Another deer count is in the books, but it still isn’t enough data for the Town to determine a course of action. Volunteers took to Okotoks streets and pathways on Sept. 14 and 16, and though there were fewer people counting than anticipated the number of deer seen was similar to 2015. “There were some subtle changes, not significant changes,” said Chris Radford, Okotoks director of infrastructure and operations. “Doe counts were down, fawn counts were up. And the location of where the deer were spotted varied a little bit.” For instance, the data indicated bucks were seen throughout town, whereas in 2015 they had been spotted mostly on the outskirts of Okotoks. Okotoks parks manager Christa Michailuck said the data collected from two counts isn’t enough to draw conclusions or see trends yet. Ideally, the Town would perform up to 12 counts before noting trends in populations and deer locations, she said. This year, the deer count went to a mobile app and only nine people or groups participated, as opposed to the more than 100 volunteers who walked Okotoks in a grid in 2015. Michailuck said that was largely due to a corporation providing 100 volunteers to help in the community, but the number of citizen volunteers was still down. “I think next time, due to the low interest we had from citizens joining in on the counts that we would want to put more Town resources or hired resources to the counts to get more data,” she said. It’s important to continue to monitor the number of deer in town, as instances of telephone and email complaints about the animals increased in 2018, she said. “This week alone has been very busy,” said Michailuck. “I’ve had five or six inquiries in one week, and that’s how much I would get in a year typically.” At this time of year the deer are gearing up for their rut season, she said. Bucks are pushing does around town and they are all on the move more, so citizens need to be more aware. Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson said he would like to see more education in the community to ensure residents are aware of the dangers of deer and how to help keep them out of residential areas. It’s difficult with people moving in and out of town, he said. “As time progresses we have people leave the town and new people move in, so there is a constant education that needs to be done,” said Robertson. Coun. Florence Christophers was alarmed by the number of people who said they felt unsafe on the most recent public survey, which had doubled from 12 per cent in 2015. She said education may not be enough if the deer continue to become more comfortable in urban areas and around humans in particular. It’s a situation the Town needs to keep a close eye on, she said. “I just don’t want to see harm to anyone and I don’t want to see people not being active because of it,” said Christophers. “That goes against our other investment and interest in keeping people moving about on-foot.” Michailuck said if residents see an aggressive deer in town, they are asked to immediately call the Fish & Wildlife Report a Poacher line at 1-800-642-3800. “They will deem if an officer should respond and they may remove a problem deer if they can find it, so that’s why the immediate response is required – not to report what happened yesterday, but to report it immediately,” she said. For information on how to discourage deer from feeding or hanging out on private property visit www.okotoks.ca.
