The Environmental Issues that Drive our Deer Management Program
For years deer gamboled through the Omena Woods property with little threat to their existence. Their overabundance became a threat to the woods and OWA members realized they had to do something. In their quest for food the deer removed too much of the woods understory making it difficult for the woods to regenerate and support the native flora and fauna of a typical forest. You can see the damage done to the understory in the picture below.

In addressing this problem OWA consulted with Dan Schillinger, CFA to create a Forest Management Plan. In that plan he states:

• The forested stands in Omena Woods tend to lack a vigorous understory layer due in part to an overabundant deer herd. The non forested areas have invasive shrub species which degrade the health of the system and impact the value to wildlife.

• The Omena Woods has the ideal blend of habitat conditions for white-tailed deer. It has ample edge habitat which provides a mix of open and forested conditions, thermal cover provided by the hemlock, forage provided by the saplings, acorns, and the adjoining orchard, and close proximity to water. As with many properties in the region, forest regeneration in Omena Woods has been severely negatively impacted by white-tailed deer. Any management steps, especially those which include planting/maintaining plants which deer eat, must account for the potential of heavy browse.

Schillinger goes on to say that allowing pre-selected, safe hunting on this property is highly encouraged. He also explained that:

• The loss of this understory layer impacts wildlife, notably those birds that nest in the intermediate canopy layers. The net loss of tree species diversity and within stand structure has a negative effect on regional biodiversity. It is important to note that the species composition and the number of seedlings and saplings present today represent the future forest conditions. In the absence of predators or the protection of regenerating trees and shrubs, the future state of the forest is uncertain. This is a common problem throughout the region and significantly impacts biodiversity. His advice? “Manage the deer herd to sustain ecosystem function”

The Decision Making Process
Before settling on a managed hunt, the Board of Directors considered multiple deer management options including capture and euthanize, capture and relocate, fencing, fertility control/sterilization, hunting and repellents. Between the high cost of several of the option, the fact that one was not only too expensive but not permitted in Michigan and that our property was too large to allow us to effectively use repellants, we settled on hunting as the only feasible option.

We eliminated traditional hunting as an option, considered hiring professional hunters and decided to conduct a managed hunt using hunters from Omena. As noted above, that has been a successful program and has helped feed local families.