Don't Feed the Deer!

This autumn, Fish and Game has received a few complaints about deer in town. And often, these complaints come from residents who have neighbors that actively feed the deer. While feeding deer may seem like a harmless activity, it creates a whole cascade of problems for area residents and the deer themselves. The Salmon River valley provides important mule deer winter range with a moderate winter climate and abundant winter foods. But deer, like most critters, willingly take advantage of extra food sources such as hay, apples, grain and even birdseed. Once they find a reliable food source, a few deer can rapidly turn into a large number of deer. Invariably, some of the deer will go hungry and begin to explore the neighborhood in search of more food. They will sample whatever they can find and unfortunately, many ornamental plants are relished by deer. While a few hungry deer can damage the ornamental plants that your next-door neighbors have carefully cultivated, more deer can wipe out thousands of dollars worth of ornamental plants in your neighborhood. In addition, these deer will probably remain in the vicinity with fawns learning about this new food source from their mothers. Deer wandering in town are very attractive to dogs. Loose dogs usually find deer irresistible and will not hesitate to chase them. In their attempts to get away from a dog, deer can become tangled in garden fences, run through picture windows, or dart across the street in front of oncoming traffic. A deer-vehicle collision is never a pretty sight, ending in a mangled deer and a damaged vehicle. Unfortunately, people can be seriously injured or even killed in these collisions. As winter weather worsens, more and more deer can be attracted into town by residents who feed them. With more deer, more damage to ornamental plantings will occur. The likelihood of collisions increases and Fish and Game will be fielding more complaints from residents who would like the deer out of their yards or are concerned about hitting a deer while driving in town. This may create a situation where troublesome urban deer will be euthanized. And much of the blame will be attributed to the few residents who insist on feeding deer in their yards. Deer being fed in more rural areas also creates problems. Deer will cross roadways to reach a feed site. This creates the potential for high-speed collisions, particularly adjacent to Highways 93 and 28, which can result in serious injuries to vehicle occupants. Deer attracted to food are often highly visible to hunters. If your property is not posted, a hunter might enter your property to harvest a deer, which further increases trespass problems. In addition, deer that are fed in rural areas may also be attracted to the haystacks landowners use to feed their livestock during the winter months. This can cause considerable difficulties for those relying on their stored hay to feed their animals over the winter. Please, do not feed the deer. They have many amazing adaptations for surviving winter without our help and have done so for as long as deer have lived in Idaho. You will help the deer more by not feeding them, than by providing them with handouts.