GREAT OUTDOORS: Only one answer to Put-in-Bay's deer issue

Back in 1999, a tame deer arrived by some means onto South Bass Island. The doe would approach people as if asking for a treat. I have pictures of myself hand feeding her carrots and petting her. When the mayor of Put-in-Bay, John Blatt, had a naming contest, she was dubbed "Millie" — short for millennium, the milestone event that was on the mind of many who feared electronic havoc by a Y2K bug on January 1, 2000. Eventually, Millie had a fawn and more followed. Soon, groups of five to nine were being seen at once as bucks joined the herd each fall. Fast forward to 2023, when after a few years of people complaining about deer raiding their gardens, orchards and vineyards, a research project was undertaken this summer by the Lake Erie Island and Nature Center and OSU/Stone Lab to estimate the island's current deer population. Their findings estimated that 30-50 deer are currently living on the island. This has led to discussions about what to do about the growing population that is on the cusp of getting out of control. I have been asked by a few island residents about what solutions are available. Whenever these conversations have arisen nationwide, there are always those who can acknowledge that the only viable solution for preventing the population from getting too high involves lethal control. However, others refuse to accept this reality and delay taking action until the problem worsens. Alternative measures, such as trap and transfer and contraception have been proven to be extremely expensive, labor intensive and ineffective. Trap and transfer is extremely dangerous for the handlers and can lead to fatalities of panicky deer, which thrash themselves to death in their haste to escape the cages. Plus, due to high densities in most other areas, there are few suitable places to send them. Now there is additional concerns about spreading Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) or tuberculosis by transporting deer from states where outbreaks have been documented. Oral or dart-administered deer contraceptives must be administered to each doe at least semi-annually and even more expensive surgical sterilizations do not prevent other deer from immigrating into the territory and having fawns of their own. Deer continue to feed as usual, so damage to crops and prized plants continue. Automobile collisions with deer lead to expensive repair costs and can even lead to fatal injuries. Swerving to avoid an impact with a deer could lead to head-on collisions with other vehicles, bicyclists or pedestrians on the island's often shared, narrow roads. According to a Put-in-Bay Township employee, at least a half dozen deer have been killed by motor vehicles over the past few years. In the absence of hunting, predators (coyotes), disease or road kills, if half of the estimated current population are does, their current density of 16-20 per square mile will likely double every two years. Deer densities of 20 per square mile are considered the maximum level that can be sustained without damaging the shared resources of other native co-inhabitants, such as woodland seedlings, songbirds and wildflowers. Rare wildflowers that prompted the establishment of some of the island's nature preserves are at risk of being thinned out or eliminated, and the vineyards that provide the island's largest agricultural crop will be substantially harmed at higher levels. My recommendation to those who sought my input was that instead of asking for government wildlife specialists or a paid wildlife control company to come in and do the dirty work of thinning out the herd, allow some trusted island residents to do it for free. Islanders, who are used to overcoming other challenges, should be able to convince some of their fellow residents, some who annually travel hundreds of miles to deer hunt, to help keep the herd under control at home, too.