in your land and controlled deer populations.
Yes, deer were here first, but so were their predators. By lowering the numbers of predators, we set the stage for this imbalance. I doubt that Native Americans had any impact at all. They lived on the land without making a dent. Europeans’ actions destroyed that.
A few years back I read a commentary by a Native American about tribes that were hunter/gatherers. This person said tribes would move into an area where they would hunt and gather until it required too much effort to hunt and gather to support the population of the tribe. What this person was unknowingly saying is the tribe exploited the local environment until it could no longer provide the sustenance it needed and then moved on. Not much different from what any group of people do.
Co-habitated ?
You meant they killed, ate and used their hides for clothes.
I agree
I would lovev to come up and kIll some of them .
Im thinking that you should invite men andyoung women from amish communities to come to your problem areas for special hunting season .large families need deer meat for planning meals. Be gracious with free tags and offer to help with transportation expanse. You wont be disappointed.
Let.s leave nature alone in some large areas for it to replenish.
plant twice as much decidious trees to off set the ones deer kill by eating tips and shoots or plant right beside a spruce or pine together they should make it ,plant less expensive cotton wood trees they love or open a hunting season ,they are not destroying on purpose only eating dinner ,and trees ,shrubs are are what they eat …
Restoring wolves to Yellowstone and Wyoming saved the Aspen from extinction by deer and elk. Ranchers of course require indemnity for livestock losses, but cheaper than hiring snipers.
Overpopulation of deer seems to increase incidence of CWD, so people are shy of hunting them for food. But it seems a shame that we can’t harvest them for the hungry in this country. Good lean protein going to waste.
Deer are a natural part of the ecosystem. What they do to the forest on any level is purely natural. Please stop playing God and let nature alone.
I think that the dnr need to let nature take its corse
Hogs are worse than deer and we have both in Arkansas
Oklahoma too of course!
Deer is a wonderful delicacy if seasoned-right and cooked in a heat source. If more hunters had that on there dinner plate with a tag-out-ruling, then the forest would be an enjoyable visit so as peoples backyards. More hunters on the land after deer would lesson the problems. The mayor of New Hampshire needs to advertise the needs of the hunters to take out more deer. Make new Hampshire beautiful again!!! Get your hunter licenses today!!! Reduce deer populations!!
I own and manage 100 acres of healthy forest in Maine. I selective cut and harvest wood every year, by no means is this an accurate article and uses opinions over facts. If deer are becoming that much of an issue, more doe tags for hunters are needed. I’ve never considered NH a hunting state like Vermont or Maine.
There are less and less hunter, even if you do offer more doe permits, there aren’t enough people to shoot them and people can’t shoot for shit anymore, and can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
The world is coming to an end soon. Leave the deer alone.
A good place to begin would be to reduce the cost of deer tags AND no bag limits on both bucks and doe. In Kansas we have vast numbers of deer and in an average year a hunter could EASILY bag 10 or more deer most years.
The sheer depth and width of ignorance of the non-hunting public never ceases to amaze me. If you leave nature to take it’s course,all the deer will starve out, beginning with the youngest (smallest) since they cannot reach browse as readily as larger older deer.
Well how have they survived so well then?
There’s a lot of states that have hunters for hungry programs to feed people that can’t afford high grocery prices,that puts a dent in the population
I Got my Masters degree at UNH I believe it was 1987 studying moose in Northern New Hampshire…. I would like to know what baseline Forest type is being used to determine “impacts” because it’s probably one in which deer were mostly eliminated and have come back into the picture and you see changes. What were the forests like when you had chestnut trees And when you had deer continually on the landscape before they were virtually eliminated? The fact that deer are a problem is a totally man-made human construct. The fact that they damage forests is also a human “value” for lack of a better term. A more correct term is that they change the habitat in which they live like every single other animal and plant! I don’t like using these stupid terms just tell me what your management goals are and we’ll leave it at that but they’re not damaging anything they’re just changing the landscape!
The comment on the post about “everyone saying to just increase hunting” are people not supposed to offer solutions? Hunting is still a big part of many modern communities. Hunting more deer would only help this problem. No one’s saying it’s going to solve it. But acting like hunting “simply won’t help” is just plain stupid.
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Consider this we currently do not have enough hunters! During the depression the deer herd was very low due to hunting because people could not afford to buy meat. The current administration is taking care of the problem, soon we will have plenty of hunters because they are hungry!!!
More than longer seasons and higher bag limits, land access is key.
And I get it. Many hunters are not doing right by landowners, their sport, or the future of it. But when you’ve got rich NYers who move to NH and buy big tracts of land, and immediately start posting and fencing because they can and it’s “theirs”, plus most of them have a 12 year olds concept of “nature”, it’s a recipe for over population,rampant disease outbreaks and LOTS of ticks.
Landowners need to be more accommodating.
HUNTERS, you are GUESTS and need to not toss butts, or any other trash, in fact you should make it a point to “pay” for the use of the land by taking bags to the field and picking up any and all trash you can. Don’t be “that guy”.
Let’s see first, it was the American Natives were the problem ? So let’s kill them & solve it right ? Then let’s dam the rivers & divert brooks to suit our needs right? Giant sink holes where once long ago flowed a brook ? Now pavement ?
For years we used to discuss this issue with NH wild life wardens. Then around 1975 or so Walpole, NH was seeded with turkeys. This was an absolute success. We have them by the thousands, well what do they eat? Millions of acorns thats what they eat ! What did the deer eat in winter before the the turkeys in the winter months ? Yup Acorns. Turkeys obliterate the Acorns = no winter natural feed for deer to forage.
A serious hard harvest on turkeys would help.
NH has many abandoned farm fields, plants them with winter forage crops. Increase hunter awareness in asking permission to trespass on posted or not hunting lands. Land is available to hunt on, respect to property owners is whats rare.
The US Government, introduced mongoose to Puerto Rico, to kill the indigenous population of non poisonous snakes !! Today you cannot have free range chickens, they kill them all. They have a real serious problem with this.
Do not fool with nature, listen to all of these Native American examples, they don’t need books to remember history, it is passed from one generation to another, funny idea eh ?
Answers are there, just open your eyes and listen to nature.
bring in the wolfs. they will wipe out the deer fast
We need to reintroduce deer natural predators,wolves and mountain lions to balance things out