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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pardon Me, Deer, But Would You Leave My Garden? With Deer Populations Rising And Urban Areas Expanding, Clashes Between The Two Are Becoming More Common

Lewiston Morning Tribune

Pat McGuire once enjoyed seeing deer when they would timidly venture into her yard. During nearly all of the 30 years she and her husband, Jerome, lived in their home along Asotin Creek, a deer in town was a rare sight.

During the past three years, however, the McGuires have revised their opinions of citified deer from guests to pests.

“I don’t know what the cause is, but we really have deer now and what they don’t eat, they trample,” Pat McGuire said.

“At first it was kind of cute. It was novel. The second year it gets to be less amusing. This past year was not amusing at all,” she added.

With 45 patented rose bushes fringing the yard around their 105-year-old home along Cleveland Street, she enjoys gardening on their city lot.

But last summer, the deer made a habit of enjoying the fruits of her labors, nipping the flowers in the bud when they’re apparently most tasty and tender.

With hopes of setting up a commercial flower and herb farm on their lot, the deer threaten not only aesthetics but the bottom line, she added.

What is most frustrating for the McGuires is that no one, including the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department, has offered a cure.

“They’ve been sympathetic, but nobody seems to have a solution,” she said.

Agency officials say the complaints are growing from Asotin to Spokane.

Ken Woltering, the department’s conservation officer at Clarkston, says recent drought years have pushed deer toward greener pastures in town.

Woltering said some city residents have also contributed to the problem by intentionally putting out salt or hay to attract the deer.

Capturing and transplanting the deer, Woltering said, is both too costly and dangerous to the deer.

Such operations are not always humane, despite what shows up on television, he added. He also discounts calls for a final solution - killing the deer that are causing problems in town. Not all city residents want the deer removed. Safety concerns and city ordinances would also weigh in.

Woltering suggests a list of home remedies, ranging from having a dog in the yard to putting a radio outside at night and low power yard lights equipped with a blinker system.

Commercial deer repellents can also help but lose their effectiveness as the deer become used to them or natural food supplies fail.

The best cure is to stop the problem before it starts, Woltering said.

Pat McGuire said she’s tried the home remedies, without much success. Their dog and others in the neighborhood haven’t discouraged the visits by the deer. Fencing is an option the couple would prefer to avoid.

“We first started finding tracks and we thought, ‘Isn’t that cute?’ Now the whole yard is full of deer doo and it’s all over the front walk and they’ve eaten my roses,” McGuire said.

“This is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever encountered. We’ve lost control of our land right here in Asotin.”