How to Help the Deer

Deer are a valuable part of our ecosytem, and while they might seem plentiful, if we do not protect them they risk becoming endangered like so many other wild creatures. Fortunately, there is a lot we can do to help the deer. Many of these actions involve lobbying or joining together with local environmental protection groups. You will need to go through the forest service to get permission to carry out these actions, but they're sure to have a positive impact on your local deer population.

Things You'll Need

  • Contact information for local forest service
  • Contact information for local conservation groups
  • Educational pamphlets
  • Educational speakers
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Instructions

  1. Ecological Protection for the Benefit of Deer

    • 1

      Encourage people in your area not to fence off large sections of land. Deer travel through an annual migration corridor. In mountainous regions, this migration corridor involves moving towards lower elevations in the winter, and higher elevations in the summer. If fences obstruct this corridor, they can disturb the natural habits of deer, resulting in confusing and possibly even failed migration, which can be devastating if deer are stranded without food as seasons change.

    • 2
      With education, humans and animals can coexist in the same environment.

      Fence off heavily trafficked roads, since automobiles are the main hazard to deer. As with all of these steps, you will need to contact your local forest service, who will tell you how to lobby for the fencing of roads in your area. Educate drivers to be alert for deer during certain times of year. The season when deer are in different locations will differ depending on the geography of your target area. You can educate drivers with local awareness campaigns, hand out pamphlets with information about safe driving in deer country, and you can also lobby to get road sings put up to warn drivers.

    • 3
      A healthy forest is beneficial to us all.

      Maintain plots of forest, so that deer can access their natural food source. Deer feed will differ depending on your region, as deer subsist on many native plants. Commercial crops disrupt this feeding pattern, making deer dependent on human-produced feed. Contact the forest service to learn how you can contribute to forest conservation.

    • 4

      Preserve deer's natural predators. These often include coyotes and mountain lions, but may differ depending on your location. If humans hunt too many natural predators in a particular area, deer populations can get out of control, resulting in a food shortage and devastation of the population.

    • 5
      Hunters will have the best luck if they respect natural population patterns.

      Prohibit deer hunting permits unless the deer population needs to be thinned. If the population is already balanced or is lower than average, lobby to prevent deer hunting from occurring as an annual sport. Although sometimes hunting will not harm deer populations, if it is allowed to occur regularly without consideration of a struggling deer population, it can disrupt natural population control systems and seriously damage the future survival of a herd.