ORIGINAL: ghemry

This pic is pretty cool, in Northern MI in the TB zone were baiting and feeding is illegal(thank god). This picture shows the exact reason why the DNR(The DNR NOT ME) banned feeding and baiting in TB zone. The DNR claimed the deer noses touched, or ate the sylava of another deer(from the bait) is how TB was spread. People here called BS, but after seeing this picture they(DNR) might be correct. The deer heard in the area is now 1/2 of what it was 10 years ago.

ORIGINAL: Bionicrooster

BTW Atlas, I know of a guy who started putting the feed under a picnic table and it worked great as an antler trap, they knocked the horns off on the benches while reahing their heads down under the table, and they couldn't get stuck in them.

ORIGINAL: BOWFANATIC

In defense of atlas (kind of) , I know firsthand that deer destroying a yard is a genuine excuse. We have many suburban areas around here that hold pockets of deer that feed on anything planted in yards , shrubs , flowers , etc. etc.
It has gotten so out of hand that the DNR started having "special" hunts in these areas to remove the deer.

Here's where the "kind of" statement above comes in. Some of these property owners were putting out feed (corn etc.) to attract the deer because they enjoyed watching them. Problem was , when they finished the bait piles they would move on to the shrubs , flowers , etc. The DNR truly thought these deer had no place to go and that's why they stayed in the area. When enough of the neighbors got together with a petition to stop these few neighbors from feeding the deer and approached the DNR with their situation , a new light was shed on the subject. The neighbors who were putting out feed were forced to stop. Within six months the deer vacated the area and haven't returned. Onced winter approached they simply ran out of enough nutritional food to meet their dietary needs and they moved on. The closest block of woods to that area was where I grew up , roughly nine miles away. Don't think just because their surrounded by a concrete jungle they wont travel to a better habitat. I know you probably enjoy watching them (I know I do) , but do yourself and your neighbors a favor and stop feeding them and they will move on. If there is a patch of woods big enough to sustain them right by your property that is off limits to hunting , then your in a different situation and that should be handled the same way it's handled around here every year.
Have all the neighbors who are sick and tired of losing money through shrubs etc. get a petition up and approach your DNR , and chances are something will be done about it.

If you got to watch deer interact as much as I do in my yard you would see that they are VERY touchy with their noses and mouths..........not uncommon at all for them to look like they are "kissing" Not feeding will do nothing to stop this sort of contact..........although I see where they are coming from.

ORIGINAL: ghemry

I think these large feed stations were the issue, and people putting out a ton of feed(corn, apples).