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

April, 29, 2014 12:17 PM
I totally support the proposal to control the deer population.
 
April, 24, 2014 12:04 PM
Now that the new builders have torn down the wildlife for the Deer population, they have made there new home in my back yard, they totally messed up my yard. My windows in my dinning room, little bathroom and kitchen windows are very low to the ground and I'm so afraid they are going to come through these windows one day. PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!
 
April, 15, 2014 7:28 AM
The population is taking over my back yard, I never never feed them and they do their business all over my yard, every step is crap from the deeds. Please help me.
 
April, 8, 2014 2:49 PM
Deer propose potentially fatal hazards and increase the risk of Lime Disease. I have noticed in the last year more deer quickly running haphazardly in my neighborhood. I am concern for the safety of the residents in my community and would like to see an action that will decrease their presence in Fort Washington (Tantallon North Development). Your attention to this matter is of importance to me.
 
March, 26, 2014 7:18 AM
Please move forward with measures that will decrease the population of deer in PGC. I approve with all and any method to get this accomplished. There are too many and they cause many problems for the residents. Thank You.
 
March, 24, 2014 4:20 PM
I fully support the program in the hope that it will stop the herds of deer from destroying my plants in my yard and prevent some of the many deer collisions with cars on Enterprise Road. I have personally been involved in two such collisions and have had several close calls.
 
March, 24, 2014 4:18 PM
The large deer population in our area is a health and safety hazard to the residents. Currently many deers are being killed by vehicles. It not only endangers humans and damages property it is a cruel and highly inefficient way to eliminate the deers. I strongly support the program to reduce the deer population in our area.
 
March, 24, 2014 4:17 PM
Please, please do something to control the deer population in Fort Washington, especially near Fort Washington National Park! Your figures indicate 165-94 deer per square mile at Enterprise Golf Course and 78-99 deer per square mile in Henson Creek Stream Valley Park; recent population counts in Fort Washington National Park indicate 274 deer per square mile, when 20 per square mile is considered sustainable. And, of course, those deer are foraging in our neighboring properties. Like many neighbors, I have lost thousands of dollars of landscape plants. With their destruction of the natural habitat and the loss of so many native plants on my property, I also have far fewer birds, squirrels, bees, butterflies, etc. We have had to abandon our 25+-year practice of growing our own vegetables when the deer began knocking down our fences to get to the vegetables. The expense of deer repellents, exclusions, netting, etc., is like an extra tax for living in PG County. Most of us have experienced a vehicle-deer collision at one time or another, adding another financial cost to living where deer management is non-existent. And, more and more of my neighbors are being diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease. In addition to our financial losses, we've also lost many of the intangible reasons for living here. We've lost the privilege of enjoying our outdoor spaces when the deer excrement is unavoidable. We've lost the pleasure of gardening. I've even mostly lost the use of my backyard deck since the deer have now taken it over as well, knocking over furniture, etc., in the middle of the night. And frequently the smell of the deer excrement is too overwhelming to enjoy being outside anyway. More and more of us are finding dead deer -- without any obvious signs of trauma -- in our yards. While I understand the concerns of people who are opposed to hunting the deer, I find it to be a far more humane solution than allowing the deer to perish slowly from chronic wasting disease, black tongue disease, etc. And clearly the deer who frequent my property are malnourished because they so long ago eliminated their normal sources of nutrition. Now that they are resorting to eating tree bark, it is not possible for them to thrive. I would gladly give permission for a qualified bow hunter to set up a tree-mounted deer blind and hunt on my property.
 
March, 24, 2014 4:15 PM
I live in the Woodmore South subdivision, near the intersection of Enterprise Road and Woodmore Road. That means that my residence is very close to the proposed deer management area. My only hope is that the project will also reduce the number of deer I commonly see at my house. These deer cause many automobile accidents and do lots of damage to plants and vegetation. Thank you for your efforts to reduce the population.
 
March, 11, 2014 12:00 PM
I write to publicly support this County's plans to control the deer population (at Oxon Hill Manor). Prince George's County is at least 10 years behind neighboring counties in instituting deer population control on public land. I'm sure you are looking into sterilization of does as an alternative method of controlling the deer populations since this seems to be a currently popular non-lethal method. A 2006 study however 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 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. I know this will cause debate however, I am in support of sharpshooting when it is done right and humanely and given the sensitivities in this area about guns, I believe that the hunters are must be very good at this skill before being subjected to such scrutiny. I hope that PGC takes this step forward as we are all hopeful for this county to reach its full potential in all areas.