Whitetails are changing our woodlands - increasing white-tailed deer population may cause imbalance in the forest ecosystem

American Forests, Nov-Dec, 1993 by Stephen B. Jones, David deCalesta, Shelby E. Chunko

Our intent is not to blacklist this lovely woodland inhabitant. But the reality is that the eastern deer herd is out of control, inflicting potentially irreparable harm on forestlands. We need a solution now.

A LANDOWNER'S LAMENT

Dwight and Jo Lewis of Hillsgrove, Pennsylvania, long-time Life Members of AMERICAN FORESTS, own and operate, with their four children, a family timber business in the heart of that state's prime hardwood country. We asked them to give us a landowner's perspective on the deer problem there. Here is the result:

The whitetail deer is changing our lives and the lives of future generations. The changes are affecting many elements of the natural world here.

The soil and climate conditions of the Appalachian range grow some of the most valuable hardwood timber in the world. The deer are decimating some of those trees, particularly the black cherry (Prunus serotina). We're proud of our cherry; the richest stands of cherry in the world grow here. The stumpage price for cherry currently is $1 per board-foot!

The price is so high because the trees are disappearing. Deer eat the new seedlings, allowing only ferns to grow. Once ferns cover the ground, hardwoods cannot grow. I like to get out in the woods on a bulldozer and scrape away the thick mats of ferns, but it's disappointing to see how quickly the deer nibble off the seedlings that come up in such places.

Years ago we enjoyed hunting the big white snowshoe rabbits that were common in the swamps, and the cottontails in the thick underbrush. Often it was a New Year's Day event. The baying of the hounds as they worked the rabbits in a big circle (hopefully back toward us), the snow on the ground that sometimes allowed us to see the chase in progress, occasionally a glimpse of the ghostly snowshoes, and even a shot once in a while--those were memorable days.

But the deer have eaten away most of the brushy cover, and the rabbits have disappeared. So have the whippoorwills, which we loved listening to in the evenings but have not heard for many years.

Also gone is the wild ginseng. Years ago an old logger, who had gathered the roots in burlap bags in the 1930s, showed me a wild ginseng plant and told me they were getting scarce. There was always some of the root remaining to continue the growth. But now the ginseng is gone here as far as I know.

It used to be that areas where we cut timber grew up quickly in lush patches of wild raspberries and blackberries. Now we find lots of short plants that have been nibbled off by the white-tails, but few large plants with delicious berries.

Our life is good here in this beautiful wooded country--but it is changing.

ODDBALL DEER DETERRENTS

If you're a suburban or rural resident and have problems with deer snacking on your veggies, flowers, or landscape plants, you may be interested in a couple of odd but apparently effective ways to keep Bambi at bay.

The word is getting around that the fragrant deodorant bar soap Irish Spring is a real turnoff to whitetails. Writing in a recent issue of Field & Stream, Ed Ricciuti tells of how deer devastated his vegetable plot until a farmer friend told him to hang bars of Irish Spring from stakes set around the garden. He did, and the deer stayed away all summer.