Township deer management plan discussed

By Dana Casadei

The white-tail deer population in Bloomfield Township continues to grow, and with it, concerns from residents are growing too.

Over 30 people spoke about deer management – both those for and against it – during a public hearing at the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, September 14. 

“I want to be able to walk in my neighborhood and sit in my gorgeous yard I’ve owned for over 50 years,” said a Bloomfield Township resident. “I do not want to be attacked by a deer or have the threat of that. The thing I love most about my neighborhood I can no longer do. It’s taken away the pleasure of living in Bloomfield. What’s it going to look like in five years if we do nothing?”

Throughout the public hearing dozens spoke for and against finding a way to reduce the township’s deer population, and those who did want to find a solution had varying thoughts on how the township should do so.

Some seemed comfortable with the township hiring sharpshooters, while others preferred going a different route, like sterilization to help control the deer population. 

Nearly 100 pages of emails regarding deer management were in the evening’s packet as well, with main concerns echoing what those at the meeting spoke about. Those concerns were around safety, for both the deer and residents; property and vehicle damage; worry about more coyotes, who hunt deer, coming into the township; and Lyme disease.

“I’m a hunter who quit hunting because there are no deer up north, they’re in my yard,” said one resident during the public hearing. “Something has to be done, and it has to be started today, not next year.”

Around the same time last year, Chad Stewart, Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), presented eight options for deer management to the board. Two were immediately eliminated, including trapping and relocating deer, and reintroducing deer’s predators into the community. 

Other options to potentially get the deer population under control included hunting the deer through hired sharpshooters or local hunters, trapping and removing the deer, contraception, sterilization, and fencing and repellents.

“There are pros and cons to each of these. If there was a cost-efficient option everyone agreed with, I wouldn’t be here,” said Kara Colton, wildlife biologist with Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

During her informational presentation, Colton covered the biology of deer, the process each community should consider with urban deer management, and the options. This type of community-based decision about deer management comes with four phases: problem definition, decision making, implementation, evaluation and adaptation. The township will have to decide which are the most important and have been actively gathering input from residents on the issue.

In July, a call was put out to residents to share their thoughts and experiences on the deer population. Of the 469 comments they received, 12.4 percent were against any type of deer management while 87.6 percent described negative experiences they’ve had with deer. Nearly 200 people specifically mentioned culling or thinning the herd to reducw the number of deer in Bloomfield Township. 

With so many different options and opinions is why, in part, the township formed the Deer Management Advisory Committee almost a year ago. The committee consists of four township residents and three Bloomfield Township staff.

“After many months of study, our committee determined that successful deer management is a long-term commitment and requires a science-based approach,” said John Schrot, who is on the Deer Management Advisory Committee and presented at the meeting.

The Deer Management Advisory Committee’s recommendation to the board was that this type of work would best be carried out by an agency with the expertise, knowledge, experience and resources to implement and manage an effective deer management program. 

They requested that the township consider partnering with the USDA Wildlife Management Program, which would include hiring a full-time USDA wildlife biologist who would work with the township to develop a deer management plan. The total cost is estimated at $150,000 annually across 3-4 communities, and 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.

The plan mentioned with this program 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. 

“It’s very important to understand that culling is not a one-time solution if selected,” Schrot said.

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 committee also recommended an alternative one-year program where the USDA can engage in direct and targeted removal of deer for two to four nights per fall/winter. The estimated costs for that would be between $15,000-$20,000, plus processing fees. This plan would not commit the township to participate annually. 

The USDA may not be able to accommodate all municipalities interested in this plan due to limited staff, and the program’s community cost-sharing may not be available in subsequent years, according to officials. 

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.

Some of those calls are related to the traffic incidents that happen involving deer in Bloomfield Township, a number that has also seen significant growth.

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.

“There’s a lot of information that has been presented tonight and I think we need to come back and vote in two weeks,” said supervisor Mike McCready.

The presentations from the Monday meeting, including the videos and photos shown, will be up on the Bloomfield Township website. Residents also have the opportunity to participate in this regional deer study by November 1, 2026.