Are deer starving? A question seeking an answer

By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    A local gentleman is questioning the issue of starvation of deer.
    Dennis Scott is offering $500 to anyone who can provide documentation on the fact that the northern Maine deer herd is dwindling due to starvation.
    Scott said he spoke to several officials who say this is happening, but they cannot prove it through photographs or paperwork.
    “One person said she saw deer on a lake that starved to death, but had their hindquarters chewed out,” he said. “That doesn’t sound like starvation. It sounds like coyotes got them.”
    Scott said coyotes are cunning as they drive the deer herd onto the lake’s ice trapping them and then hunting them.
    But, the state’s deer and moose biologist, Lee Kantar has another version.
    “Northern deer have adapted a strategy,” he explained. “During late summer into early fall, they are accumulating as much fat reserve as possible. Their strategy is to make it through the winter. Obviously in the fall when the leaves die back, the quality of their food declines.”
    Kantar said a deer’s stomach adapts to eating twigs over the wintertime, helping their bodies condition to decline slowly over the winter instead of precipitously.
    “It’s an adaptation for all deer that live in a northern environment where food resources decline in quality when things die back in the fall,” he added.
    But, Scott has another opinion. He believes since snaring has been outlawed, coyotes are becoming more rampant and thinning the deer herd. Scott said a deer wouldn’t starve because they can eat the boughs of trees down to the bark, if they are desperate for food.
    Kantar argues that Maine winters are harsh on the deer population.
    “A deer has a slow downhill trajectory depending on how long winter is,” he said. “The problem in northern Maine has always been that winters are very long.”
    For instance, looking at deer across the U.S., their survival is dependent on snow depth and how fast things green up. In Pennsylvania where spring comes earlier than in northern Maine, deer are more plentiful.
    “Research has demonstrated when a deer is restricted by snow – not able to walk or move any way it wants to – has limits to what it can feed on for boughs,” Kantar explained. “Also the demands of energy, moving through the snow – since winter can last more than 90 to 100 days – deer start to get into a lot of trouble, especially after that period of time. Fawns are the most susceptible. They haven’t even attained their full adult size. They are going to incur a high rate of mortality.”
    Kantar said this scenario happened during the 2007-08 years.
    “The loss was traumatic because the winter lasted so long and we lost a lot fawns,” he added. “Animals in poor condition, older animals, which get past the 100 days of winter incur losses.”
     Typically, north of Houlton, an average winter is 120 days, which means deer are restricted.
    So, what about the growing number of coyotes?
    “There is no new information that the state, sportsmen, hunters, trappers or anyone has put together to make claims about quantifying coyote numbers,” Kantar said. “Coyotes have to make a living too. They suffer from tough winters, as well. When they chase something, the chase doesn’t end in something to eat quickly. They will be in tough straits, too. They can’t chase things willy nilly.”
    Scott also believes that the state is trying to eliminate hunting in northern Maine.
    “Ridiculous,” said Kantar. “Our primary mission is the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources. All biologists take that extremely serious. If someone was to suggest we are actively doing something [to eliminate hunting] that is ridiculous.”
    Kantar explained the change in the landscape over the decades to the northern forest and its impact on wildlife.
    “It’s complex and can be distilled down to habitat, regardless of claims,” he said. “Hunting is only a very small part of what we do and how we manage wildlife.”