Council wants changes to deer harvesting regulations
MOPC Council wants the province to consider new ways to reduce the ever-expanding deer population.
District 7 Coun. David Parker put a motion forward during Monday’s property services meeting that a letter is sent to Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Troy Rushton asking it consider making changes to its deer harvesting regulations.
“One of the options available must be that you harvest a doe before you get a buck,” he said. “Harvesting bucks does zero to control the deer population unless you harvest every buck in the area which isn’t going to happen.”
Coun. Parker said the deer population is growing in the county and it is a concern for motorists as well as homeowners who have gardens.
“I can go all night with some of the obvious evidence we have of deer herd problems,” he said. “They have had it in town for some time, but now we have in the country.”
He said clear-cutting is often to blame for moving the deer out of wooded areas into urban or suburban locations, but this is a misconception because deer like clear-cut areas because the vegetation is new and low for them to feed. He said this keeps them healthy and able to easily reproduce.
Severe weather can help reduce the number of births because deer won’t feed well, but even though the county had considerable snow this winter, there were thaws that allowed them to get at the vegetation.
Hunters are another tool to keep the population low, but he doesn’t know if the sport is as popular as it was in the past.
In Nova Scotia in 2020, 10,182 deer were harvested.