Photo by Ron Sinfelt

While hunting license sales continue to decline nationwide, white-tailed deer harvests have demonstrated dramatic increases throughout their range. In fact, current population trends indicate that herd sizes could possibly double within the next decade, particularly in urban locations where hunting is either not practical, or as is the case in a growing number of sites, prohibited altogether. And in many of these problem areas, deer have outstripped the environment's ability to support their burgeoning population densities.

Compounding the explosive whitetail population problem are significant losses of available hunting lands. This is particularly true in the private sector where urban sprawl is gobbling up massive areas of farmland to create tract housing, shopping malls and industrial complexes.

Some state parks that were once open to hunting now prohibit most hunting activities, particularly if it involves the use of firearms. Fortunately, some locations remain open to bowhunters, but many of the parks only permit this activity in very small, remote segments of a particular park, thus the problem of overpopulation and environmental destruction by marauding herds of whitetails is not addressed.

Crop damage permits are now being issued routinely to farmers who experience financial losses from deer depredation. Ironically, homeowners who experience huge financial losses because of deer damage on very expensive shrubs, exotic trees and ornamental plants cannot obtain depredation permits.

"You must be a farmer who sells your crops in order to obtain a deer damage permit from Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR)," said Ron Norris at the Bel Air regional office of Maryland's Wildlife Service. "There are no provisions for homeowners to obtain deer damage permits."

A representative from the DNR's Wildlife Service has been meeting with homeowners trying to convince them to permit hunting on their lands, but again, this does not fully address the deer overpopulation problem. Even if the homeowners permitted access to their property, sportsmen will still be limited to the regular seasons and bag limits. This limited hunting access often will not cull herd density enough to bring about sufficient decreases in overall deer population numbers.

Essentially, the only method of controlling each jurisdiction's whitetail population is through recreational hunting. As the number of hunters and available lands slowly decline, wildlife managers have attempted to offset this by increasing the seasons and bag limits. To some degree, this has been effective, but naturally, this only applies to areas where hunting is still permitted. Consequently, if you have access to lands adjacent to closed areas, there's an excellent chance you will be able to bag a deer because of the spillover effect.

A case in point, the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a federal reservation located in Harford County, Maryland, is approximately 30 miles northeast of metropolitan Baltimore. Since the deadly September 11 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., most federal reservations have been subject to heightened alert status, thereby making access very restrictive at best.

Consequently, those military bases that at one time permitted limited civilian access for hunting now only allow base employees and service personnel this option. This decrease in hunting pressure led to huge increases in herd densities that were already well beyond the land's carrying capacity. This population density is forcing deer to leave the base in order to find sufficient food to survive. Hunters who were able to find suitable hunting sites within a mile or two of Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Edgewood Arsenal went from spotting a few deer daily, to seeing dozens every time they ventured into the woods.