At a recent Discovery Center program, DNR wildlife biologist Bruce Bacon and naturalist Zach Wilson talked about white-tail deer in northern Wisconsin. Lots of statistics flew over my head, as I tried to take notes. But the summary seemed to be that deer herds of the huge sizes of the mid-90's will not return, for a number of reasons.
In the first place, those big numbers were not healthy for either deer or for the environment. Tough winters control deer counts, with 725,000 deer reported in the UP before the hard winters of 1996 and 1997, when the population dropped to 474,000 deer, much closer to the seventy-year average of 400,000. Fawns born after those cold and snowy winters are fewer and less hardy, also decreasing the population.
In 1970, before most of us lived here, UP deer counts had dropped as low as 175,000. In 2010, counts are still below average at about 300,000, reflecting what hunters have reported and we have observed along local roadsides.
Both speakers, plus the hand-outs they provided, indicated the highest numbers did not represent a healthy herd and probably will not be repeated. If the habitat becomes overloaded, existing deer are shown to be in poor condition.
Deer were referred to as "survival specialists" because they are so adaptable to conditions. Thus there seems to be little chance that we will ever see the Northwoods without white-tail deer.