Yes, it takes an interest with lots of reading to figure out what they are up to - many just hate the deer - trying to get to the bottom of that feeling - I think many haters believe like the pioneers of old - once the land is available it should conform to what works best for the ones who can make money from the land. Today when a new subdivision is built no one thinks where the wildlife will go and many just think it should disappear especially, if it eats their choice of garden plants, poops all over and like a two year old darts into the streets.
Interesting folks who have the problem with gardens do not sweat it if the plants they knew and loved when they lived in another climate cannot be grown and other choices must be made that at first do not compare to their memory of beauty nor do they consider that their domestic animals poop even in the house and most think the roads should be for vehicles alone and a vehicle should be able to travel unencumbered at high speeds. And then the weekend hunters that do not respect what hunting was all about and simply take what gives them either a pretty trophy or a notch on their gun -
To me I see a lot of education needed - The on-line bookstore at Texas A&M has many books free to download about the habits of deer - Deer are becoming quite an industry here in that in this state there are over 1400 Deer Ranchers in addition to the many Cattle Ranchers who now see the value in allowing the deer to live and graze along side the cattle.
https://agrilifebookstore.org/ Most Deer Ranchers are about improving the deer strain, some for hunting and others for photographing.
Actually deer are not a grazing animal - there are four food types that they need and at various seasons they require one over the other with grazing the least of the food needs. Those that appear to be feeding the deer are only socially feeding since a deer consumes from 7 to 10 pounds of food a day. A herd of 10 deer would require someone to put out a bag and a half to two bags of feed a day. [50 pound bags]
Many feed the deer corn and that is like candy for them - it has no nutritional value - like giving a child a lollypop - however, the healthier the herd the more balanced the population and the less they are subject to disease - they need high protein plants like sorghum - you can buy bags of nourishing pellets. And throw out for them after you clean the frig the left over celery, lettuce that is too wilted, oranges cut in half, nearly any fruit or veggie - they will not eat onions, leeks or potatoes.
I do not feed but I will throw out what I would normally put down the disposal and I keep a pan of water for them in the summer - more for the protection of the house - they drink the water that drains from everyone's AC - problem sometimes they jostle each other and bang into the condenser so to avoid that I supply them with water.
Another fairly inexpensive way to keep the herd healthy if there is Lyme disease of other problems in your area - [our deer carry no Lyme disease] - but for under $50 you can get a salt lick that is part of a small portable feeding station that when the deer go in it brushes their ears and the antlers with medication - could be a shared neighborhood expense.
The problems with Urban deer are a bit different than the problems with range deer - the Urban population will not have a natural predictor like the coyotes to help thin them out - problem, coyotes likes to eat the night time prowling cats and dogs so folks want to rid the neighborhood of coyotes.
As herds are pushed together - deer have a small radius of only 1 or 2 miles so when several herds are bunched because of development it is a stress factor and for every stress factor the natural response is more births than usual. Which means more tree rubbing from the males and more foundation plants eaten since new leaves and seedlings is the food they prefer - and you have a percentage of young bucks among the births that when they are between the ages of 2 to 4 means more aggression that spills over affecting the human population - on and on it goes.
Once we or, the developers change the landscape that means we must become land managers and wildlife managers like it or not. All the natural management is gone - or we are saying all animals that we do not like the inconvenience they represent need to be extinct.
There was an Urban Wildlife conference here in May and a speaker from Germany gave a glowing report on how several towns in Germany are living accepting and learning how to live with wild life rather than the mantra alive and well in the country - Don't Feed The Deer - And the biggie - yep, you gotta slow down and this is from someone who has been hit several times over the years. They do a lot of damage to a vehicle.
