Is it the most dangerous animal in Northern Virginia?
The white-tailed deer or the Virginia deer is a medium sized deer that is native to North, South and Central America. They were introduced to several other countries where they are invasive species. They are usually a brown color with reddish hints in the spring and summer and turn a bit of a grayish-brown. It has white markings on its throat, around its eyes and nose and on its stomach and the underside of its tail. Male white-tailed deer or “bucks” tend to weigh between 150 and 350 pounds although some have been reported to weigh more. Female deer or “does” tend to weigh between 88 and 200 pounds. Deer are believed to only be able to see two different colors, shades of blues and yellows, which is why hunters often wear orange, because other hunters can see them, but deer cannot.
Male deer grow antlers and can replace them each year. One in every 10,000 female deer can also grow antlers. These deer tend to be timid and keep to themselves. They are able to easily detect the scent of humans. Most white-tailed deer only live about five years, although some are capable of living longer. They are very quick and agile creatures and can run up to 40 miles per hour and swim at about 13 miles an hour. Deer are herbivores, meaning they don’t eat meat, and will graze on different vegetation available during different seasons. Their diets include acorns, clovers, corn, apples and grass.
In the 1930s, deer populations were dwindling, because of high wolf and coyote populations and unregulated hunting. Now there are more than 30 million deer in the United States. Currently the biggest threats to deer populations are people and dogs. Every now and again, deer will get attacked by coyotes or bobcats, but for the most part, dogs and people are the reasons so many deer die each year. Deer are especially vulnerable to dogs and other predators in the winter time when they struggle to move quickly on ice and snow.
Why are white-tailed deer considered dangerous?
Male deer or stags have antlers that can gore people. This can occur during hunting. Hunting is important because it regulates deer populations. There are important steps you need to take when you are deer hunting, the first being wearing appropriate clothing. Next, after you shoot the deer you need to wait 30 minutes to an hour before approaching it and approach it from the rear and make sure it will not run at you. Deer can be extremely deadly if they charge at you and oftentimes it will be too late for you to receive help. But it isn’t their weight or their antlers that make them dangerous, it is people, more specifically the cars that people drive. Deer are involved in 1.5 million vehicular accidents every year. In addition to causing accidents, deer can make people sick. Around 13,000 people in the United States will develop Lyme disease this year from deer ticks.
What damage can deer cause?
Deer can cause problems with your yard and garden. They will rub their antlers on trees and tear off tree bark. They will also eat shrubs, flowers and other vegetation. The most obvious damage deer cause is to vehicles. Because deer are involved in so many accidents each year involving cars, they can cost thousands per vehicle. In addition to causing damages to the vehicle, the people in the car may sustain injuries or even be killed as a result of a collision with a deer.
Deer Control and Removal
If you have an excessive amount of deer on your property and they are becoming a problem, there are methods to keep them away. Now more than ever people and deer are living in close proximity because of overdevelopment of land. Deer are losing their wooded areas that they once resided in and being left to forage for food in residential neighborhoods, possibly even your yard. Deer can destroy your garden and yard and cause quite a mess.
At home deer prevention and control
Keeping deer populations down can be a difficult thing to do. Here are some tips and tricks to keep deer activity on your property to a minimum.
- Work to eliminate deer attractants such as plants they enjoy to eat
- Plant things that deer don’t like such figs, currants, juniper and bayberry
- Install a motion-activated sprinkler
- Consider spraying some deer repellent on your property
- Keep grass and bushes or hedges trimmed
- Let your dogs outside often (deer are afraid of dogs)
- Consider building a fence
- Install plant and tree wraps
- Place windchimes on your property
- Put up fishing line
The goal is to deter the deer, not hurt or kill them. Attempting to poison or hurt wildlife is illegal and you should never attempt to do that. If you need professional help with deer, contact a wildlife removal company like ourselves.
Deer control and dead animal removal in Fredericksburg, Fairfax, Alexandria and Arlington, VA
If you need deer control in the Northern VA region, call Summit Wildlife Removal for complete deer control and removal. Whether you have deer living on your property and you want to install exclusion devices or you have a deer that has died on your property, we can help you. When a deer has been hit by a car or has otherwise died on your property, the state or county is no longer responsible for removing it and it is for you to deal with.
We offer dead animal removal which ranges in pricing depending on factors such as how long the animal has been dead for and the level of decay as well as the size of the animal. The level of decay will help determine how much disinfectant needs to be applied. Dead animals are often full of bacteria, mites, and other harmful things. The size of the deer will help us determine how many wildlife technicians need to remove the deer. Because some deer can weigh quite a lot, it might take more than one person to remove the dead deer. Often by the time we are able to remove the deer, vultures and other creatures have started to eat away at it.
