Wildlife officials say Richmond area should have fewer deer (2024)

Lifelong outdoorsman Al Meyer never had a problem with the great outdoors.

He grew up camping with the Boy Scouts and raised three Eagle Scouts himself. He had a respect for the land and wildlife in Chesterfield County, which he calls home.

But when he contracted Lyme disease in his 50s, that changed.

“I went to the doctor, and he had never seen it before,” Meyer said. “But I was sweating profusely and the whole front side of my body looked like I’d run into an electric fence … I was never so miserable in my life.”

Meyer said his symptoms lasted 6 months.

Lyme disease is most often transmitted to humans by blacklegged ticks. Blacklegged ticks are commonly known as “deer ticks” because of their tendency to feed on deer and use them for transportation to new areas.

Because of this, Meyer said he blames an overrunpopulation of deer for his bout with Lyme disease. He isn’t the only one who wants to see the deer population decrease in the Richmond area.

The Department of Wildlife Resources hopes to lessen the population of deer in Richmond and in Powhatan, Hanover, Chesterfield and Henrico counties, according to Justin Folks, deer project leader.

In Powhatan County, the deer population is considered moderate to high, and the DWR hopes to stabilize it at moderate. In Hanover and Chesterfield counties, DWR estimates the deer population is moderate, but should be low. In Henrico County the deer population is low, but should be at “very low.”

“A large number of counties are above our goal, so our objective is to try to decrease those herds,” Folks said.

Some more rural counties in the Commonwealth are less affected by higher deer populations.

“Those areas are a lot more tolerant of higher deer density,” Folks said. “So, when you get into more urban areas, or you get into the valleys with more agriculture, their tolerance for deer is lower, so our goals reflect that.”

While the deer population in the whole of Virginia has been quite stable in the past few years, estimated to be about 1.1 million, the DWR has noticed mounting complaints of deer as pests in urban and suburban communities.

The reason for this, Folks said, is twofold.

“Deer are very adaptable,” he said. “They can become pretty tolerant of humans if they don’t feel threatened.”

“It’s a compounding situation,” he said. “You’ve got more deer on the landscape that are adaptable to humans and being around those human created environments. They’re able to find food and cover there, but the more people you have, and the more development you have, the less opportunity you have for hunting to regulate those populations in those areas.”

Drought and urbanization

Additional reasons deer may be moving closer and closer to neighborhoods and farmland is because of drought and urbanization, Folks said.

“A lot of the damage that people are experiencing this year is probably exacerbated by the drought,” he said.

His team has received reports of deer eating vegetation that has previously been considered “deer safe” for gardeners and farmers, like azaleas and rhododendrons.

Because of urbanization in and around these areas, Folks said, many deer experience loss of resources that otherwise would have kept them farther from humans.

“You’ve got more of this urban sprawl going out into more deer habitat, and deer are losing more habitat because of urbanization,” he said. “Deer (are) seeking refuge in urbanized areas and it’s still a good habitat in a lot of situations.”

Urban archery program

Though fences and dogs can help keep deer out of gardens, Folks said the most effective solution to the pest problem is population control.

According to DWR, during the 2023-24 hunting season, hunters reported harvesting 206,586 deer statewide. This was a 5% increase from the previous 10-year average.

Because many counties prohibit the shooting of firearms in residential areas, in the early 2000s the DWR created an urban archery program for the state, which allows for 4 extra months of doe harvest with archery equipment in urban localities. Urban localities and homeowners associations can both register to participate in the program.

“There have been areas that have been highly successful in this urban archery program,” Folks said. “So, they’ve been able to take out a good many deer through hunting in these urbanized areas, it’s just a lot more difficult to do.”

Richmond and Chesterfield are participants in the urban archery program, but Henrico, Hanover and Powhatan counties are not.