Fox Chapel began recognizing a deer problem in the late 1970's. By 1992 their famous trillium trail was nearly destroyed along with all new forest growth. Something had to be done. Their environmental advisory council believed the ideal size of a deer herd in an urban forest should be no more than 5-10 per square mile. To find out how many deer they had, the borough paid for an aerial infra-red video survey of their 8.5 square mile community. They discovered they had 103 deer per square mile, or more than ten times what they considered the ideal herd size. There was much controversy on how to handle the problem. They considered removal of the deer by trapping, which was possible, though expensive, except nobody wanted the trapped deer. Contraceptives were too short-lived, also expensive, unacceptable by the residents, and would take too much time for FDA approval. Noise makers, human hair and other scare devices only worked for short periods. The deer became accustomed to everything. Commercial exterminators using infra-red scoped rifles and silencers at night were too expensive. A borough ordinance against feeding deer had no effect.
The only economical way of controlling the herd size, they decided, was by hunting. With the guidance of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Fox Chapel developed a hunting program consisting of the following elements. Archers were screened by borough police and had to prove their ability with bows and arrows. Police introduced an archer to each resident who wanted a hunter on their property. Each archer had to shoot a doe before he could shoot a buck. Every archer was required to put their names on their arrows to prevent the problem of leaving deer in other people's backyards. Deer often run considerable distances even after a lethal shot. Any meat the archer did not want was processed by the borough and delivered to food banks. The rumor that the police mowed down the deer by spotlight over bait at night is not true.
This system appears to be working quite well. In 2002 Fox Chapel archers took 255 deer. Since the inception of the hunting program the deer have been reduced by nearly 50% and auto/deer collisions have dropped by 75%. That is not to say Fox Chapel has completely solved their deer problem. The herd is still much higher than the 5-10 per square mile ideal size, but the problem has been much reduced in magnitude. I thank Jerry Cecil, chairman of the Fox Chapel Environmental Advisory Council, for providing me with this information.
The park wildflower problem was also solved. Deer fencing was erected around the Trillium Trail and not only have the wildflowers returned, the garlic mustard that had invaded was pushed out by the recovering trillium. Keeping the size of the deer herd down so that people can enjoy both the sight of a white-tailed deer and a trail of vibrant wildflowers is a worthwhile goal.
The deer situation in Murrysville is similar to that in Fox Chapel although no one knows exactly how many deer live in Murrysville. Assessing the herd size would be a greater task considering Murrysville's area is 37 square miles or more than four times the size of Fox Chapel. We can gain some idea of the herd size from reported road kills. Jan VanGemert in the Municipality office provided me with the statistics for 2003. There were 194 deer carcasses picked up on Murrysville roads (137 miles). This does not include the deer killed on state maintained roads (40 miles) and, of course, does not include the number of deer that were hit and crawled off the highway to die elsewhere, or those that were never reported and left to decompose on the roadside. Studies by the Pennsylvania Game Commission indicate that about twice as many deer are hit by cars as are picked up from the road, so we are talking about 400 deer getting hit annually on Murrysville highways without considering those hit on state maintained roads. What percent of the herd those road-killed deer represent is unknown, but the number of auto/deer collisions is far greater than in areas where the deer population is at the ideal size of 20 per square mile.
A disadvantage of an over-size herd is the tax-dollar expense of removing the dead deer from the highway. Currently, the winning bidder to pick up the deer receives $45 per carcass and $20 for deer reported killed, but not found (for time spent). The deer are taken to Valley Landfill for disposal where the charge per trip is $9.61.
To try and hold down the expanding municipal deer population, Murrysville has permitted hunting in their parks for the past 25+ years. Muzzleloader and flintlock hunting is permitted in Duff, Townsend and PVC Park, but not the Kellman Nature Reserve. Only archers, five at a time, are permitted in Kellman. Hunters must demonstrate their proficiency with their weapons by passing a test at the Crowfoot Rod and Gun Club on Gun Club Road. They must then show officials at the Municipal Building the required anterless and regular hunting licenses before receiving a permit to hunt in a specific Murrysville Park. They must report what day or days they will be on the park property in advance and also any deer that they kill. Arrows must be coded. There is a limit on how many hunters can be in each park at any one time, but thus far, that limit has never been reached. If the park is open to the public during any of the hunting seasons the hunters are required to hunt from a tree stand for obvious safety reasons. For a few days, Townsend, Duff and PVC parks are closed to the public and reserved just for the hunters. This closing of the parks represents less than 2% of the year.
During the 2003 season 67 deer were taken in the four parks. That's roughly a deer for every 9 acres of parkland which translates to a deer harvest rate of 71 per square mile. I don't know what the deer population is, but it's quite high when you are harvesting them at more than three times the state recommended density of 20 per square mile. This figure reflects only the parkland deer density. Does it represent all of Murrysville? That I don't know. There are still areas in Murrysville on private property where hunters can safely take deer, but the number of deer killed on private land in the municipality is unknown.
Most of this information was provided by Michele Clark, Director of Recreation. Michele and the Parks and Recreation Committee are doing a fine job implementing the deer hunting program. The fact there are still wildflowers left in Duff Park indicates they are having some success at controlling the deer. Michele reviews the program every year and explores new possibilities for improvement. She believes more needs to be done, but is restrained by time and jurisdiction, particularly in getting private landowners involved. Constructive suggestions would be welcomed.
Pennsylvania white-tailed deer face a very uncertain future. What will become of them will be the subject of the next and final essay in this series.
