You can always move to the northeast. There are a great many more deer here now than there were when Europeans first arrived. They flourish in far greater numbers where forests have been removed and we get herds where the population is quite high only 30 minutes north of NYC. They are quite happy in the lush and extensive back yards of my clients and NYS has preserved an unusually high acreage of park land and undeveloped strips along parkways and reservoirs.
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Where I grew up near Pittsburgh (Allegheny County) there are actually a few special permits for land owned by the county. They give away leases for those properties and whoever has them can harvest as many deer as they are able from that property, similar to a special tag for farmers. We need more deer scarcity in our cities and more abundance in the country where they belong.
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Buying a pig in the spring is something I’d like to do. Feeding them drops in the fall right when they need the most calories would be a good way to prevent the deer from having too much food to eat. Of course, it’s a battle to get chickens around here so a pig is out of the question. But I can think about it! Funny thing is I used to talk to older relatives and of course some of them grew up in this town where they kept pigs and cows on small lots. The whole yard would be utilized. The pig would be fed a lot of home-grown cabbage and then after being processed they’d store it in a giant vat of sauerkraut. Feeding the cow was a chore for the kids. They’d take the cow on walks to eat the grass on the side of the road. It was tough times that I’m very happy to have not lived through but in some respects it was actually pretty neat. Backyard “farming” culture is a niche hobby and it’s basically on life support these days.
If I take to this bowhunting thing I already want to move my vegetable gardens into one spot, expanding one area to take over a larger portion of the yard. I’d turn the garden I’m losing into either more lawn or (more appropriately) a raspberry patch. Putting all the vegetables in one large spot would be great. The back part of my yard would be the safest spot to shoot a deer in. I could till under the vegetable garden and plant winter rye so that they have grazing ground to visit in the later part of Fall hunting season when all of their regular buffets are gone for the winter. The rye would pull up nitrogen, prevent erosion, and provide organic matter for the soil after it’s tilled back under. This seems like a very good, sustainable way to make the best out of a bad situation (deer).
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Correct rye has an ability to scavenge soil Nitrogen. I’m clarifying for anyone else who does not realize unlike a legume it doesn’t make the nitrogen with a symbiotic relationship.
Around here all of the dairy farmers use straight rye. I learned about some other winter cover crops and blends from reading those hunting forums. Some these guys spend a remarkable amount of money and time maintaining fields for the sole purpose of deer. I would prioritize some kind of gardening but they’re only interested in the one thing.
Winter peas or vetch are nitrogen fixers. The vetch is said to grow quite well here but it’s also poisonous, which is likely why the farmers don’t plant it. The cycle is they harvest the corn, then put the cows in for a short amount of time to scavenge and leave poop, then they till and plant rye, then in later winter/early spring they graze the cows on the rye, and then finally they till it and plant the corn again.
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Around here all you need is to be driving an automobile at dusk or dawn and your odds are pretty good getting a deer! (Better have re-inforced bumpers or something first before going hunting though!)
Saw 3 large dead ones in 3 days on I-75.
Shipping bottlenecks, regulations, high fertilizer prices…food next year’ll be shorter and deer may come in mighty handy.
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There are definitely some cover crops that will attract deer. My neighbor used something that seemed to have the deer nearly addicted. To the point they were almost more interested in the crop than getting shot. Shoot one and they would be right back feeding on it the next day. It might have been tritacale but then he might have called it sweet feed. I can’t remember. They were in that field every evening like clock work.
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im glad i live where common sense is still alive and well. i turned my wife acre of lawn into a food forest with a mix of flowers and medicinals in there as well. my older neighbors loved it as most of them grew up on farms and their parents homesteads looked similar. even though most of my neighbors have manicured lawns they have ho problem with mine the way it is and mind their own business. they even like the crowing of my 2 roosters. yes i asked before getting them as a curtessey.
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I am sure that in some areas of the country special care must be taken to maintain the deer population… Below is a bit of information you can find online about Tennessee and Deer Season/Limits…
Tennessee’s 2021-22 statewide gun hunting season for deer opens Saturday, Nov. 20. During gun season, sportsmen may also use muzzleloader or archery equipment. The season will continue through Jan. 2, 2022.
The statewide bag limit for antlered bucks is two. No more than one antlered deer may be taken per day. Hunters are allowed the following antlerless bag limits: Unit L-3 per day, Unit A-2 per season, Unit B-1 per season, and Unit C-1 per season (Nov. 20-Dec. 5 only), and Unit D-1-per season (Nov. 20-26 only).
…
I am in Unit L… and our Tennessee Wildlife Management experts have set a “LIMIT” of 3 antlerless deer per day from Nov 20 to Jan 2.
When I say… we have plenty… yes… and our State Laws reflect that.
TNHunter
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compare that to Maine where we are only allowed 1 buck all season including archery and muzzleloader season. along the coast certain zones allow the taking of a doe if you get pulled for the tag in a drawing. deer are fairly rare to see here.
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Maybe by weight, each state has about the same limit 
@steveb4 … back when I started deer hunting as a kid… 1968 or so… our limit was 1 buck… and it stayed like that for a while… I killed my first buck 1971 at 10 years old.
I have heard my Dad say that they stocked deer here in the 50’s and they were scarce for some time. But by the end of the 70’s … I graduated from high school in 1979… they were plentiful.
Most I ever harvested in one season was 17 deer and a wild turkey… and all were taken with bow n arrow.
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Another dead deer on the road today. (Plus other accidents by people exceeding 70 or 80 or 90 in steady rain!)(Inside lanes of I-75 in both directions.)
Those deer may be useful … only the turkey has not had a price increase here it seems. But a deer ran over by dozens of vehicles…only good for vultures and other scavengers.
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I always thought a good deer hunting setup would be a vehicle with a modified snow plow that would shoot a deer up to a catcher’s mitt in the bed of a truck and drop them into a cage in the bed. Some roads around here would make some good hunting!
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here it was the opposite. they were plentiful here 40 yrs ago but clearcutting of hundreds of thousands of acres has taken its toll. without habitat to hide in theyre sitting ducks for predators and the cold and deep snow takes its toll. i dont ever see our deer population ever rebounding.
If more of your neighbors start to plant food forests like you Steve, that population will rebound. At my grandma’s house along the coast, they used to see deer walking onto the ice each winter it got cold enough, to check out an island about a quarter mile out. I never saw it but I’m sure it would be entertaining.
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I look down on them too. For me, it’s either you kill the deer in a headbutting contest, fair and square, the rest are methods for sissies.
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@steveb4 … clear cutting big timber tracts is practiced here too… but down here in the south… after clearcutting… in a year or two… it is a over grown mess of thick stuff… including young trees bushes honeysuckle blackberries weeds… a literal paridese for deer. They thrive in it… and it is so thick that they hide well in it too.
I guess that is a north / south difference.
Fewer deer and a lot more coyotes in my area. My local vet claims that populations of barn cats and deer are getting clobbered by coyotes. Never saw many coyotes in my area until they were released to manage the overpopulations of deer.
We counted about 20 sets of deer eyes shining in the dark from the lights of the car when we returned from the movies many years ago. Still see a lot of deer but fewer after the introduction of coyotes.
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