Purdue Partnering With DNR On Deer Management

Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources is teaming up with Purdue University to improve management of the state’s deer population.

Researchers at Purdue’s College of Agriculture will look at developing region-specific deer population models.

Assistant Director in the Office of Science and Research Dr. Joe Caudill says scientists will also look at the effects deer have on their own habitat.

“As populations increase, they of course are eating the preferred vegetation, and the frequency of that vegetation on the landscape will go down,” Caudill says.

They will also evaluate Hoosier attitudes toward deer.

“Different people have different relationships with deer,” Caudill says.

He says hunters may appreciate larger deer populations, while people living in urban areas may want to see them thinned out.