Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith is sure of one thing: The county is overrun with frisky deer.
But he?s less confident about how to fix it.
“We?re looking at a deer ?winnowing? project,” he told a group of forest preservationists recently.
“I don?t care who does it, just so long as it gets done.”
He said the plan is in early stages and wanted to let experts recommend a specific strategy.
State officials agree the number of deer cleared from state roads has steadily risen. Maryland?s Highway Administration removed 612 deer from state-owned roads in Baltimore County last year ? compared with 191 in neighboring Anne Arundel ? and had cleared 156 by June of this year, agency spokesman Charlie Gischlar said.
Most deer-related car crashes occur October through January, officials said.
Baltimore County spokesman Don Mohler said deer overpopulation is endangering the county?s watershed and the deer themselves, and posing threats of disease. Smith has asked staff to study strategies and issue a formal recommendation by the spring, Mohler said.
“The deer themselves don?t have enough food and get sick,” Mohler said. “Something has to happen.”
Some counties have used localized hunts to target concentrated herds.
Students and community activists including Phoenix resident Enid Feinberg gathered Saturday at Goucher College in Towson to protest a bow hunt on campus during the school?s seven-week winter break.
College officials approved the hunt after a state wildlife biologist identified a herd of about 200 deer on campus. He estimated the campus could support a herd of 40 deer, and a private firm has been hired to kill about 50.
A member of the state?s deer management task force, Feinberg said the group has entertained proposals to open the Loch Raven reservoir area and the county?s Oregon Ridge Park to deer hunting.
“We need to find more humane ways to live with the wildlife,” Feinberg said. “We took their homes when we developed the land.”
Fast facts
» Routes 40, 15, 32 and 50 are the top state-maintained roads with high rates of dead deer.
» Interstate 70 is a hot spot partly because of its length ? 93 miles stretching from Baltimore to Hancock to the Pennsylvania border.
» Heavily trafficked roads such as interstates can cause problems for wayward deer, especially when they wander onto ramps.
» The State Highway Administration has removed about 38,000 dead deer from state roads since 2001, nearly half of them October, November and December.
» The highest concentration of deer deaths on roads typically comes in November, when state highway crews have removed more than 8,000 dead since 2001. November?s status as the deadliest deer month is due to the breeding season.
» The average Maryland driver has a one-in-164 chance of hitting a deer within the next year, according to State Farm Insurance claims data. This proportion makes Maryland the 18th-riskiest in the country.
» The nationwide average is one in 216. Maryland is considered a “medium risk” state by State Farm?s standards, but neighboring West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania are all “high risk.”
