Cohabitating with boundaries

The shoestring-budget defenses around the kitchen garden off the side of the house are less than totally effective against deer. Plastic fenceposts and mesh survived the winter and are holding up better than expected, with lengths of twine fixed to nearby tree limbs and light, metal stakes in the ground for reinforcement.

Protected from human predation within city limits through various ordinances and common sense, North American deer become remarkably emboldened. People are warned against treating them as nonhuman companions and videos from rutting season corroborate.

So despite additions of bamboo poles, fishing line and strips of plastic for visibility, they have yet made incursions into the kitchen garden and trampled or eaten young plants. Additional defense measures will be necessary.

We haven’t observed them in the act. Motion-activated, outdoor cameras have become more affordable but the information collected may not be worth the sensation that comes with seeing hard work demolished in real time.

The aftermath is devastating enough, like a cross between what’s left in the wake of a bull in a China-shop and a fox in a henhouse. Some small, delicate plants are wantonly smashed, while others are surgically decapitated.

Our kitchen garden woes are but a dim reflection of what Michigan farmers are experiencing. Although they can obtain permits to kill deer on their land out of season, few have time to make use of the permits. I heard rumor of one prolific hunter being hired by farmers across the state and killing hundreds of deer.

According to the DNR’s Deer Management Initiative, a few of the specific challenges of deer and human coexistence in Michigan currently include: limited access to quality private and public hunting land (quality refers to habitat and deer populations), presence and spread of deer disease (chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis), decline of hunters and extreme deer densities (either too high or too low) relative to habitat.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and its Natural Resources Commission, a public board with “exclusive authority to regulate the taking of game and sportfish,” are establishing new partnerships with hunting organizations under the Hunt Michigan Collaborative. The number of hunters and deer harvests increased slightly in 2023 and 2024, reversing a downward trend that dominated the past two decades.

Another organization, Michigan Sportsmen Against Hunger, can help hunters with opportunities to harvest more deer than they can consume and store. MSAH is a nonprofit established in 1991 to help coordinate between hunters, deer processors and local mutual aid organizations like food pantries.

To learn more about Hunt Michigan Coalition’s education and guided hunt events, visit huntmicollaborative.com or email admin@huntmicollaborative.com. To find the nearest deer processor registered with MSAH, visit www.sportsmenagainsthunger.org.