'Why wouldn’t they be there?': Experts discuss deer population in Orange County

It’s a common misconception, but UNC professor Paul Taillie said — deer are not forest animals. 

Orange County has some of the densest deer populations in the state at over 50 deer per square mile, according to a 2020 survey by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. This is more than most of North Carolina’s western mountain counties. 

Despite Chapel Hill and Carrboro having some of the highest municipal densities across the state, Taillie, an assistant professor of geography and environment, said that there is an overpopulation of deer in these areas. 

Tallie said there are not many predators in urban areas, either as a result of extinction or urban development. 

“You take predators away, and you have this smorgasbord of food that deer love,” Greg Batts, District 3 Wildlife Biologist for the WRC, said. “Why wouldn’t they be there?” 

Batts said that there are probably more negative impacts than positive for deer in urban areas. 

For starters, that smorgasbord of food is often from people’s gardens. Plants like hostas, a leafy ground level plant, are among the favorites for deer — the lack of these ground level plants are a reason why deer are not commonly found in the forest, as sunlight cannot often reach the forest floor, Taillie said. 

"One urban predator for deer, though, is cars," Batts said. 

The North Carolina Department of Transportation reported that Wake County had the most vehicle-deer collisions in the three-year span between 2020-2022. Between financial costs as well as injuries and casualties, Taillie said that deer related vehicle collisions are something that Chapel Hill and other municipalities are aiming to address. 

Taillie, an ecologist, also said that browsing, or grazing, from deer can have cascading effects on other animals, and impact the health of ecosystems. 

“Deer tend to browse down a lot of the understory that provides cover and food for lots of other animals like rabbits and ground dwelling birds and stuff like that,” Taillie said. 

Chris Moorman, Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State University, is currently studying deer ecology in urban areas in Durham and Orange County. He said that this over-grazing can have a devastating effect. 

In efforts to curb deer overpopulation, the Town of Chapel Hill participates in the WRC’s Urban Archery Program, which allows people to hunt deer with bow and arrow in town on private property. Batts said there is a program with the North Carolina Bowhunters Association that can help people find an experienced bow hunter to hunt the deer for them.

Besides population control, Batts, a proponent of hunting, said that this program gives people a recreational activity and a source of food. 

“It doesn't get any more organic than that, right?” Batts said. “We're seeing younger people get into hunting because of that. They want to know where their food comes from. They don't want it from a factory floor somewhere. So I think that's a great thing.”

Others are not as enthusiastic about it. Taillie said there is an anti-hunting, pro-deer sentiment from some people in town. 

“It’s interesting that there [are] lots of very tangible issues and problems associated with deer overpopulation, like vehicle collisions," Taillie said. "And at the same time, people are still very defensive about any deer that dies, so there's this kind of human disconnect between those two things.”

Moorman said that issues like people feeding the deer can create social conflict, making the topic of deer divisive in some neighborhoods. 

Despite the division, Batts said that this proximity to wildlife is important. He said that there is an “out of sight, out of mind” phenomena in conservation efforts, and such prevalent proximity to deer keeps people conscious of them. 

He also said people around Chapel Hill love deer and wildlife sightings. Taillie shared a story of seeing two-full grown bucks with their antlers tangled last fall and said it a really cool wildlife experience.

“I absolutely want to increase opportunities to get outside, to engage with nature, to see deer, for all sorts of people, regardless of where they live in town,” Taillie said. 

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