Fewer Deer, Same Damage

A new aerial survey and the discovery of a miscalculation has prompted state officials in Connecticut to lower the estimate of deer per square mile in Greenwich, where the town has asked for state permission to conduct a deer hunt to reduce the herd. The Greenwich Time reports that officials now believe there are 68 deer per square mile in the so-called backcountry (that is, where the rich people with the big estates live, as opposed to the southern part of town, where the rich people with houses on the Sound live), rather than 120 per square mile.

To some Greenwich officials, the lower number calls into question the need for the hunt. But for me, it means something else: that 68 deer per square mile, rather than 120, can destroy the understory of a forest; and that the town will now have to shoot far fewer deer to get down to their desired number per square mile.

Previous posts on the deer issue (in reverse chronological order) are here, here, here, here, here, and here.