Mule Deer in Los Angeles

SoCal Sam

Lunatic Member
I live in the Santa Monica Mountains east of 405 fwy. If you know L.A., this area is bounded by freeways and built up city. And yet, mule deer are common and sort of a pest. This fellow is a constant visitor and is slowly de-nuding my yard. He's not scared of me. He took his time going up the hill as I was taking photos. Even as I type this, he is waiting at the top of my property. Waiting for when I go out so he can continue stripping my landscaping.

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Google.....what deer hate to eat, there is a farmers almanac that describes everything in detail.

Long ago people were not dependent on a system that provides and had to do everything for themselves. They planted certain botanicals to keep deer, rodents and mosquitoes away from their homes. Ancient technology, but more effective than the profit driven products of today. Then of course, deer don’t like certain smells like urin. Pot growers that plant in the wild urinate around their plots to keep the deer away.
 
Summers over and as it rains a food source will be growing in the higher mountains. The thing is Deer don't want to be around you either but without hunting their population grows. During the fall, winter and spring time the Deer have food up high. They then deplete that source and eat their way down the mountains to human populations.

Around me here very close there is Hyw 280 that travels the hills and mountain range between the bay and ocean. By the end of August we start seeing deer and then more and more. You'll see them in small groups, 4,5 and 6 eating the grass on the side of the freeway. They also start getting hit more and more. They will even start doing stupid stuff like running down the medium between both directions jumping back and forth over the barrier.
 
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Iowa Whitetail are always roaming around my place here in town after dark. Last night there was a group of five. Tonight three big does. I nailed one on my way to work early one morning last Feb.with my Dodge Journey $$$ I should say it nailed me. It ran into the passenger side of the Dodge.
 
By the end of August we start seeing deer and then more and more. You'll see them in small groups, 4,5 and 6 eating the grass on the side of the freeway. They also start getting hit more and more. They will even start doing stupid stuff like running down the medium between both directions jumping back and forth over the barrier.

I live in PA (which supposedly has the 2nd or 3rd largest white-tailed deer population in the US), so this is quite common. Timing of you seeing more and more of them is because late August through mid October is mating season, which is then immediately followed by the various deer hunting seasons that run through mid Dec, so hunters are driving them around. And yes, they will do seemingly "stupid" sh*t--bouncing across busy interstates and into cars.
 
Here in the Northeast, these guys are the carriers of Lyme, and on rare occasion Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

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The Black Legged Tick is the vehicle that transmits disease from the mice to you, and other animals.

A big horse farm near me has taken a unique approach to controlling the tick population by providing nesting materials(toilet paper) that have been treated with an insecticide that the ticks are sensitive to(pyrethrins?).
 
I live in the Santa Monica Mountains east of 405 fwy. If you know L.A., this area is bounded by freeways and built up city. And yet, mule deer are common and sort of a pest. This fellow is a constant visitor and is slowly de-nuding my yard. He's not scared of me.

Not surprising. If you have any kind of "cover" (wooded areas close by), they will be there. They have no fear, because they know they can't be hunted there, and basically most people won't bother them. Some people even feed them (which is technically illegal in my state).

I worked on a house in a fairly urban neighborhood, and a couple houses down, a flock of turkeys would come out of the woods at dawn and pick the lawn clean, and a couple hours later 4-6 deer would come out and trim the hedges for them, and both just totally ignored the presence of people.
 
Just stepped out in my front yard to smoke . I was standing very still. And a trophy buck came around the corner of my house . Got as close as 6 feet away from me before it realized I was standing there. 13 points total. Beautiful animal.
 
At the park down the street in California. Snapped this from 10 feet away.

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Awhile back, Axis deer were introduced for hunting on Maui and have pretty much taken over the upper slopes of Haleakala. Herds of them just mow stuff down.

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@onepixel
I understand that they have quite a feral hog problem there as well.
With the hogs, I'm not sure how bad it is. The deer and hogs are further "Upcountry." Where there is less people and more ranches and farms. They do have guided hunting trips for them.

Maui also has a growing feral cat problem. The chickens have gotten out of control. You can find them just about everywhere. The mall, airport, sides of the highway. This was at the Costco foodcourt, yesterday. I've seen 30+ at the Safeway parking lot and the roosters wake me up every morning.

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