Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation
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Deer Management Comments

March, 4, 2014 11:27 AM
STOP THE DESTRUCTION AND/OR THE OVER GRANTING PERMITS FOR DEVELOPERS TO FORCE THE WILD ANIMALS OUT/OFF OF THEIR NATURAL HABITAT
 
February, 26, 2014 1:46 PM
I fully support the planned deer management plans for Oxon Hill Manor and Henson Valley in Ft Washington. I would like to add for your consideration, doing the same in Ft Foote Park, also in Ft Washington.
 
February, 26, 2014 1:46 PM
I am requesting assistance from the county and the state to curtail the Deer population in the Fort Washington area. They have become over populated , they eat all of the leaves from our trees, gardens and have personally caused a hazard to drive in the Prince George's county area.

It has gotten to the point that you do not have to hit the Deer. Last year I saw a large Buck run into the side of a person's car. I thought that was unusual and somewhat funny until it happened to me 2 months ago. It cost me $2,000.00 and 2 weeks without my vehicle. Curtail the population before they cause deaths among our community.
 
February, 26, 2014 9:02 AM
A friend who hunts pointed out your website and said you were looking for comments. I read your website with interest, and while I am not a hunter myself, I SUPPPRT THE HUNTS in these parks as well as elsewhere. What you are doing makes sense to me, and should be considered in other parks as well. I'm pleased that meat that is usable will be donated to feed the hungry, as it is delicious, and lower fat than beef. I hope managed hunts might even be expanded to allow seasonal hunting in our parks by trained civilian hunters as well. Our family also owns land in Accokeek that has scenic easement for the National Colonial Farm Piscataway Park as well, and we support the managed hunts there as well.

I live adjacent to Whitemarsh Park in Bowie, and have a son who contracted Lyme through an infected tick bite. I love the deer and enjoy watching them, but they also do jump the fences (sometimes tearing them down as they did mine), they do invade our gardens, and they can be a nuisance. They probably see us as a nuisance as well.

I see several factors causing our conflicts with the deer population:

The primary issue is that we still have people in our society who look at natural areas and refer to them as "undeveloped" as if that is a bad thing and the land needs to be exploited rather than enjoyed as it is. I love camping and other outdoor activities, and want to preserve as much natural beauty and wild areas as possible. We do not own this land, we preserve it for our descendants. We have encroached upon wild areas again and again, forcing the animal population to wander among us. We are the problem, not the deer.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Hunt_Trap/deer/deer_management/deerhuntastool.asp
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Hunt_Trap/pdfs/2009_Deer_Mgmt_Options.pdf

Second, we have altered the balance of nature by removing the predators from these remaining wild areas. The deer as an herbivore is a natural prey animal hunted by carnivores. Humans fear such predators too, thus we hunted many large carnivore species to near extinction. I don't advocate letting wolves and cougars run in our parks snatching our pets for lunch, so it is a fine idea to use other methods to cull the herd. The lack of natural predators has lead to the overpopulation, starvation, disease, and genetic issues like piebald deer. It strikes me as inhumane to NOT reduce the deer population and keep it stable to the food supply and habitat. I'm hoping that the culling of the herds will focus on primarily the sick and unhealthy that would be naturally taken by predators, as well as enough healthy ones to keep the population balanced and hungry people fed. Those who oppose hunting, must not have read the reports on effective wildlife management, and seem to prefer the deer have a slow and painful death from starvation and disease to a quick one which I consider truly inhumane.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Hunt_Trap/deer/disease/ddpbald.asp
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Hunt_Trap/deer/disease/cwdinformation.asp

I note on your website that you've looked into other methods of population control to ensure that the methods used are actually effective. I was pleased to see the document on deer management option research on your website. Some probably have recommended sterilization of does as an alternative method of controlling the deer populations, however a 2006 study found that sterilization of does is not effective in wild populations because of immigration and doe response to capture. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2193/0022-541X%282006%2970%5B268%3AMAODPB%5D2.0.CO%3B2?journalCode=wild
Chemical birth control, although legalized in the state of Maryland, also does not work effectively on wild populations, with an 88% effectiveness the first year and 47% the second year. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/research/reproductive_control/gonacon.shtml
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Hunt_Trap/pdfs/2009_Deer_Mgmt_Options.pdf

I have always been a supporter of MD DNR, for preserving our wild spaces, supporting effective and appropriate wildlife management, and working to avoid political entanglements and manipulation. Please keep up the good work!
 
February, 26, 2014 9:02 AM
Sir/Ma’am

I am definitely in favor of reducing the deer population in Prince George’s County through managed hunts. They are the most effective means of deer population control.
 
February, 26, 2014 9:01 AM
I fully support programs to manage the deer population in Prince George's County and encourage you to consider implementing a program in the Fort Washington area. I live on Colleen Court and we are being overrun by deer. I can at times count over a dozen deer running through my back yard. They are everywhere. I've come home at night after work and had to wait for them to move away from in from of my garage and out of the driveway so that I can park the car. They are eating all of the landscape and several times my husband has stopped cutting the grass because they will come in to the yard and not move. The deer population is too large for this area. I have been hoping that the County would begin program to reduce the population. You have my full support.
 
February, 25, 2014 12:47 PM
Dear Park Management Officials,

I welcome this sorely needed initiative and hope that our neighborhood (Patuxent River Park/Jug Bay area)is included in this program.

I liver on a farm on Duvall Road, in Croom, across from County fields and the Patuxent River Park. In the past few years,there has been a dramatic increase in the number of deer who roam and graze not only in my pastures but also in my front and back lawn, all the way to the porch! They are a huge nuisance and the cause of costly damages. Gone is the bottom part of previously beautiful evergreens lining my driveway, gone are tulips and other flowers, there is no question of a vegetable garden, my hedges are decimated, the lawn is defecated and marked with their hoofs, and on and on and on. It is good for them to have safe haven in the County fields and the Patuxent River Park across the road from us, but those areas obviously can no longer support them. It is time to act.

I do hope you will put your program in practice soon and include our neighborhood in it.


Thank you!
 
February, 25, 2014 12:04 PM
Please consider eliminating some of the deer population in the Fort Washington area. Fort Washington National Park and neighboring communities, (Tantallon, Battersea) are overrun by deer.
There have been multiple deer/vehicle collisions on area roads. Deer are also instrumental in introducing ticks that carry Lyme disease, and the disgusting waste that they drop on our yards is intolerable.
 
February, 25, 2014 12:04 PM
Actually my subject line really says it all. Deer over population has become a state-wide problem and seems to be particularly bad here in the Washington metro area.
 
February, 25, 2014 12:03 PM
Hello,


I'd like to register my support for the sharp shooting programs you recently announced. I'd also like to request that you expand to Piscataway Park in future.