Problems caused by Deer
If you live in an area of the United States which has a huge deer population, you know exactly the kind of problems this largest of the vegetarian pests can cause. Deer numbers are very hard to keep under control due to a decreasing lack of interest in hunting, great pressure from anti-shooting lobbyists, mild weather, and a dearth of natural predators. As a result deer have become a big issue as pests in many areas of the country. Let’s take a look at some of the problems you can expect from deer.
* Garden destruction. Deer are roughly ten times the size of other common pests, and that means that they can easily inflict ten times the amount of damage at a time. The time is usually at night, as that is when the naturally shy deer, along with most other mammal pests, are most comfortable with. In one night one or two deer can bring total destruction to an unprotected garden; not only will they eat most of the tender plants and vegetables, but their sharp hooves will crush anything they leave behind. Many hobby gardeners have awakened in the morning to a couple month’s worth of work destroyed in a single night by hungry deer.
* Crop damage. Deer are not just a problem for small scale gardeners. In fact, farmers with large crops may be in even more trouble when it comes to deer as pests, because they have a lot more vegetation to protect in a much bigger area. Deer will congregate in herds in alfalfa, wheat, and other fields. Again, it is not just their eating that can do damage; large amounts of deer mean large amounts of dropping, which is not conducive to healthy soil (at least for human crops).
* Threats. While deer are rightly thought of as a naturally timid animal, they can at times pose serious threats to people. Attacks by deer are rare, but a buck may attack when it feels threatened. The risk of attack is much greater in the fall, when bucks are feeling very aggressive within the rut. They have even been known to attack hunters in the field, and their hooves and antlers can inflict a lot of damage. We don’t want to exaggerate; deer attacks are incredibly rare. Still, children in particular should be aware of the possible danger of approaching a buck at any time, but especially in autumn.
* Disease. Deer may spread a couple of different diseases that may be threatening both to humans and to livestock. The large numbers of deer mean that huge percentages of the population in some areas carry Chronic Wasting Disease, which can be transmitted to other ruminants. Deer ticks, which can be found on most deer, carry and transmit Lyme Disease to humans.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
How to kill pests without killing yourself or the earth……
There are about 50 to 60 million insect species on earth - we have named only about 1 million and there are only about 1 thousand pest species - already over 50% of these thousand pests are already resistant to our volatile, dangerous, synthetic pesticide POISONS. We accidentally lose about 25,000 to 100,000 species of insects, plants and animals every year due to “man’s footprint”. But, after poisoning the entire world and contaminating every living thing for over 60 years with these dangerous and ineffective pesticide POISONS we have not even controlled much less eliminated even one pest species and every year we use/misuse more and more pesticide POISONS to try to “keep up”! Even with all of this expensive and unnecessary pollution - we lose more and more crops and lives to these thousand pests every year.
We are losing the war against these thousand pests mainly because we insist on using only synthetic pesticide POISONS and fertilizers There has been a severe “knowledge drought” - a worldwide decline in agricultural R&D, especially in production research and safe, more effective pest control since the advent of synthetic pesticide POISONS and fertilizers. Today we are like lemmings running to the sea insisting that is the “right way”. The greatest challenge facing humanity this century is the necessity for us to double our global food production with less land, less water, less nutrients, less science, frequent droughts, more and more contamination and ever-increasing pest damage.
National Poison Prevention Week, March 18-24,2007 was created to highlight the dangers of poisoning and how to prevent it. One study shows that about 70,000 children in the USA were involved in common household pesticide-related (acute) poisonings or exposures in 2004. At least two peer-reviewed studies have described associations between autism rates and pesticides (D’Amelio et al 2005; Roberts EM et al 2007 in EHP). It is estimated that 300,000 farm workers suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year just in the United States - No one is checking chronic contamination.
In order to try to help “stem the tide”, I have just finished re-writing my IPM encyclopedia entitled: THE BEST CONTROL II, that contains over 2,800 safe and far more effective alternatives to pesticide POISONS. This latest copyrighted work is about 1,800 pages in length and is now being updated at my new website at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com .
This new website at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com has been basically updated; all we have left to update is Chapter 39 and to renumber the pages. All of these copyrighted items are free for you to read and/or download. There is simply no need to POISON yourself or your family or to have any pest problems.
Stephen L. Tvedten
2530 Hayes Street
Marne, Michigan 49435
1-616-677-1261
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest.
“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” –Victor Hugo
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Martin Luther King Jr.