DEER DAMAGE IN TENNESSEE: LANDOWNER PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES

Survey results suggest that the most common perception among Tennessee landowners is that during the last five years the white-tailed deer population has increased. Over 43% of survey respondents indicated that they felt there are more deer now than five years ago. However, in spite of the general agreement that the deer population has increased, less than 20% of the respondents indicated that there was more damage now than five years ago. When asked about amount of damage they had experienced from deer during the last year, 67.3% answered that they had experienced no damage while 32.6% incurred some damage (18.3% experienced light damage, 8.6% moderate damage, 3.7% substantial damage and 2% severe damage). Of those landowners that bad experienced some damage, only 12.6% felt the damage was unreasonable. A majority of the respondents with damage felt the damage was negligible (44.0%) or tolerable (43.4%). The general feeling of landowners toward deer was favorable. Sixty-two percent of survey respondents indicated that they considered deer to have aesthetic value and liked to have them around. Slightly more than 12% indicated that they enjoyed deer but worried that they might cause damage to their crops. Only 9.5% felt like deer were a nuisance