Thank you for shedding some light on the booming deer population issue on MDI. As a 55 year summer resident of SWH - I can recall as a young child to the age of 25 years old (1970s to early 1990s ) rarely seeing a deer all summer long. In the past 30 years, I have seen this trend completely change and never a day goes by in the past five years where I don’t see at least one deer and often times 5-20 over the course of a 24 hour period.
Do we have a deer problem on MDI? You bet we do. Acadia National Park will ultimately feel it’s effect as the herd will undoubtably spread out looking for other food sources, inevitably feeding on the new growth, coniferous offerings that are the underbelly of the parks fauna.
Yes, Lyme disease is a great concern, devastating to those that contract it, particularly if gone undetected over a period of time.
As a child and teenager (1970-1985) as well as a lifelong dog owner, ticks were never a concern for us back then - zero deer ticks and just the very occasional larger tick. In the past ten years all that has changed. Any walk through a field or dogs playing in tall grass generates a deer tick search by us - often times leading to discovery of these disease carrying insects.
Driving between Southwest Harbor and Seawall, I almost killed a fawn last summer and this summer two large does jumped out in front of my car driving up Mansell Road from Hinckleys- I’m still not sure how I missed them and managed to steer clear of the water ditch.
And lastly, I used to open our house Memorial Day weekend but now purposely come to SWH the first weekend in May to put up fencing around our house plantings that were getting absolutely decimated by hungry deer each spring as the new growth emerges.
The answer is simple: Resident bow and arrow licenses - MDI is too populated for rifle hunting and although I would be in favor of a muzzleloader season that may come with some opposition as well. Bow hunting is very safe and effective - the majority of shots are inside 20 yards and most from a tree stand with the arrow travel down into the ground - needless to say, incredibly safe. Laws could be crafted to keep any license holder unable to come any closer to another residence by 250 yards or inside 250 yards by getting written permission from the land owner to hunt inside that restriction. I don’t believe the ANP (Acadia) even needs to come into play as an area to hunt because the herds are generally concentrated outside the park where the greater food sources exist.
As for scaring them and the problem into the park, that’s highly unlikely because food and water sources are the chief component in a deers inhabitance. Bow hunters are also quiet and stealth for good reason - they don’t want to scare their target - and an arrow being deployed is silent - nothing like the blast of a gun.
The more likely outcome is that the growing population ultimately forces many deer to spread out (and into the park) particularly in the winter time when food sources thin and competition means less desirable pines and park fauna are necessary for survival.
Locals ( and I know many) would be greatly enthused by this opportunity to put meat in their freezers and both locals and summer residents would welcome the reduced chance of contracting Lyme for their families and pets while at the same time reducing the damage done to their plants around their properties.
Please let me know how I can be active in pushing this initiative forward…and again thank you for shedding light on this subject as well as others in your publication.
I could argue that the rate of infection on MDI is much greater than 200 per 100,000. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from away will visit and if bitten will not have symptoms till they get home and will not be counted in your analysis. In other words the man from N.J. who reports in N.J. will not be counted in Maine.
Thanks for bringing attention to this critical public health issue. Some years ago I was part of a group that advocated for a regulated deer kill around Bar HarborI. It is important for everyone to understand that, although small rodents can carry ticks, the deer are the "REPRODUCTIVE HOSTS" and are, therefore, the key to limiting the tick population. My job at the time was to present the biology which, as it turns out, is unambiguous. If you want fewer ticks you MUST reduce the deer population. This conclusion is supported by abundant evidence from experience in Connecticut and on Monhegan Island where Lyme was eradicated by drastically culling the deer herd. Lyme disease is no joke. It is a serious public health problem for residents and visitors. Furthermore, widespread awareness of Lyme on MDI has the potential to impair our economy by discouraging visitation. Our proposal for a deer hunt was defeated, in my view largely by misinformation and misunderstanding about the nature of the problem and seriousness of Lyme. If there is interest in reanimating this discussion I would be happy to help. DAVID C. DAWSON, Ph.D., former Director MDI Biolab
As an island deer hunt seems unable to pass, a quicker solution might be a promotional campaign to diminish the population of mice, chipmunks, voles, etc. These small rodents are the hosts for ticks; although we call them "deer ticks" the small rodents mentioned above are a strong link in the survival chain; diminishing these populations would decrease the numbers of hosts thus decreasing the numbers of tick nymphs.
