Report Nr. 3194 1993 Evaluation of the Deer Crop Damage Block Permit Program

The deer herd in Michigan increased almost four-fold from about 500,000 in the fall of 1971 to 2,000,000 in the fall of 1989. Deer damage to agricultural crops, starvation. and deer-vehicle accidents all pointed to a herd that was too large, especially on private land, where 75 percent of the deer live. The private land herd reached this point of overpopulation because of mild winters, insufficient antlerless harvest, artificial feeding, and expansion of logging and agricultural activities. Although 96 percent of Michigan's farms and orchards did not experience crop damage from deer in 1989, about 2,000 landowners had serious economic losses. Further, habitat was not sufficient to maintain the winter herd in areas - approximately 100,000 deer starved. Given these conditions, the DNR adopted a population objective to maintain a smaller herd with a higher percentage of antlered bucks. Deer hunting regulations were put in place to reach this objective, to distribute deer better between public and private land, and to improve the ratio of bucks to does in the herd. Block permits were introduced (1) to reduce the number of out-of-season deer damage control permits, (2) to focus the harvest of antlerless deer on specific properties with severe historical nuisance deer problems, and (3) to utilize licensed deer hunters to resolve crop damage problems. Block permits were tested at Michigan State University'S Lake City Experimental Farm in 1988, and also in three DNR Districts (9, 11 and 13) in 1989. The program was available statewide beginning in 1990. A total of 46,587 antlerless deer have been taken on block permits by licensed hunters during regular hunting seasons during the five-year period (1988-1992) that block permits were issued. In comparison, 606,996 antlerless deer were taken on bonus deer hunting licenses.