As we know, winter’s are long and can be tough in Central New York. This is also true for the “deer” that roam among us. With their usual food sources under snow, they forage for sustenance wherever they can find it. Many good-hearted residents leave food outside — table scraps, potato peelings and the like — with the intent of providing a little help to the deer who inhabit their areas. According to NYS DEC, that’s a bad idea. Many people think of feeding deer is like feeding birds, but there are some critical differences that make feeding deer unhealthy for the deer population, for plants near the feed site and for passing motorists.
According to “Fish and Game” the bottom line, “Please don’t feed the deer, and please discourage your neighbors, friends and relatives from engaging in this harmful activity.” Here are the top reasons to resist feeding wild deer:
- Feed sites congregate deer into unnaturally high densities. These high deer densities can:
- attract predators and increase risk of death by coyotes or domestic dogs;
- spread diseases among deer;
- cause aggression, wasting vital energy reserves and leading to injury or death;
- reduce fat reserves as deer use energy traveling to and from the feed site;
- result in over-browsing of local vegetation and ornamental plants;
- deny access to food, because subordinate deer are kept away from feeding stations, and over-browsing by larger deer removes food available to fawns; and
- increase deer-vehicle collisions.
- Feed sites lure deer away from natural wintering areas. This attraction can trap deer in inferior winter habitat and increase the chance of malnutrition and predation. If deer continually go to feed sites instead of deer wintering areas, then young deer may never learn to find their natural winter habitat. Also, landowners may lose their incentive to manage for dense softwood cover, typical natural winter habitat for deer.