06/18/2026
Sterilization Effectively Reduces a Deer Population at a Lower Overall Total Program Cost Over Time Versus Culling
PLEASE TAKE ACTION BY ATTENDING CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS IN YOUR CITY AGAINST THE INEFFECTIVE METHOD OF SHARPSHOOTING AND ARCHERY HUNTING IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS!
LET THEM KNOW THEY NEED TO IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE, SCIENCE-BASED NONLETHAL METHODS IN SUBURBAN/URBAN COMMUNITIES AND NOT RISK OUR SAFETY!
HERE IS THE TRUTH THAT THEY REFUSE AND FAIL TO TELL YOU:
The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) only recommends that local suburban governments use lethal measures to decrease human-deer conflicts by reducing a suburban deer population. The DNR admits, but ignores, that the use of archery hunters and fi***rm sharpshooters is highly controversial among suburban residents who have highly polarized views and values regarding deer management. In presentations to local government officials and staff, the DNR falsely characterizes the use of the nonlethal method of female deer sterilization as difficult to achieve results and “expensive”.
The DNR concluded, in its 2022 Final Report of Sterilization of Game in Michigan, that, “The ovariectomy technique [of sterilization] has shown to be effective in reducing deer populations at a localized scale.” This conclusion was based on a scientific study by DeNicola and DeNicola (2021) on the successful use of sterilization of deer to reduce suburban free range wild deer populations. The researchers proved that by sterilizing at least 95% of the female deer within five years, at an average cost of $1,200/deer, sterilization was effective in reducing a deer population by an average of 45% in four cities. According to DeNicola’s White Buffalo, Inc. nonprofit website, the overall sterilization cost can be reduced by 50% if volunteer veterinarians helped and trained local volunteers handled the immobilized deer.
Once 95% of the female deer are sterilized in the targeted areas, the overall deer population decreases due to minimal newborn fawns, male deer dispersing to other areas, and older deer dying off. Since sterilized female deer remain in their home range, the immigration of other unsterilized female deer into their habitat area is unlikely.
The DNR’s false characterization of deer sterilization as “expensive” is deceptively based on the DNR’s use of only the cost of sterilization per deer versus the cost of culling per deer. The DNR ignores the accumulative cost during the necessary number of years each method must be annually repeated to achieve successful results in reducing a deer population. The cities of Farmington Hills, Farmington and Southfield recently conducted, in 2026, a joint lethal deer population reduction program. The average culling cost was approximately $600/deer for USDA Wildlife Services sharpshooters to kill only 70 deer.
Deer have a high reproductive rate. The reproduction ratio for the number of fawns born per adult doe in an urban area is as high as 1.8 fawns per adult doe. As a deer herd is lethally reduced, the remaining does produce additional fawns due to an increase of food for the remaining female deer, creating a an annual “rebound” in the population.
A yearly sharpshooting deer culling is clearly a long-term costly investment for more than ten (10) years and not just for five years to effectively reduce the deer population in a suburban community. Meridian Township has conducted an annual lethal deer management program involving a managed archery hunting program for the past fifteen (15) years and a concurrent fi***rm culling program for the past six (6) years. Numerous local governments outside Michigan have conducted yearly lethal deer programs over 10 or more years to attempt to reduce human-deer conflicts. See link at: www.deerfriendly.com/deer-population-control/perpetual-cull
For the past 25 years, the Michigan Huron-Clinton Metroparks has also been conducting deer culls in their parks. For example, during the most current 10 years, an average combined total of 115 deer per year were culled in the Stoney Creek, Kensington, Oakwoods and Willow parks. However, the deer culling program conducted in those parks for the past decade has not resulted in any reduction in their deer populations. At the current USDA Wildlife Services culling cost of $600 per deer, for an ongoing ten-year ineffective culling program in these Metroparks, the overall cost would be $690,000 (115 deer x 10 x $600), not including an inflationary cost factor.
References:
DeNicola, A.J. and V.L. DeNicola (2021). Ovariectomy As a management Technique for Suburban Deer Populations, Wildlife Society Bulletin 453):445-455.
ADVOCATES FOR MICHIGAN WILDLIFE
https://advocatesformichiganwildlife.org/
