How did River Bend’s deer population get so out of control?
Deer were virtually eliminated from the Rice County area by early in the century due to unregulated hunting and habitat loss, and their numbers have been on the increase ever since. While a lack of natural predators is often stated as the reason for the rise in deer numbers, in reality deer have certain adaptations that have always enabled them to react quickly to favorable conditions and strongly recover after any severe drop in population. Around one out of every four deer in Minnesota dies each year due to hunting, auto collisions, natural causes, etc. and yet the numbers still continue to climb. The mild winters of the last few years have only exacerbated the problem. The habitat we’ve created for deer in southern Minnesota encourages highly successful reproduction in the summer thanks to the abundance of agriculture and forest edges, yet forces them to inhabit very limited wintering areas with suitable cover. Each winter and spring the winter-stressed deer exact their considerable
