By Louie Stout

Doug Miles is concerned about the deer population around his home.

Photo by Bob Robertson

Doug Miles is concerned about the deer population around his home in the northwest corner of St. Joseph County, Ind.

Miles is an avid deer hunter and landowner. He talks to neighbors, who are farmers and deer hunters.

They’re concerned, too.

“None of us saw bucks and very few does this past season,” said Miles.

That’s not the norm on property that includes several thousand acres covering Miles’ place and adjoining neighbors’. And while a lot of the land is agriculture, the owners are deer hunters and manage the land for quality bucks by maintaining good deer habitat.

“That farming family shoots 3 to 6 deer a year, and none of them shot a buck last year,” he explained. “They normally kick out dozens of deer while combining corn and said they only saw three does last fall.”

And there’s more evidence.

Miles has a 12-acre field that is protected. He lets the brush grow year-round to provide prime deer bedding cover. No one is allowed in there to disturb the deer.

“Prior to this year, we had 24 to 36 deer that used that as a bedding area every year,” he said. “This year I saw five.”

In addition, the property sits near the Spicer Lake Nature Preserve. His son was drawn to hunt there last fall and only saw one buck.

“That place is usually loaded with deer,” he said.

What heightens Miles’ concern is a matter that occurred one mid-summer day. He went to feed his son’s sheep on a nearby property and found two dead, mature bucks lying 10 feet apart near a pond.

“There were no wounds and the deer were healthy and had only been dead a few hours,” he explained. “I recalled seeing another dead deer on a bordering property not long before that.”

He immediately became concerned about EHD, a virus that hit Michiana deer herds a few years ago and, CWD, an even more deadly disease that recently appeared in central Michigan.

Miles called the Indiana DNR, hoping to get someone to come examine and test the animals while they were still fresh.

“I talked to a DNR enforcement officer who lectured me that there was no biologist working in our area, that the DNR was underfunded and basically gave me the impression I was an annoyance,” said Miles.

That angered him. He called the Michigan DNR since the property is close to the state line. The Michigan officials showed more concern but said since it was Indiana issue and they couldn’t help him. They gave him another number in Indy to call.

He did.

“I told this person (another conservation officer) that the animal had been dead less than 24 hours and would cut off the heads and spinal cords and freeze them until the DNR could get there,” he said. “He basically blew me off and said there was nothing he could do.”

Undaunted, Miles contacted the Indiana DNR again and talked to a biologist.

“The woman was very upset how my issue had been handled previously and gave me her direct number,” Miles said. “If I saw another dead deer, I was to call her.”

A week later a couple of DNR people came out and examined the dead animals. Of course, the remains were too far gone to do testing and Miles was told it was probably something like the flu that killed the deer.

Obviously, there is a bit of disconnect between fish and wildlife officials and the enforcement division at the state level. Fish and Wildlife has taken a great deal of interest.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

According to preliminary statistics, Miles problem is confined to his part of the county. Newly appointed DNR deer biologist Joe Caudell said that seasonal harvest numbers for St. Joseph County and nearby LaPorte County through this week are about the same as they were in 2015.

Caudell speculated that the deer could have died from EHD, noting that “there will always be a few localized outbreaks each year” and added that there are a lot of diseases that can kill deer.

Since there were so few dead deer found in Miles area last summer and fall, it would be difficult to assume there is a major disease outbreak.

But then, what happened to all of the deer he’s accustomed to seeing?

“Sometimes we’ll see where changes in crop production or habitat will cause deer to relocate,” Caudell said.

In the meantime, the deer biologist has offered to work closely with Miles and is providing him with proper testing supplies in case he comes across another recently deceased deer.

“I’ll be happy to help in any way,” Miles said. “This is an important matter to me and my neighbors.”