Deer management recommendation approved

By Dana Casadei

The conversation around deer management in Bloomfield Township continued at the board of trustees meeting on Monday, October 12, and ended in unanimous approval to move forward with the deer management advisory committee’s recommendation to partner with a wildlife biologist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

After nearly a year of discussion, the committee determined that this type of work to help manage the deer population would be most successful with a long-term commitment and required a science-based approach, and that it would best be carried out by an agency with the expertise, knowledge, experience and resources to implement and manage an effective deer management program. 

“As some of you have brought up, we don’t have a [deer] count at this point, but we would use the wildlife biologist to take care of making the count for us and determine what sort of impact that has in certain areas,” said John Cervenak, one of seven members of the deer management advisory committee. “I look forward to having a plan in place to address the concerns of our residents in this manner.” 

The full-time USDA wildlife biologist will work with the township to develop a deer management plan over a three-year commitment through the USDA wildlife management program, with the total cost estimated at $150,000 annually, the cost to be shared among several communities. The number of hours the wildlife biologist spends with each community would be determined by the percentage of funding provided. So if Bloomfield Township was to contribute $50,000, the township would get one third of the wildlife biologist's time.

Any plan put together from these findings would be based on local data and conditions, evaluation of the herd size, identifying where the deer are concentrated, assessing the impacts the deer are having on native plants and the environment, and then determining if a cull is an appropriate and feasible management option. 

If culling was to be determined as the wildlife biologist’s recommendation when the three years is complete, the board of trustees would need to act again before any action was taken, and would likely lead to residents speaking out against it if their past two meetings are any indication. 


“I’m 100 percent against killing the deer, it’s as simple as that. There has to be other solutions,” one resident said. 


During the 45-minute public hearing the majority who spoke – both local township residents and some coming in from as far as East Lansing – were adamantly against culling, noting that it would be a serious safety concern for residents and animals, and a costly one.


It’s estimated that culling would cost Bloomfield Township an estimated $250 per deer in processing costs, and would still require ongoing monitoring. Any deer harvested during a cull would then be donated to a local food bank. When Farmington did something similar, 70 white-tailed deer removed and over 2,300 pounds of venison were donated, officials said.


The calls related to deer that the police department have received has nearly doubled over the last decade, going from 246 in 2015 to 469 in 2024, township officials said. From January to August 2025 they have gotten 311 calls where deer were mentioned, which is more than they received for the full year from 2015-2018.


Between January 1, 2015 and August 27, 2025, the police department has taken 747 car vs. deer crashes, with nearly 60 taking place in 2025. In 2022, there were 99, a tremendous increase from the 32 that took place in 2016.


“We’re not making a rash decision here. We do the right thing, we hire the biologist, we get the numbers and recommendation, and then we act from that,” said trustee Valerie Murray. “It’s an issue that isn't going to go away on its own. I think we’re doing the right thing if we go through the USDA studying it.”