Those controlled deer hunts actually protect the forest
Jenny Reimenschneider’s recent column on hunting hit the mark in its criticism of those who take pleasure from killing deer, but it missed the point of why managed hunts are so necessary. They’re not held for the enjoyment of people who like to shoot holes in animals. They’re held to protect forests from too large a deer population, which causes extensive long-term damage to the understory, the nursery for the next generation of forest. Hunting is absolutely necessary in places like Ridley Creek State Park and Tyler Arboretum, which otherwise would be in even worse shape than they are now.
It’s a rare native plant that isn’t heavily browsed or eaten down to the sticks by a herd of deer. Unfortunately, invasive plant species are not on their menu. In high deer density areas, very few native trees and shrubs grow taller than a few feet before they’re eaten or damaged by bucks rubbing the velvet from their antlers. With natives under such intense pressure, invasives have a gaping void in which to colonize the understory. This is more than just a problem for the forest since less native vegetation means less food for birds, pollinators, and other animals.
Invasive species in many cases already outcompete native plants. Many get a head start in the spring, well before natives emerge, which allows them to saturate an area creating what’s known as “biotic homogenization.” Others form a thick blanket over natives, preventing sunlight from filtering through. If some are able to stand their ground against the invasive onslaught, they’re eaten before they have a chance to thrive. Even the worms in our area forests are invasive, which means that the soil itself is less conducive for young trees. Whenever there’s a disturbance in the canopy from a storm, invasives charge into that now sunlit area, completely crowding out native trees and shrubs. Over a few large swaths of Ridley and Tyler, there is literally no next generation of trees. The understory is either completely barren or overrun by invasives.
To understand exactly how much forest damage is prevented with yearly hunts, it helps to know how much a deer eats. The average adult eats about seven pounds of food each day or about 2,555 pounds per year. It’s not known exactly how many deer roam Ridley Creek State Park because counting them involves literally totaling up “pellet piles” (i.e. scat) or conducting an impractical inventory of partially eaten plants. So the best estimate for the total deer population, then, is merely an educated guess. There could be as many as 1,000 deer in the five square miles of Ridley Creek State Park and Tyler Arboretum, but the actual number is likely closer to 500, which translates to 100 per square mile.
A herd of 500 deer consumes about 1.3 million pounds of understory each year to devastating effect, the costs of which extend beyond the forest: damage to vehicles and personal injuries from deer collisions represent a substantial cost and economic penalty. The yearly hunt goal of 200 deer is almost not enough given the current state of the understory at Ridley and Tyler, which could begin to recover if the population was reduced to six deer per square mile, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s recommendation. Radnor is doing the right thing, as usual. That township reduced the scourge of 101 deer per square mile down to 14 by using professional sharpshooters. Using welltrained experts is certainly the more humane way to cull the herd, although it is a more expensive option than just issuing permits to all comers regardless of their skill level.
The deer population has surpassed their ecosytem’s carrying capacity and nature will respond in the way it always does when a species destroys its environment. But we don’t have to let them starve to death and lose the next generation of forest to boot. Short of bringing back their natural predators like bobcats, cougars, wolves and coyotes (which would certainly make outdoor recreation more aerobic), hunting is the only way to keep their numbers down. I have no doubt that many of the hunters who take part in the various “culls” throughout the county are skilled and not stumbling drunk through the woods with blunderbusses. Nevertheless, professional hunters would represent the most humane method of control since the option of darting deer with birth control chemicals has proven so ineffective. Ken Hemphill went through the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist program at Stroud Water Research Center in 2013 and volunteers his time for various environmental causes. He is the communications coordinator for Save Marple Greenspace, Neighbors for Crebilly, and the Beaver Valley Preservation Alliance.