Dear Quietside,
Thank you for shedding some light on the booming deer population issue on MDI. As a 55 year summer resident of SWH - I can recall as a young child to the age of 25 years old (1970s to early 1990s ) rarely seeing a deer all summer long. In the past 30 years, I have seen this trend completely change and never a day goes by in the past five years where I don’t see at least one deer and often times 5-20 over the course of a 24 hour period.
Do we have a deer problem on MDI? You bet we do. Acadia National Park will ultimately feel it’s effect as the herd will undoubtably spread out looking for other food sources, inevitably feeding on the new growth, coniferous offerings that are the underbelly of the parks fauna.
Yes, Lyme disease is a great concern, devastating to those that contract it, particularly if gone undetected over a period of time.
As a child and teenager (1970-1985) as well as a lifelong dog owner, ticks were never a concern for us back then - zero deer ticks and just the very occasional larger tick. In the past ten years all that has changed. Any walk through a field or dogs playing in tall grass generates a deer tick search by us - often times leading to discovery of these disease carrying insects.
Driving between Southwest Harbor and Seawall, I almost killed a fawn last summer and this summer two large does jumped out in front of my car driving up Mansell Road from Hinckleys- I’m still not sure how I missed them and managed to steer clear of the water ditch.
And lastly, I used to open our house Memorial Day weekend but now purposely come to SWH the first weekend in May to put up fencing around our house plantings that were getting absolutely decimated by hungry deer each spring as the new growth emerges.
The answer is simple: Resident bow and arrow licenses - MDI is too populated for rifle hunting and although I would be in favor of a muzzleloader season that may come with some opposition as well. Bow hunting is very safe and effective - the majority of shots are inside 20 yards and most from a tree stand with the arrow travel down into the ground - needless to say, incredibly safe. Laws could be crafted to keep any license holder unable to come any closer to another residence by 250 yards or inside 250 yards by getting written permission from the land owner to hunt inside that restriction. I don’t believe the ANP (Acadia) even needs to come into play as an area to hunt because the herds are generally concentrated outside the park where the greater food sources exist.
As for scaring them and the problem into the park, that’s highly unlikely because food and water sources are the chief component in a deers inhabitance. Bow hunters are also quiet and stealth for good reason - they don’t want to scare their target - and an arrow being deployed is silent - nothing like the blast of a gun.
The more likely outcome is that the growing population ultimately forces many deer to spread out (and into the park) particularly in the winter time when food sources thin and competition means less desirable pines and park fauna are necessary for survival.
Locals ( and I know many) would be greatly enthused by this opportunity to put meat in their freezers and both locals and summer residents would welcome the reduced chance of contracting Lyme for their families and pets while at the same time reducing the damage done to their plants around their properties.
Please let me know how I can be active in pushing this initiative forward…and again thank you for shedding light on this subject as well as others in your publication.
Sincerely
Chris Spahr
Southwest Harbor
I could argue that the rate of infection on MDI is much greater than 200 per 100,000. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from away will visit and if bitten will not have symptoms till they get home and will not be counted in your analysis. In other words the man from N.J. who reports in N.J. will not be counted in Maine.
Lincoln,
Thanks for bringing attention to this critical public health issue. Some years ago I was part of a group that advocated for a regulated deer kill around Bar HarborI. It is important for everyone to understand that, although small rodents can carry ticks, the deer are the "REPRODUCTIVE HOSTS" and are, therefore, the key to limiting the tick population. My job at the time was to present the biology which, as it turns out, is unambiguous. If you want fewer ticks you MUST reduce the deer population. This conclusion is supported by abundant evidence from experience in Connecticut and on Monhegan Island where Lyme was eradicated by drastically culling the deer herd. Lyme disease is no joke. It is a serious public health problem for residents and visitors. Furthermore, widespread awareness of Lyme on MDI has the potential to impair our economy by discouraging visitation. Our proposal for a deer hunt was defeated, in my view largely by misinformation and misunderstanding about the nature of the problem and seriousness of Lyme. If there is interest in reanimating this discussion I would be happy to help. DAVID C. DAWSON, Ph.D., former Director MDI Biolab
As an island deer hunt seems unable to pass, a quicker solution might be a promotional campaign to diminish the population of mice, chipmunks, voles, etc. These small rodents are the hosts for ticks; although we call them "deer ticks" the small rodents mentioned above are a strong link in the survival chain; diminishing these populations would decrease the numbers of hosts thus decreasing the numbers of tick nymphs.