While large herds of deer are dying every winter in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Parts of the Lower Peninsula are overrun with deer.
Chad Stewart is the Deer Management Specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He says deer are thriving in the Lower Peninsula now, but that could all change because of Chronic Wasting Disease in the state—the neurological disease similar to mad cow is on the rise.
Deer Declines In The U.P.
Stewart says in the past three years, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has lost about 40 percent of its deer population due to harsh winters. Despite this, the state has decided to go ahead with this year's deer hunting season up north.
"A lot of businesses up in the U.P really depend on hunting. So to cancel deer hunting in the U.P. would really be economically catastrophic," says Stewart.
However, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission restrict archers from taking female or antlerless deer.
Deer Boom In The Lower Peninsula
While deer numbers are down in the U.P., parts of the Lower Peninsula are experiencing a deer boom. Ann Arbor, for example, is currently grappling with a decision to kill several deer in the city to decrease damage to suburban landscaping.
Stewart says the winters are milder in the Lower Peninsula. There also a lot more food available to them throughout the year so they can store up fat to survive.
"Additionally, you get a place like Ann Arbor where you have a suburban situation. Hunting is very limited or minimized, so the deer herd can start to build up a lot faster," says Stewart.
Stewart says there are also significantly more predators in the northern counties like coyotes and wolves.
Chronic Wasting Disease Could Be A Game-Changer
Chronic Wasting Disease is a lot like mad cow disease. It's a neurological disease that affects the brain of a deer. Stewart says the difference between CWD and mad cow is that mad cow has been proven to affect humans who eat contaminated meat. For now, CWD has not.
However, Stewart says the CDC and the World Health Organization recommend that hunters don't eat animals with CWD.
"There's no know research at this time that shows that CWD is transmissible to humans. So we're still encouraging people to hunt. And certainly if you're hunting in and around the infected area where we have discovered CWD, that's a service we're providing is testing those deer."
CWD is a difficult disease. It's incurable and cannot be prevented. Stewart says the disease can live in the environment for decades and get picked up by other deer.
Stewart says there is also no way to accurately test a deer for CWD without killing it. So, the DNR has been culling deer around Meridian Township to try to stop the spread. Stewart says they've killed and tested about 300 deer so far. Unfortunately, the statistics aren't optimistic for deer in Michigan.
"I've heard numbers as low as 1 percent - so one deer out of 100. If that's the level that it's at in the landscape, it will probably be in this area for a very long time," says Stewart.
