‘They seem to be everywhere’

Annapolis County student exploring Truro’s deer situation

Thinking about a relevant and timely topic for his honour thesis, Dalhousie University Agricultural Campus student Adrian Bent said the subject was, pretty much, staring him in the face every time he drove around Truro.

“I see deer almost every day when I’m in town, especially driving at night,” said Bent, who is from just outside Middleton. “They seem to be everywhere so when I went to my supervisor, I told him I wanted to do something with the damage they cause … what people think about them in the area.”

Once they developed the topic, Bent and his supervisor decided the best way to collect data was to put out a survey for area residents and get their feedback.

“That will allow us to hear, directly, what people in the town think,” he said. “One of the bigger things about my survey is how deer affect people’s ability to garden, so a lot of questions in the survey are geared towards; what methods of gardening are working and what are not? How are the deer affecting what you decide to plant? What type of garden do you have … a raised bed or something else? Things like that.”

The survey was live for a few weeks. It took about 15 minutes to complete.

“And once the survey closes, I’m going to meet with my supervisor, look at all the responses and see what kind of trends we’re seeing with the people in town. That will allow us to develop a conclusion as to what people are thinking about it and then develop potential solutions to the deer population in town.”

The Town of Truro is in the midst of its deer management strategy and completed its second controlled deer hunt in the fall and early winter where they culled 39 deer.

“It was tremendously more productive this time,” town chief administrative officer Mike Dolter said.

The first hunt only saw 14 deer culled in less time, in fewer locations, and during a different time of the year where extreme winter weather challenged the hunters.

Speaking in January, Dolter said the town would be conducting a pellet count and is preparing for another controlled managed hunt next fall.

“Eventually (the thesis) will be available,” Bent said of his research and upcoming paper. “The goal is to get it published at some point in, like a, peer review journal. Once I’ve written a thesis, put all the data together and it’s published, everyone will have an opportunity to go on and see what I’ve found out and what I think the information I’ve found can do to help the problem.”

And, just from an observational standpoint, is it worse in Truro than the part of Nova Scotia he calls home? Bent said it seems to be.

“You’ll see a deer from time to time (around Middleton), but they’re not nearly as relevant or abundant there as they are in Truro,” he said. “Like I said, I see them all the time in Truro, and I would be lucky to see one there, especially where I’m just outside of town in a more rural area.

“I know it’s a problem in other towns, it’s still an issue, but the scope isn’t nearly as big as it is in Truro, I’ve found.”