Deer damage costs
Deer will clean out birdfeeders in addition to your gardens
The sight of a Bambi-like fawn tottering about the lawn close to its mama might bring joy to some, but there are others who immediately start worrying about their gardens.
Sarah Spencer, wildlife management biologist with Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources western region, says in almost every municipality or town that department reps have met with about the deer issue, there’s almost a 50/50 split of people who love seeing deer on their property and those who don’t.
“That makes it very hard for towns to be able to manage because their constituency is so divided on the issue,” she says.
Deer are not uncommon in rural areas, but it's also not uncommon their see them in the more densely-populated town areas as well.
But while it may seem the deer population has increased in the Town of Yarmouth, as an example, Spencer says there’s no indication it has. However, she has heard from citizens in the area that deer are becoming a real problem.
“Especially hosta, that’s like candy to deer,” she says.
She says there are lists of deerresistant plants available that might be worth a try for those in susceptible areas.
She adds that a sure-fire way of keeping deer away from gardens, especially vegetable gardens, is to put up a high fence or electric fence.
Those who feed deer and other wildlife add to the problem of attracting them where they shouldn’t be.
“Across Nova Scotia there are a lot of people doing this and it doesn’t usually work out well for humans or the wildlife, unfortunately,” said Spencer.
She’s even seen deer standing on their hind legs, eating out of birdfeeders in people’s backyards.
“They’ll take what they can get,” she says.
Seeing deer munching contentedly a few feet away from busy streets in Yarmouth is becoming common. While deer collisions are rare in the town of Yarmouth, a crash with a deer was attributed as the cause of a motorcyclist’s death on Forest Street close to a decade ago.
Sgt. Paul Pittman of the Yarmouth town detachment of the RCMP has observed that, because of better lighting, lower speeds and familiarity with humans, there are fewer collisions with these animals in town as opposed to the county.
“Two days ago I drove up Chestnut Street and a deer waited for me to drive by. When I passed, he walked across the road,” said Sgt. Pittman.
Motorists who travel in the county often aren’t as lucky. Troy Doucette, general manager at
CSN Hubert’s Collision Centre in Tusket, says deer strikes are responsible for 10-20 per cent of their business. In early November he looked out his window to see how many vehicles were in for repair.
“I see one, two, three, four, five… six in the past two weeks alone. We have more in the shop and two of them are write-offs," he said.
In early spring, a time when does birth their fawns, deer impacts rise. Deer strikes also escalate in October, November and December.
“Once the hunters start going in the woods it seems like it pushes them out more,” said Doucette.
The Town of Yarmouth is arranging for a meeting with Natural Resources for early 2020 on the topic of deer.