Deer population up, number of hunters down

FOXBOROUGH -- It’s deer hunting season in Massachusetts -- and there are plenty of pickings. Mass Wildlife estimates the deer population is above 95,000 -- about where it’s been the past couple of years.

But, in the 1990s, the population was about half that.

Deer are thriving for a simple reason: There’s nothing to stop them. Traditional predators, such as bobcats and wolves, are largely gone. And while coyote populations are going up, that’s not really helping much, either.

“Coyotes can prey on young deer, but not at a rate that’s substantial enough to really control deer populations,” said Lincoln Larson, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Conservation, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University. “We’ve reached a point in the United States where the only mechanism we have to control overabundant deer populations is through deer hunting.”

But therein lies a problem.

“We have far fewer hunters than we’ve had at any point in the last forty years,” Larson said.

“It used to be about eight percent of the American population hunted; now it’s down to about four percent and it’s been in a steady decline.”

Hunting has lost its appeal for two reasons, Larson said. First, fewer Americans live in rural areas, where hunting is more common. Second, hunting is suffering from an image problem when, in the case of deer, it’s an important ecological contribution.

“If you look at the hunting population, it’s 90 percent male and 97 percent white,” Larson said. “Which doesn’t reflect the current population of the U.S. much less the future projections. That’s why changing the face of hunting -- creating a hunting culture that’s more inclusive to women, to racial and ethnic minorities, to urban residents and groups that haven’t historically hunted at the same rate as more traditional hunting populations. I think that’s a critical piece of the solution here.”

Finding a solution is crucial because the deer aren’t going anywhere -- and, in the process, going places they shouldn’t be.

“With all the building going on they’re in people’s backyards now more than ever,” said Bryan Souza, a hunter from West Bridgewater. “It’s increasing big time.”

And while it may be distressing to have deer eating shrubs, vegetables and other plants, it’s downright frightening -- and sometimes deadly -- to encounter a deer while driving. And it’s happening more and more.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recorded about a thousand animal/vehicle collisions that were reported in the U.S. during the 1980s. Reported collisions have almost doubled since then.

Larson said the decline in the number of hunters is creating a vicious cycle when it comes to funding conservation in the United States. Conservation efforts are often funded by hunter license fees and the sale of hunting equipment, he said. If you can’t fund conservation, you can’t maintain deer habitats -- forcing them to roam into backyards and roads.

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