White-tailed deer are everywhere – along the roadways, throughout our parks, and in our very own backyards.
Many people incorrectly presume that these animals belong in the deep woods, and the ones wandering into our neighborhoods are refugees displaced by residential, commercial, or agricultural development. In fact, development actually creates better habitat for deer. White-tailed deer are a fringe species, exploiting the benefits of forested land for cover and open areas for food, requiring a substantial portion of each to survive.
As it turns out, their natural habitat bears a striking resemblance to the one we’ve built for ourselves. When residential neighborhoods grow and multiply, they support much higher densities of deer than a natural setting would. We unwittingly provide a refuge in which a lack of natural predators, limited hunting, quality habitat, and a variety of abundant food resources combine to allow deer to reproduce at an equal or higher rate than natural environments.