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I encourage everyone that cares about the Michigan White-Tailed Deer to
familiarize themselves with the information on this website. However if your
time is limited this page will give you a good understanding about culls.
More than 98% of Michigan communities do not allow
White-Tailed Deer culls within their corporate boundaries and for good reason.
Culls are
Useless, Dangerous and Expensive.
The justification for urban culls
are always spread of disease, overpopulation and damage to property. So lets
examine each of these. The diseases most commonly cited are Lyme Disease,
Chronic Wasting Disease, and Bovine Tuberculosis.
There is a lot more detailed
information about everything on this page elsewhere on this website but this
sums it up.
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Lyme Disease Facts:
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The White Tailed Deer is
immune to the Lyme disease and consequently cannot spread the disease.
This argument is much the same as many other misinformation campaigns
where the facts are twisted to fit the desired narrative.
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In Michigan, Lyme disease is only an
emerging concern. It is transmitted by the blacklegged tick, and the
local risk varies depending on whether infected ticks are present in the
area. Let’s delve into the details: Michigan has a historically low
incidence of Lyme disease with an average of about five (5) cases
reported per county per year. Hardly an epidemic.
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Chronic Wasting Disease Facts:
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Most Counties in Michigan have never had a
case of Chronic Wasting Disease.
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According to the CDC and the World Health
Organization Domestic Animals and Humans can not contract CWD. Only deer
have this disease.
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The DNR tested over 10,000 deer in 2022 and
found under 20 cases of CWD and almost all of them were in farm raised
deer in south east Michigan.
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Bovine Tuberculosis:
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Historically, bovine TB was rare in wild deer.
Prior to 1994, only eight wild white-tailed and mule deer were reported with
bovine TB in North America. However, since then, Michigan has been vigilant
in monitoring deer populations.
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The actual cases reported in the White-Tailed
Deer population is so small that it is difficult to say there are any. This
entire cases looks to be a red hearing scare tactic. We are not against
exercising caution regarding this disease just do not fraudulently use it as
an excuse for deer culls.
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The deer population cannot be accurately
calculated because there are too many variables that must be assumed.
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The only way to get an accurate count is a fly
over using infrared cameras.
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Communities like Grand Haven that have done
this found that claims of over 300 deer in the city turned out to be less
than 50.
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If overpopulation extends beyond the urban cull
area, such as the county or state it guarantees an urban cull will fail.
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Culls are useless because:
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They do not permanently reduce the urban
population of deer.
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As a population is reduced by culling the
reproductively of the deer goes up.
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Reducing the population in a relatively small
area like most Michigan urban areas results in increased forage which in
turns draws more deer to the area.
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The cull activity causes the few remaining
predators in the area like coyotes, bob cats and black bears to leave.
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Culls are dangerous because:
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There is no way to fire high powered rifles in
an urban area with risks. Michigan has laws against this but the DNR and its
USDA henchmen do not obey these laws.
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I have read articles written by USDA
sharpshooters expressing these fears. So the risk is real even with
professional shooters.
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Culls are expensive because:
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There are no guaranteed results.
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Each shooting session cost about $6,500.00 and
that is the same if only one deer is taken
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There are many hidden costs, like the many
possible negative effects on the community especially the ecology and the
children.
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Damage to property:
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Deer are not the only wildlife that can damage,
"if you want to call it that" your yard. The squirrels, skunks, rabbits,
raccoons and possums can do a good job of that also. Should we kill
all of them!
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A little effort by people that are too cheap or
lazy to protect their own yard can solve the problem.
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A motioned censored sprinkler and a
little repellant spay will keep deer out of your yard. Not so much the other
critters.
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